Mixed-phase cloud physics and Southern Ocean cloud feedback in climate models
Increasing optical depth poleward of 45° is a robust response to warming in global climate models. Much of this cloud optical depth increase has been hypothesized to be due to transitions from ice-dominated to liquid-dominated mixed-phase cloud. In this study, the importance of liquid-ice partitioni...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
2022
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1410025 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1410025 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023603 |
id |
ftosti:oai:osti.gov:1410025 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftosti:oai:osti.gov:1410025 2023-07-30T04:07:04+02:00 Mixed-phase cloud physics and Southern Ocean cloud feedback in climate models McCoy, Daniel T. Hartmann, Dennis L. Zelinka, Mark D. Ceppi, Paulo Grosvenor, Daniel P. 2022-03-30 application/pdf http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1410025 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1410025 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023603 unknown http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1410025 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1410025 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023603 doi:10.1002/2015JD023603 58 GEOSCIENCES 2022 ftosti https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023603 2023-07-11T09:22:59Z Increasing optical depth poleward of 45° is a robust response to warming in global climate models. Much of this cloud optical depth increase has been hypothesized to be due to transitions from ice-dominated to liquid-dominated mixed-phase cloud. In this study, the importance of liquid-ice partitioning for the optical depth feedback is quantified for 19 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 models. All models show a monotonic partitioning of ice and liquid as a function of temperature, but the temperature at which ice and liquid are equally mixed (the glaciation temperature) varies by as much as 40 K across models. Models that have a higher glaciation temperature are found to have a smaller climatological liquid water path (LWP) and condensed water path and experience a larger increase in LWP as the climate warms. The ice-liquid partitioning curve of each model may be used to calculate the response of LWP to warming. It is found that the repartitioning between ice and liquid in a warming climate contributes at least 20% to 80% of the increase in LWP as the climate warms, depending on model. Intermodel differences in the climatological partitioning between ice and liquid are estimated to contribute at least 20% to the intermodel spread in the high-latitude LWP response in the mixed-phase region poleward of 45°S. As a result, it is hypothesized that a more thorough evaluation and constraint of global climate model mixed-phase cloud parameterizations and validation of the total condensate and ice-liquid apportionment against observations will yield a substantial reduction in model uncertainty in the high-latitude cloud response to warming. Other/Unknown Material Southern Ocean SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) Southern Ocean Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 120 18 9539 9554 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) |
op_collection_id |
ftosti |
language |
unknown |
topic |
58 GEOSCIENCES |
spellingShingle |
58 GEOSCIENCES McCoy, Daniel T. Hartmann, Dennis L. Zelinka, Mark D. Ceppi, Paulo Grosvenor, Daniel P. Mixed-phase cloud physics and Southern Ocean cloud feedback in climate models |
topic_facet |
58 GEOSCIENCES |
description |
Increasing optical depth poleward of 45° is a robust response to warming in global climate models. Much of this cloud optical depth increase has been hypothesized to be due to transitions from ice-dominated to liquid-dominated mixed-phase cloud. In this study, the importance of liquid-ice partitioning for the optical depth feedback is quantified for 19 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 models. All models show a monotonic partitioning of ice and liquid as a function of temperature, but the temperature at which ice and liquid are equally mixed (the glaciation temperature) varies by as much as 40 K across models. Models that have a higher glaciation temperature are found to have a smaller climatological liquid water path (LWP) and condensed water path and experience a larger increase in LWP as the climate warms. The ice-liquid partitioning curve of each model may be used to calculate the response of LWP to warming. It is found that the repartitioning between ice and liquid in a warming climate contributes at least 20% to 80% of the increase in LWP as the climate warms, depending on model. Intermodel differences in the climatological partitioning between ice and liquid are estimated to contribute at least 20% to the intermodel spread in the high-latitude LWP response in the mixed-phase region poleward of 45°S. As a result, it is hypothesized that a more thorough evaluation and constraint of global climate model mixed-phase cloud parameterizations and validation of the total condensate and ice-liquid apportionment against observations will yield a substantial reduction in model uncertainty in the high-latitude cloud response to warming. |
author |
McCoy, Daniel T. Hartmann, Dennis L. Zelinka, Mark D. Ceppi, Paulo Grosvenor, Daniel P. |
author_facet |
McCoy, Daniel T. Hartmann, Dennis L. Zelinka, Mark D. Ceppi, Paulo Grosvenor, Daniel P. |
author_sort |
McCoy, Daniel T. |
title |
Mixed-phase cloud physics and Southern Ocean cloud feedback in climate models |
title_short |
Mixed-phase cloud physics and Southern Ocean cloud feedback in climate models |
title_full |
Mixed-phase cloud physics and Southern Ocean cloud feedback in climate models |
title_fullStr |
Mixed-phase cloud physics and Southern Ocean cloud feedback in climate models |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mixed-phase cloud physics and Southern Ocean cloud feedback in climate models |
title_sort |
mixed-phase cloud physics and southern ocean cloud feedback in climate models |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1410025 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1410025 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023603 |
geographic |
Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean |
genre |
Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1410025 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1410025 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023603 doi:10.1002/2015JD023603 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023603 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |
container_volume |
120 |
container_issue |
18 |
container_start_page |
9539 |
op_container_end_page |
9554 |
_version_ |
1772820157080535040 |