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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 3, NUMBER 1, JANUARY 1990

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
GLOBAL MODELING

Item #d90jan31

"An Infrared Radiative Scheme for the Numerical Models of Weather and Climate," K. Shibata (Meteor. Res. Inst., Nagamine, Ibaraki 305, Japan), T. Aoki, J. Geophys. Res., 94(D12), 14,923-14,943, Oct. 20, 1989.

This method is found to be more economical in computation time than the current Godson method with the same precision. Errors in radiative fluxes are less than 0.8 W/m2 both at the earth's surface and the top of the atmosphere. Accuracy does not degrade when the CO₂ concentration is doubled.

Item #d90jan32

"The Role of Cloud Microphysics in High-Cloud Feedback Effects on Climate Change," C.M.R. Platt (CSIRO, Div. Atmos. Res., Station St., Aspendale, Vic. 3195, Australia), Nature, 341(6241), 428-429, Oct. 5, 1989.

Looks at the temperature dependence of the infrared emittance of high clouds using data from a ground-based lidar/radiometer and in situ aircraft measurements of cloud properties. Concludes that the infrared emittances of high clouds are less sensitive to changes in temperature than predicted by climate models, chiefly because the microphysics of cirrus clouds modifies the relationship between cloud optical depth and cloud ice/liquid water path, in ways not accounted for in the models.

Item #d90jan33

"Linking Land-Surface and Atmospheric General Circulation Models," S. Turner, Ambio, XVIII(6), 355, 1989.

Reports on the combined modeling workshop for the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) coordinating panels 3, 4, and 5 (June 1989, Brussels). This meeting focused on the modeling needs of the three panels relative to terrestrial ecosystems, hydrological and atmospheric models, and relevant field experiments necessary to augment the modeling activities.

Item #d90jan34

"Modeling the Effects of Amazonian Deforestation on Regional Surface Climate: A Review," R.E. Dickinson (NCAR, POB 3000, Boulder CO 80307), Agric. For. Meteor., 47(2-4), 339-347, Sep. 1989.

Recounts a first-hand impression of forest clearing in the Amazon Forest, and challenges climate modelers to describe the consequences of this change. Critically reviews past climate modeling studies to examine this question. An adequate treatment of interception losses depends on a realistic description of incident solar radiation during rainfall and of the local structure of convective rainfall. Data from the Amazon have helped to diagnose model defects.

Item #d90jan35

"Cloud Overlap Statistics," L. Tian (Dept. Meteor., Penn. State Univ., University Park PA 16802), J.A. Curry, J. Geophys. Res., 94(D7), 9925-9935, July 20, 1989.

Uses the U.S. Air Force 3-D Nephanalysis (3DNEPH) to analyze the vertical distribution of clouds and cloud overlap statistics during January 1979 over the north Atlantic Ocean. Three cloud overlap assumptions were tested: maximum, minimum and random overlap. Results indicate that, while random overlap performs reasonably well on the average, the systematic bias (which depends on grid resolution) and random discrepancies could result in significant errors when this approximation is used in general circulation modeling and cloud climatologies.

Item #d90jan36

"The Development of a Two-Dimensional Global Tropospheric Model--1. The Model Transport," A.M. Hough (Environ. & Med. Sci. Div., Harwell Lab., Didcot, Oxfordshire, UK), ibid., 1235-1261.

Develops a two-dimensional meridional (pole to pole) model of the global troposphere which uses an effective stream function and diffusion tensor, both derived from a three-dimensional general circulation model, to describe model transport. Model results for halocarbons and 85Kr agree well with measurements made near the surface of the earth over a wide range of latitudes. Suggests that model development could be extended to study global tropospheric chemical processes.