Clouds damp the radiative impacts of polar sea ice loss
Abstract. Clouds play an important role in the climate system: (1) cooling Earth by reflecting incoming sunlight to space and (2) warming Earth by reducing thermal energy loss to space. Cloud radiative effects are especially important in polar regions and have the potential to significantly alter th...
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ftoskarbordeaux:oai:oskar-bordeaux.fr:20.500.12278/199104 2024-05-19T07:27:46+00:00 Clouds damp the radiative impacts of polar sea ice loss ALKAMA, Ramdane TAYLOR, Patrick C. GARCIA-SAN MARTIN, Lorea DOUVILLE, Herve DUVEILLER, Gregory FORZIERI, Giovanni SWINGEDOUW, Didier CESCATTI, Alessandro 2020-08-21 https://oskar-bordeaux.fr/handle/20.500.12278/199104 https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12278/199104 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2673-2020 EN eng oai:crossref.org:10.5194/tc-14-2673-2020 https://oskar-bordeaux.fr/handle/20.500.12278/199104 doi:10.5194/tc-14-2673-2020 open CC BY crossref Sciences de l'environnement Article de revue 2020 ftoskarbordeaux https://doi.org/20.500.12278/19910410.5194/tc-14-2673-2020 2024-04-22T01:36:30Z Abstract. Clouds play an important role in the climate system: (1) cooling Earth by reflecting incoming sunlight to space and (2) warming Earth by reducing thermal energy loss to space. Cloud radiative effects are especially important in polar regions and have the potential to significantly alter the impact of sea ice decline on the surface radiation budget. Using CERES (Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System) data and 32 CMIP5 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project) climate models, we quantify the influence of polar clouds on the radiative impact of polar sea ice variability. Our results show that the cloud short-wave cooling effect strongly influences the impact of sea ice variability on the surface radiation budget and does so in a counter-intuitive manner over the polar seas: years with less sea ice and a larger net surface radiative flux show a more negative cloud radiative effect. Our results indicate that 66±2% of this change in the net cloud radiative effect is due to the reduction in surface albedo and that the remaining 34±1 % is due to an increase in cloud cover and optical thickness. The overall cloud radiative damping effect is 56±2 % over the Antarctic and 47±3 % over the Arctic. Thus, present-day cloud properties significantly reduce the net radiative impact of sea ice loss on the Arctic and Antarctic surface radiation budgets. As a result, climate models must accurately represent present-day polar cloud properties in order to capture the surface radiation budget impact of polar sea ice loss and thus the surface albedo feedback. Article in Journal/Newspaper albedo Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Sea ice OSKAR Bordeaux (Open Science Knowledge ARchive) The Cryosphere 14 8 2673 2686 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
OSKAR Bordeaux (Open Science Knowledge ARchive) |
op_collection_id |
ftoskarbordeaux |
language |
English |
topic |
Sciences de l'environnement |
spellingShingle |
Sciences de l'environnement ALKAMA, Ramdane TAYLOR, Patrick C. GARCIA-SAN MARTIN, Lorea DOUVILLE, Herve DUVEILLER, Gregory FORZIERI, Giovanni SWINGEDOUW, Didier CESCATTI, Alessandro Clouds damp the radiative impacts of polar sea ice loss |
topic_facet |
Sciences de l'environnement |
description |
Abstract. Clouds play an important role in the climate system: (1) cooling Earth by reflecting incoming sunlight to space and (2) warming Earth by reducing thermal energy loss to space. Cloud radiative effects are especially important in polar regions and have the potential to significantly alter the impact of sea ice decline on the surface radiation budget. Using CERES (Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System) data and 32 CMIP5 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project) climate models, we quantify the influence of polar clouds on the radiative impact of polar sea ice variability. Our results show that the cloud short-wave cooling effect strongly influences the impact of sea ice variability on the surface radiation budget and does so in a counter-intuitive manner over the polar seas: years with less sea ice and a larger net surface radiative flux show a more negative cloud radiative effect. Our results indicate that 66±2% of this change in the net cloud radiative effect is due to the reduction in surface albedo and that the remaining 34±1 % is due to an increase in cloud cover and optical thickness. The overall cloud radiative damping effect is 56±2 % over the Antarctic and 47±3 % over the Arctic. Thus, present-day cloud properties significantly reduce the net radiative impact of sea ice loss on the Arctic and Antarctic surface radiation budgets. As a result, climate models must accurately represent present-day polar cloud properties in order to capture the surface radiation budget impact of polar sea ice loss and thus the surface albedo feedback. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
ALKAMA, Ramdane TAYLOR, Patrick C. GARCIA-SAN MARTIN, Lorea DOUVILLE, Herve DUVEILLER, Gregory FORZIERI, Giovanni SWINGEDOUW, Didier CESCATTI, Alessandro |
author_facet |
ALKAMA, Ramdane TAYLOR, Patrick C. GARCIA-SAN MARTIN, Lorea DOUVILLE, Herve DUVEILLER, Gregory FORZIERI, Giovanni SWINGEDOUW, Didier CESCATTI, Alessandro |
author_sort |
ALKAMA, Ramdane |
title |
Clouds damp the radiative impacts of polar sea ice loss |
title_short |
Clouds damp the radiative impacts of polar sea ice loss |
title_full |
Clouds damp the radiative impacts of polar sea ice loss |
title_fullStr |
Clouds damp the radiative impacts of polar sea ice loss |
title_full_unstemmed |
Clouds damp the radiative impacts of polar sea ice loss |
title_sort |
clouds damp the radiative impacts of polar sea ice loss |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://oskar-bordeaux.fr/handle/20.500.12278/199104 https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12278/199104 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2673-2020 |
genre |
albedo Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Sea ice |
genre_facet |
albedo Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Sea ice |
op_source |
crossref |
op_relation |
oai:crossref.org:10.5194/tc-14-2673-2020 https://oskar-bordeaux.fr/handle/20.500.12278/199104 doi:10.5194/tc-14-2673-2020 |
op_rights |
open CC BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/20.500.12278/19910410.5194/tc-14-2673-2020 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
2673 |
op_container_end_page |
2686 |
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1799468958930173952 |