Climatological features of the super-greenhouse effect in observations and future projections
Abstract
The super-greenhouse effect (SGE) is a radiative phenomenon in the tropics characterized by enhanced water-vapour feedback in the troposphere that exceeds surface emissions, so that OLR decreases with increasing surface temperature. This process is a major contributor to the heating of the tropical atmosphere. Here we develop a global climatology of the SGE, using a collocated dataset of observations from multiple instruments in the A-train satellite constellation and reanalyses products. We show that the SGE is a persistent phenomenon in both clear-sky and cloudy conditions, covering up to 50 % of the tropics at any given time. We present that the radiative and dynamic processes associated with clouds and deep convection generally enhance the clear-sky SGE. Finally, we compare these climatological features to different future projections of the CMIP6 experiments to quantify how SGE characteristics change in a warming world.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AGUFMGC1150005D
- Keywords:
-
- 3305 Climate change and variability;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES;
- 3311 Clouds and aerosols;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES;
- 3339 Ocean/atmosphere interactions;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES;
- 3359 Radiative processes;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES