Publication Abstracts

Tselioudis et al. 1993

Tselioudis, G., A.A. Lacis, D. Rind, and W.B. Rossow, 1993: Potential effects of cloud optical thickness on climate warming. Nature, 366, 670-672, doi:10.1038/366670a0.

Climate warming can cause changes in the optical properties of low clouds, which may in turn amplify or diminish the warming. But both the sign and magnitude of such feedbacks have been uncertain, largely because the observational evidence for variations in the large-scale optical properties of clouds has been very limited. Recently, analysis of data from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project yielded a relationship between low-cloud optical thickness and cloud temperature that implies a positive feedback between clouds and climate. Here we use a two-dimensional radiative-convective model to assess the effect of such a feedback on the climate change associated with a doubling of the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. We find that, zonally averaged, the feedback is positive in the Northern Hemisphere and is stronger at lower than at higher latitudes. The positive feedback amplifies the overall global climate sensitivity, and the latitudinal gradient in the of the feedback acts to eliminate the high-latitude amplification of the greenhouse warming predicted by most climate models.

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BibTeX Citation

@article{ts07000g,
  author={Tselioudis, G. and Lacis, A. A. and Rind, D. and Rossow, W. B.},
  title={Potential effects of cloud optical thickness on climate warming},
  year={1993},
  journal={Nature},
  volume={366},
  pages={670--672},
  doi={10.1038/366670a0},
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - JOUR
ID  - ts07000g
AU  - Tselioudis, G.
AU  - Lacis, A. A.
AU  - Rind, D.
AU  - Rossow, W. B.
PY  - 1993
TI  - Potential effects of cloud optical thickness on climate warming
JA  - Nature
JO  - Nature
VL  - 366
SP  - 670
EP  - 672
DO  - 10.1038/366670a0
ER  -

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