Details:

Alternative Title:
Significance of aerosol radiative effect in energy balance control on global precipitation change
Journal Title:
Atmospheric Science Letters
Personal Author:
Suzuki, Kentaroh ; Stephens, Graeme L. ; Golaz, Jean-Christophe
Suzuki, Kentaroh ; Stephens, Graeme L. ; Golaz, Jean-Christophe Less -
NOAA Program & Office:
OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; CPO (Climate Program Office) ; GFDL (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory)
OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; CPO (Climate Program Office) ; GFDL (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory) Less -
Description:
Historical changes of global precipitation in the 20th century simulated by a climate model are investigated. The results simulated with alternate configurations of cloud microphysics are analyzed in the context of energy balance controls on global precipitation, where the latent heat changes associated with the precipitation change is nearly balanced with changes to atmospheric radiative cooling. The atmospheric radiative cooling is dominated by its clear-sky component, which is found to correlate with changes to both column water vapor and aerosol optical depth (AOD). The water vapor-dependent component of the clear-sky radiative cooling is then found to scale with global temperature change through the Clausius-Clapeyron relationship. This component results in a tendency of global precipitation increase with increasing temperature at a rate of approximately 2% K-1. Another component of the clear-sky radiative cooling, which is well correlated with changes to AOD, is also found to vary in magnitude among different scenarios with alternate configurations of cloud microphysics that controls the precipitation efficiency, a major factor influencing the aerosol scavenging process that can lead to different aerosol loadings. These results propose how different characteristics of cloud microphysics can cause different aerosol loadings that in turn perturb global energy balance to significantly change global precipitation. This implies a possible coupling of aerosol-cloud interaction with aerosol-radiation interaction in the context of global energy balance.
Keywords:
[+]
Aerosols
Atmospheric Science
Bioenergetics
Climatology
Clouds
Constraints
Geochemistry
Geophysics
Global Analysis
Hydrologic Cycle
Hydrologic Models
Meteorology
Microphysics
Radiative Forcing
Sensitivity Theory (Mathematics)

Source:
Atmos. Sci. Lett., 18: 389-395.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1002/asl.780
Document Type:
Journal Article
Funding:
Grant no. NA15OAR4310153
Rights Information:
CC BY
Compliance:
PMC
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:454c40f04467e71dec7681f3cd03a7049c54f9719d36151a5988ddb1b99bb9ee
File Type:

Supporting Files

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