Discrepancies in tropical upper tropospheric warming between atmospheric circulation models and satellites
Recent studies have examined tropical upper tropospheric warming by comparing coupled atmosphere–ocean global circulation model (GCM) simulations from Phase 3 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3) with satellite and radiosonde observations of warming in the tropical upper troposphere...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2012-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/7/4/044018 |
| _version_ | 1797748440153718784 |
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| author | Stephen Po-Chedley Qiang Fu |
| author_facet | Stephen Po-Chedley Qiang Fu |
| author_sort | Stephen Po-Chedley |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Recent studies have examined tropical upper tropospheric warming by comparing coupled atmosphere–ocean global circulation model (GCM) simulations from Phase 3 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3) with satellite and radiosonde observations of warming in the tropical upper troposphere relative to the lower-middle troposphere. These studies showed that models tended to overestimate increases in static stability between the upper and lower-middle troposphere. We revisit this issue using atmospheric GCMs with prescribed historical sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and coupled atmosphere–ocean GCMs that participated in the latest model intercomparison project, CMIP5. It is demonstrated that even with historical SSTs as a boundary condition, most atmospheric models exhibit excessive tropical upper tropospheric warming relative to the lower-middle troposphere as compared with satellite-borne microwave sounding unit measurements. It is also shown that the results from CMIP5 coupled atmosphere–ocean GCMs are similar to findings from CMIP3 coupled GCMs. The apparent model-observational difference for tropical upper tropospheric warming represents an important problem, but it is not clear whether the difference is a result of common biases in GCMs, biases in observational datasets, or both. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:05:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a06ac8a8d98d4e4ca1280a6fa1e7377b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:05:47Z |
| publishDate | 2012-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-a06ac8a8d98d4e4ca1280a6fa1e7377b2023-08-09T14:23:12ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262012-01-017404401810.1088/1748-9326/7/4/044018Discrepancies in tropical upper tropospheric warming between atmospheric circulation models and satellitesStephen Po-Chedley0Qiang Fu1Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington , Seattle, WA, USADepartment of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington , Seattle, WA, USA; College of Atmospheric Sciences, Lanzhou University , Lanzhou, Gansu, People’s Republic of ChinaRecent studies have examined tropical upper tropospheric warming by comparing coupled atmosphere–ocean global circulation model (GCM) simulations from Phase 3 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3) with satellite and radiosonde observations of warming in the tropical upper troposphere relative to the lower-middle troposphere. These studies showed that models tended to overestimate increases in static stability between the upper and lower-middle troposphere. We revisit this issue using atmospheric GCMs with prescribed historical sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and coupled atmosphere–ocean GCMs that participated in the latest model intercomparison project, CMIP5. It is demonstrated that even with historical SSTs as a boundary condition, most atmospheric models exhibit excessive tropical upper tropospheric warming relative to the lower-middle troposphere as compared with satellite-borne microwave sounding unit measurements. It is also shown that the results from CMIP5 coupled atmosphere–ocean GCMs are similar to findings from CMIP3 coupled GCMs. The apparent model-observational difference for tropical upper tropospheric warming represents an important problem, but it is not clear whether the difference is a result of common biases in GCMs, biases in observational datasets, or both.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/7/4/044018climate changeglobal warmingtropical vertical temperature amplificationtropical troposphereatmospheric temperature trendsmicrowave sounding unit |
| spellingShingle | Stephen Po-Chedley Qiang Fu Discrepancies in tropical upper tropospheric warming between atmospheric circulation models and satellites Environmental Research Letters climate change global warming tropical vertical temperature amplification tropical troposphere atmospheric temperature trends microwave sounding unit |
| title | Discrepancies in tropical upper tropospheric warming between atmospheric circulation models and satellites |
| title_full | Discrepancies in tropical upper tropospheric warming between atmospheric circulation models and satellites |
| title_fullStr | Discrepancies in tropical upper tropospheric warming between atmospheric circulation models and satellites |
| title_full_unstemmed | Discrepancies in tropical upper tropospheric warming between atmospheric circulation models and satellites |
| title_short | Discrepancies in tropical upper tropospheric warming between atmospheric circulation models and satellites |
| title_sort | discrepancies in tropical upper tropospheric warming between atmospheric circulation models and satellites |
| topic | climate change global warming tropical vertical temperature amplification tropical troposphere atmospheric temperature trends microwave sounding unit |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/7/4/044018 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT stephenpochedley discrepanciesintropicaluppertroposphericwarmingbetweenatmosphericcirculationmodelsandsatellites AT qiangfu discrepanciesintropicaluppertroposphericwarmingbetweenatmosphericcirculationmodelsandsatellites |