Vertical structure of cloud radiative heating in the tropics: confronting the EC-Earth v3.3.1/3P model with satellite observations

Understanding the coupling of clouds to large-scale circulation is one of the grand challenges for the global climate research community. In this context, realistically modelling the vertical structure of cloud radiative heating (CRH) and/or cooling in Earth system models is a key premise to underst...

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Veröffentlicht in:Geoscientific Model Development 2021-07, Vol.14 (6), p.4087-4101
Hauptverfasser: Johansson, Erik, Devasthale, Abhay, Tjernström, Michael, Ekman, Annica M. L, Wyser, Klaus, L'Ecuyer, Tristan
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Understanding the coupling of clouds to large-scale circulation is one of the grand challenges for the global climate research community. In this context, realistically modelling the vertical structure of cloud radiative heating (CRH) and/or cooling in Earth system models is a key premise to understand this coupling. Here, we evaluate CRH in two versions of the European Community Earth System Model (EC-Earth) using retrievals derived from the combined radar and lidar data from the CloudSat and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellites. One model version is also used with two different horizontal resolutions. Our study evaluates large-scale intraseasonal variability in the vertical structure of CRH and cloud properties and investigates the changes in CRH during different phases of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a process that dominates the interannual climate variability in the tropics.
ISSN:1991-9603
1991-959X
1991-962X
1991-9603
1991-962X
DOI:10.5194/gmd-14-4087-2021