Comments on 'Current GCMs' unrealistic negative feedback in the Artic'

• Published in: Journal of Climate
• Main Authors: Pithan, F., Mauritsen, T.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-0014-654E-D; http://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-0014-6550-5

In contrast to prior studies showing a positive lapse-rate feedback associated with the Arctic inversion, Boe et al. reported that strong present-day Arctic temperature inversions are associated with stronger negative longwave feedbacks and thus reduced Arctic amplification in the model ensemble from phase 3 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3). A permutation test reveals that the relation between longwave feedbacks and inversion strength is an artifact of statistical self-correlation and that shortwave feedbacks have a stronger correlation with intermodel spread. The present comment concludes that the conventional understanding of a positive lapse-rate feedback associated with the Arctic inversion is consistent with the CMIP3 model ensemble.