Due to the server upgrades and relocation, this website will go off-line without notice on Tuesday, May 21, and remain unavailable for several hours.
Service should be restored Tuesday evening.

Publication Abstracts

Manaster et al. 2017

Manaster, A., C.W. O'Dell, and G.S. Elsaesser, 2017: Evaluation of cloud liquid water path trends using a multidecadal record of passive microwave observations. J. Climate, 30, no. 15, 5871-5884, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0399.1.

In this study, observed cloud liquid water path (LWP) trends from the Multisensor Advanced Climatology of Liquid Water Path (MAC-LWP) dataset (1988-2014) are compared to trends computed from the temporally-coincident records of 16 global climate models (GCMs) participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5 (CMIP5). For many regions, observed trend magnitudes are several times larger than the corresponding model mean trend magnitudes. Muted model mean trends are thought to be the result of cancellation effects arising from differing interannual variability characteristics and differences in model physics/dynamics. In most regions, the majority of modeled trends were statisically consistent with the observed trends. This was thought to be because of large estimated errors in both the observations and the models due to interannual variability. Over the southern oceans (south of 40S latitude), general agreement between the observed trend and virtually all GCM trends is also found (∼1-2 g/m2/decade). Observed trends are also compared to those from the atmospheric model intercomparison project (AMIP). Like the CMIP5 models, the majority of modeled AMIP trends were statistically consistent with the observed trends. It was also found that, in regions where the AMIP model mean time series better captures observed interannual variability, it tends to better capture the magnitude of the observed trends.

Export citation: [ BibTeX ] [ RIS ]

BibTeX Citation

@article{ma09110p,
  author={Manaster, A. and O'Dell, C. W. and Elsaesser, G. S.},
  title={Evaluation of cloud liquid water path trends using a multidecadal record of passive microwave observations},
  year={2017},
  journal={Journal of Climate},
  volume={30},
  number={15},
  pages={5871--5884},
  doi={10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0399.1},
}

[ Close ]

RIS Citation

TY  - JOUR
ID  - ma09110p
AU  - Manaster, A.
AU  - O'Dell, C. W.
AU  - Elsaesser, G. S.
PY  - 2017
TI  - Evaluation of cloud liquid water path trends using a multidecadal record of passive microwave observations
JA  - J. Climate
JO  - Journal of Climate
VL  - 30
IS  - 15
SP  - 5871
EP  - 5884
DO  - 10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0399.1
ER  -

[ Close ]

• Return to 2017 Publications

• Return to Publications Homepage