The importance of stratocumulus clouds for projected warming patterns and circulation changes
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Breul, Philipp
Ceppi, Paulo
Nowack, Peer
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Stratocumulus clouds are thought to exert a strong positive radiative feedback on climate change, but recent analyses suggest that this feedback is widely under-represented in global climate models. To assess the broader implications of this model error for the simulated climate change responses, we investigate the impact of Pacific stratocumulus cloud feedback on projected warming patterns, equilibrium climate sensitivity and tropical atmospheric circulation under increased CO2 concentrations. Using the Community Earth System Model, with modifications to enhance low-cloud-cover sensitivity to sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in Pacific stratocumulus regions, we find increased tropical SST variability and persistence, a higher equilibrium climate sensitivity, an enhanced east–west warming contrast across the tropical Pacific, and a stronger slowdown of the Walker circulation under 4×CO2 conditions. Our findings are supported by inter-model relationships across CMIP6 4×CO2 simulations. These results underscore the importance of accurately representing cloud feedback in climate models to predict future climate change impacts not only globally but also on a regional scale, such as warming patterns or circulation change.
Date Issued
2025-10-02
Date Acceptance
2025-07-17
Citation
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP), 2025, 25 (19), pp.11991-12005
ISSN
1680-7316
Publisher
Copernicus Publications
Start Page
11991
End Page
12005
Journal / Book Title
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP)
Volume
25
Issue
19
Copyright Statement
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
License URL
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2025-10-02