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The hydrological cycle response to cirrus cloud thinning
Author(s) -
Kristjánsson Jón Egill,
Muri Helene,
Schmidt Hauke
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2015gl066795
Subject(s) - water cycle , environmental science , cirrus , longwave , outgoing longwave radiation , atmospheric sciences , climatology , precipitation , climate model , troposphere , radiative transfer , latent heat , diurnal cycle , shortwave radiation , climate change , meteorology , radiation , geology , convection , ecology , oceanography , biology , physics , quantum mechanics
Recent multimodel studies have shown that if one attempts to cancel increasing CO 2 concentrations by reducing absorbed solar radiation, the hydrological cycle will weaken if global temperature is kept unchanged. Using a global climate model, we investigate the hydrological cycle response to “cirrus cloud thinning (CCT),” which is a proposed climate engineering technique that seeks to enhance outgoing longwave radiation. Investigations of the “fast response” in experiments with fixed sea surface temperatures reveal that CCT causes a significant enhancement of the latent heat flux and precipitation. This is due to enhanced radiative cooling of the troposphere, which is opposite to the effect of increased CO 2 concentrations. By combining CCT with CO 2 increase in multidecadal simulations with a slab ocean, we demonstrate a systematic enhancement of the hydrological cycle due to CCT. This leads to enhanced moisture availability in low‐latitude land regions and a strengthening of the Indian monsoon.