CLIMATE FEEDBACKS AND FUTURE REMOTE SENSING OBSERVATIONS

Water vapor and cloud - climate feedbacks are two fundamental feedbacks in the context of climate change. Although more realistic in terms of water vapor, present-day climate models fail to properly represent the physical processes associated with cloud-climate feedbacks. Remote sensing from space of these small-scale processes, such as clouds, turbulence and convection, is notoriously difficult and is still not good enough in order to provide the necessary constraints that would lead to a better understanding of the climate system and to improved climate prediction. A Program on ‘Climate Feedbacks and Future Remote Sensing Observations’ was organized under the auspices of the Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS). The goals of this Program were: i) To bring together scientists from different branches of the climate research community (theory, models, observations) to address key problems in the physics of climate feedbacks; ii) To promote the use of remote sensing observational data in the climate physics and climate modeling community; iii) To provide guidance on future research and future missions regarding the physics of climate change. The main conclusions and recommendations from this KISS Program will be presented in detail.