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Improving Climate Projections by Understanding How Cloud Phase affects RadiationWhether a cloud is predominantly water or ice strongly influences interactions between clouds and radiation coming down from the Sun or up from the Earth. Being able to simulate cloud phase transitions accurately in climate models based on observational data sets is critical in order to improve confidence in climate projections, because this uncertainty contributes greatly to the overall uncertainty associated with cloud-climate feedbacks. Ultimately, it translates into uncertainties in Earth's sensitivity to higher CO2 levels. While a lot of effort has recently been made toward constraining cloud phase in climate models, more remains to be done to document the radiative properties of clouds according to their phase. Here we discuss the added value of a new satellite data set that advances the field by providing estimates of the cloud radiative effect as a function of cloud phase and the implications for climate projections.
Document ID
20170006579
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Cesana, Gregory
(Columbia Univ. New York, NY, United States)
Storelvmo, Trude
(Yale Univ. New Haven, CT, United States)
Date Acquired
July 17, 2017
Publication Date
April 27, 2017
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Publisher: Wiley / AGU
Volume: 122
Issue: 8
ISSN: 2169-897X
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN44240
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX15AJ05A
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
radiation
Cloud phase
climate projections

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