The basic effect of cloud radiative effects on tropical sea-surface temperature variability

The authors argue that coupling between cloud radiative effects (CREs) and the atmospheric circulation have a much more general and widespread effect on tropical climate than that indicated in previous work. It is shown that cloud/circulation coupling leads to robust increases in sea-surface temperature (SST) variability on timescales longer than a month throughout the tropical oceans. It is argued that the increases in tropical SST variance derive primarily from the coupling between SSTs and short-wave CREs: Coupling increases the memory in shortwave CREs on hourly and daily timescales, and thus reddens the spectrum of shortwave CREs and increases their variance on timescales spanning weeks to decades. The results indicate the basic but critical role of CREs in governing climate variability throughout the tropics.