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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 1, NUMBER 2, AUGUST 1988

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
GLOBAL MODELING

Item #d88aug19

"Cloud Feedback Processes in a General Circulation Model," R.T. Wetherald (GFDL/NOAA, POB 308, Princeton Univ., Princeton NJ 08542), S. Manabe, J. Atmos. Sci., 45(9), 1397-1415, Apr. 15, 1988.

The influence of cloud feedback process upon the sensitivity of climate is investigated by comparing the behavior of two versions of a climate model with predicted and prescribed cloud cover. The sensitivity of each version of the model is inferred from its equilibrium response to a doubling of the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide. At most latitudes the effect of increased cloudiness around the tropopause lowers global mean planetary albedo and enhances the CO₂ induced warming. This is a study of the mechanisms involved in this process rather than the quantitative assessment of its influence on the sensitivity of climate.

Item #d88aug20

"A Comparison of Soil-Moisture Sensitivity in Two Global Climate Models," G.A. Meehl (Climate Div., NCAR, POB 3000, Boulder CO 80307), W.M. Washington, ibid., 1476-1492.

Surface hydrological processes from two global spectral general circulation climate models are compared for the climates simulated with present-day (control) and increased atmospheric carbon dioxide. Both models (NCAR and GFDL) use highly parameterized surface processes and the so-called 'bucket' soil-moisture method. The NCAR model tends to retain soil moisture more, delaying summer drying compared to the GFDL model. The highly parameterized hydrology in the models, lack of appropriate observed data, and complexity of hydrological processes in the real world prohibit accurate verification and calibration of the models.

Item #d88aug21

"Status of Paleoclimatic Research: An Excerpt from the April 1987 NSF Climate Dynamics Workshop on Data-Model Interactions," D.K. Rea (Univ. Michigan), Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 69(4), 390-95, Apr. 1988.

The workshop considered how to best enhance the interaction between scientists who generate proxy records of past climates and those who construct computer-based models of climates. Titles and authors of five keynote talks are: "Theory and Modeling of Paleoclimate," (B. Saltzman, Yale Univ., New Haven, Conn.); "The Nature, Strength, and Weaknesses of Climate Models for Paleoclimate Simulations" (J.E. Kutzbach, Univ. Wisconsin, Madison, Wisc.); "Climate Data and Events on Oceanic Time Scales" (C.W. Stockton, Univ. Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.); "Climate Data and Events on Orbital Time Scales," (W.L. Prell, Brown Univ., Providence, R.I.), and "Climate Data and Events on Tectonic Time Scales'" (A. Arthur, Univ. Rhode Island, Narragansett, R.I.). Summaries of these lectures are followed by the workshop's major recommendations.