On the Meridional Gradient in Clear-Sky CO2 Forcing
Abstract
Instantaneous clear-sky CO2 forcing is known to vary significantly over the globe, becoming zero or even negative near the poles, but the climate factors which control this are not well understood. Building upon the work of Wilson (2012), we build a first-principles, analytical model for CO2 forcing which requires as input only the temperatures at the surface and roughly 20 hPa, as well as column relative humidity. This model quantitatively captures global variations in clear-sky CO2 forcing, and shows that the meridional forcing gradient is predominantly due to the meridional surface temperature gradient, with modulations by water vapor.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFM.A31N2744J
- Keywords:
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- 0321 Cloud/radiation interaction;
- ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE;
- 3305 Climate change and variability;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES;
- 3311 Clouds and aerosols;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES;
- 3359 Radiative processes;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES