Bender, FAM, Frey, L, McCoy, DT orcid.org/0000-0003-1148-6475 et al. (2 more authors) (2019) Assessment of aerosol–cloud–radiation correlations in satellite observations, climate models and reanalysis. Climate Dynamics, 52 (7-8). pp. 4371-4392. ISSN 0930-7575
Abstract
Representing large-scale co-variability between variables related to aerosols, clouds and radiation is one of many aspects of agreement with observations desirable for a climate model. In this study such relations are investigated in terms of temporal correlations on monthly mean scale, to identify points of agreement and disagreement with observations. Ten regions with different meteorological characteristics and aerosol signatures are studied and correlation matrices for the selected regions offer an overview of model ability to represent present day climate variability. Global climate models with different levels of detail and sophistication in their representation of aerosols and clouds are compared with satellite observations and reanalysis assimilating meteorological fields as well as aerosol optical depth from observations. One example of how the correlation comparison can guide model evaluation and development is the often studied relation between cloud droplet number and water content. Reanalysis, with no parameterized aerosol–cloud coupling, shows weaker correlations than observations, indicating that microphysical couplings between cloud droplet number and water content are not negligible for the co-variations emerging on larger scale. These observed correlations are, however, not in agreement with those expected from dominance of the underlying microphysical aerosol–cloud couplings. For instance, negative correlations in subtropical stratocumulus regions show that suppression of precipitation and subsequent increase in water content due to aerosol is not a dominating process on this scale. Only in one of the studied models are cloud dynamics able to overcome the parameterized dependence of rain formation on droplet number concentration, and negative correlations in the stratocumulus regions are reproduced.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2018. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativeco mmons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. |
Keywords: | Aerosol–cloud–radiation interaction; GCM-evaluation; Satellite observations; Reanalysis; Volcanic aerosol |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Inst for Climate & Atmos Science (ICAS) (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > National Centre for Atmos Science (NCAS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 24 Sep 2018 16:29 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 21:31 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/s00382-018-4384-z |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:135726 |
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