We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Constraining Global Changes in Temperature and Precipitation From Observable Changes in Surface Radiative Heating.
- Authors
Dhara, Chirag
- Abstract
Changes in the atmospheric composition alter the magnitude and partitioning between the downward propagating solar and atmospheric longwave radiative fluxes heating the Earth's surface. These changes are computed by radiative transfer codes in Global Climate Models and measured with high precision at surface observation networks. Changes in radiative heating signify changes in the global surface temperature and hydrologic cycle. Here, we develop a conceptual framework using an Energy Balance Model to show that first‐order changes in the hydrologic cycle are mainly associated with changes in solar radiation, while those in surface temperature are mainly associated with changes in atmospheric longwave radiation. These insights are used to explain a range of phenomena including observed historical trends, biases in climate model output, and the intermodel spread in climate change projections. These results may help identify biases in future generations of climate models. Key Points: Surface temperature and precipitation are asymmetrically related to the solar and longwave surface radiative heating fluxesOur results, derived from an idealized model, explain observed climate trends, GCM biases, and spread in climate model projectionsThese results are expected to apply across future generations of climate models
- Subjects
GLOBAL temperature changes; HYDROLOGIC cycle; SURFACE of the earth; HEATING; METEOROLOGICAL precipitation; ATMOSPHERIC radiation
- Publication
Geophysical Research Letters, 2020, Vol 47, Issue 9, p1
- ISSN
0094-8276
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1029/2020GL087576