PCIC science brief: On cloud-circulation coupling and climate sensitivity
Date
2023-06
Authors
Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC)
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC)
Abstract
One of the key uncertainties in climate model simulations has to do with the response of low-lying marine clouds to increasing temperatures. A recent paper in the journal Nature uses a mix of radar, lidar and data from atmospheric probes to test one of the mechanisms by which cloud cover is projected to be reduced under climate change. Their findings show that this mechanism is not evident in the trade wind regions, which suggests that might not occur in nature. This further suggests that the most extreme estimates of the climate's response to greenhouse gas emissions are less likely than earlier research suggests. Here we discuss what these results tell us about changes to the Earth's sensitivity to greenhouse gas emissions and what this may mean for our province.
Description
Keywords
#science brief, UN SDG 13: Climate Action, Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC)