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Do Southern Ocean Cloud Feedbacks Matter for 21st Century Warming?
Author(s) -
Frey W. R.,
Maroon E. A.,
Pendergrass A. G.,
Kay J. E.
Publication year - 2017
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 - 10.1002/2017gl076339
Subject(s) - extratropical cyclone , shortwave radiation , climatology , environmental science , shortwave , global warming , climate model , climate sensitivity , coupled model intercomparison project , climate change , atmospheric sciences , oceanography , geology , radiation , radiative transfer , physics , quantum mechanics
Cloud phase improvements in a state‐of‐the‐art climate model produce a large 1.5 K increase in equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS, the surface warming in response to instantaneously doubled CO 2 ) via extratropical shortwave cloud feedbacks. Here we show that the same model improvements produce only a small surface warming increase in a realistic 21st century emissions scenario. The small 21st century warming increase is attributed to extratropical ocean heat uptake. Southern Ocean mean‐state circulation takes up heat while a slowdown in North Atlantic circulation acts as a feedback to slow surface warming. Persistent heat uptake by extratropical oceans implies that extratropical cloud biases may not be as important to 21st century warming as biases in other regions. Observational constraints on cloud phase and shortwave radiation that produce a large ECS increase do not imply large changes in 21st century warming.