Effects of explicit atmospheric convection at high CO2

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• Main Authors: Arnold, Nathan P., Branson, Mark, Burt, Melissa A., Abbot, Dorian S., Kuang, Zhiming, Randall, David A., Tziperman, Eli
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: National Academy of Sciences 2014
• Subjects: Physical Sciences; Arctic; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4121830; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25024204; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1407175111

The representation of clouds and convection has an enormous impact on simulation of the climate system. This study addresses concerns that conventional parameterizations may bias the response of climate models to increased greenhouse gases. The broadly similar response of two models with parameterized and nonparameterized convection and clouds suggests that state-of-the-art predictions, based on parameterized climate models, may not necessarily be strongly biased in either direction (too strong or too weak warming). At the same time, large differences in simulated tropical variability and Arctic sea ice area suggest that improvement in convection and cloud representations remains essential.