Increased reflection of incoming sunlight by clouds led one current-generation climate model to predict unrealistically cold temperatures during the last ice age.
Clouds and cloud feedbacks
New Insights into Uncertainties About Earth’s Rising Temperature
A comparison of climate models finds that much of the variation in their predictions of global warming arises from differences in how they simulate the response of convective processes to warming.
A Global View of Shapes and Sizes of Ice Crystals in Cloud Tops
Ice particles have systematic covariations and temperature dependences that are surprisingly consistent with a simple ice growth theory as revealed by satellites.
Pushing the Computational Limits of Climate Simulation
Researchers apply a superparameterization technique to boost the accuracy and efficiency of climate predictions generated by the Energy Exascale Earth System Model.
A “Super” Solution for Modeling Clouds
Climate models struggle to accurately portray clouds because the models cannot resolve the scales at which clouds form. A new study demonstrates a potential fix for the problem.
A Better Way to Measure Cloud Composition
An enhanced satellite remote sensing suite accurately measures ice particles, temperature, and water vapor.
Improving Estimates of Long-Term Climate Sensitivity
New modeling casts doubt on the suitability of running experiments with fixed sea surface temperatures to understand the effects of cloud aggregation on Earth’s climate.
Finding Sources of Uncertainty in the Spatial Pattern of Warming
The planet is heating up, but uncertainty still exists about how temperatures will change in specific regions. A new study examines sources of uncertainty in the meridional pattern of warming.
Diagnosing the Warm Bias in the Central United States
A set of four papers published in JGR: Atmospheres present results from a project investigating why models predict warmer surface temperatures than are observed in the central United States.
How Do Clouds React to Regional Warming?
Researchers illuminate how and why cloud feedbacks depend on spatial patterns of global warming.