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A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
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FROM VOLUME 7, NUMBER 8, AUGUST 1994

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS... CLIMATE SENSITIVITY AND FEEDBACKS

Item #d94Aug11

"The Role of the Tropical Super Greenhouse Effect in Heating the Ocean," D. Lubin (Calif. Space Inst., Univ. California, La Jolla CA 92093), Science, 265(5169), 224-227, July 8, 1994.

Measurements in the middle infrared made with an FTIR spectroradiometer imply an anonymously large greenhouse effect over equatorial oceans caused by water vapor. The super greenhouse effect that has been inferred from satellite measurements contributes directly to heating of the sea surface.

Item #d94Aug12

Two items in J. Clim., 7(6), June 1994:

"Relationship Between Clouds and Sea Surface Temperatures in the Western Tropical Pacific," A. Arking (11810 Gainsborough Rd., Potomac MD 20854), D. Ziskin, 988-1000. Uses four years of earth radiation budget, cloud, and sea surface temperature data to challenge the hypothesis of Ramanathan and Collins (1991) that high-level clouds act as a thermostatic mechanism for regulating sea surface temperatures in the tropics. Results lend support to earlier concepts of Bjerknes and Namias that the Pacific warm pool is the product of large-scale circulations and air-sea interactions.

"Some Sensitivity Evaluations of Potential 2xCO₂ Climate Impact on Deep Convection over Water Bodies," M. Segal (Dept. Agronomy, Iowa State Univ., Ames IA 50011), M.J. Mitchell, R.W. Arritt, 1014-1018. In most situations investigated with a boundary-layer numerical model, the potential for deep convection was slightly reduced.

Item #d94Aug13

"Failure of Climate Regulation in a Geophysiological Model," J.E. Lovelock (Coombe Mill, St. Giles on the Heath, Launceston PL15 9RY, UK), L.R. Kump, Nature, 369(6483), 732-734, June 30, 1994. (See GCCD, p. 4, July.)

Item #d94Aug14

"An Inquiry into the Cirrus-Cloud Thermostat Effect for Tropical Sea Surface Temperature," K.-M. Lau (Lab. Atmos., NASA-Goddard, Greenbelt MD 20771), C.-H. Sui et al., Geophys. Res. Lett., 21(12), 1157-1160, June 15, 1994.

Investigates the relative importance of local vs. remote control on cloud radiative forcing using a cumulus ensemble model. Cloud and surface radiation forcings are much more sensitive to the mean vertical motion associated with large-scale tropical circulation than to local sea surface temperature. This result is inconsistent with the cirrus-thermostat hypothesis of Ramanathan and Collins (1991). (Discussion between Ramanathan and Collins and the authors of this paper appears on pp. 1185-1188 of the same issue.)

Item #d94Aug15

"Physics of Greenhouse Effect and Convection in Warm Oceans," A.K. Inamdar (Ctr. Clouds, Chem. & Clim., Scripps Inst. Oceanog., La Jolla CA 92093), V. Ramanathan, J. Clim., 7(5), 715-731, May 1994.

Examines the effects of deep convection on the climatological mean vertical distributions of water vapor and its greenhouse effect over warm oceans, and the nature of the super greenhouse effect. Used satellite radiation budget calculations, atmospheric soundings from ships, and radiation calculations.

Item #d94Aug16

"Diagnostic Study of Climate Feedback Processes in Atmospheric General Circulation Models," M.H. Zhang (State Univ. New York, Stony Brook NY 11794), J.J. Hack et al., J. Geophys. Res., 99(D3), 5525-5537, Mar. 20, 1994. (See Global Modeling section.)

Item #d94Aug17

"Climate Sensitivity and Tropical Moisture Distribution," A. Sinha (Dept. Meteor., Univ. Reading, 2 Earley Gate, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 2AU, UK), M.R. Allen, ibid., 99(D2), 3707-3716, Feb. 20, 1994.

Using a 1-D model originally proposed by Lindzen and Sun, explores the hypothesis that drying of the tropical upper troposphere might limit the climate's sensitivity to changes in greenhouse forcing. The effect of humidity changes on radiative forcing is critically sensitive to undetermined parameters in the model. Discusses the feasibility of placing constraints on critical parameters through satellite observations of interannual variability of the tropical clear-sky radiation field.

Item #d94Aug18

"Estimating Thermal Forcings of Greenhouse Gases from Ancient Climates: The Problem of Statistical Confounding," C. Loehle (Environ. Res. Div., Argonne Natl. Lab., Argonne, Ill.), Geophys. Res. Lett., 21(2), 109-111, Jan. 15, 1994.

Argues that estimating the strength of the CO₂ warming effect from statistical evaluations of past climates based on CO₂ and orbital forcing is hampered by strong multiple correlations among CH4, CO₂, ocean currents, ice volume (and therefore albedo), dust, and nonseasalt sulfate.

Specialized Papers

Item #d94Aug19

"Influence of the Vertical Structure of the Atmosphere on the Seasonal Variation of Precipitable Water and Greenhouse Effect," S. Bony (Lab. Météor. Dynamique, CNRS, Ecole Normale Superieure, 24 rue Lhomond, F-75321, Paris Cedex 05, France), J.-P. Duvel, J. Geophys. Res., 99(D6), 12,963-12,980, June 20, 1994.

Item #d94Aug20

"A One-Dimensional Study of Possible Cirrus Cloud Feedbacks," A. Sinha (Dept. Meteor., Univ. Reading, 2 Earley Gate, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 2AU, UK), K.P. Shine, J. Clim., 7(1), 158-173, Jan. 1994.

Item #d94Aug21

"Large-Scale Effects on the Regulation of Tropical Sea Surface Temperature," D.L. Hartmann (Dept. Atmos. Sci., AK-40, Univ. Washington, Seattle WA 98195), M.L. Michelsen, ibid., 6(11), 2049-2062, Nov. 1993.

Item #d94Aug22

"Large-Scale Variability of Atmospheric Deep Convection in Relation to Sea Surface Temperature in the Tropics," C. Zhang (JISAO, GJ-40, Univ. Washington, Seattle WA 98195), ibid., 6(10), 1898-1913, Oct. 1993.

Item #d94Aug23

"Using Satellite Infrared Data in Studies of Variabilities of the Western Pacific Warm Pool, Science, 262(5132), 440-441, Oct. 15, 1993. Comment by J.J. Bates (CMDL, ERL, NOAA, 325 Broadway, Boulder CO 80303) et al. Response by X.-H. Yan (Ctr. Remote Sensing, Marine Studies, Univ. Delaware, Newark DE 19716) et al.