Cloud-radiative effects on implied oceanic energy transports as simulated by atmospheric general circulation models

• Main Authors: Gleckler, P. J., Randall, D. A., Boer, G.
• Other Authors: United States. Department of Energy.
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 1994
• Subjects: Solar Energy; 540210; Mathematics And Computers; Oceanic Circulation; 99 General And Miscellaneous//Mathematics; Computing; And Information Science; Radiant Heat Transfer; Seas; General Circulation Models; 540110; Solar Flux; Climatic Change; Cloud Cover; Basic Studies; 54 Environmental Sciences; Air-Biosphere Interactions 990200; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.2172/10162018; https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1385616/

This paper reports on energy fluxes across the surface of the ocean as simulated by fifteen atmospheric general circulation models in which ocean surface temperatures and sea-ice boundaries are prescribed. The oceanic meridional energy transport that would be required to balance these surface fluxes is computed, and is shown to be critically sensitive to the radiative effects of clouds, to the extent that even the sign of the Southern Hemisphere ocean energy transport can be affected by the errors in simulated cloud-radiation interactions.