Shallow Clouds, Water Vapor, Circulation, and Climate Sensitivity

Description

This volume presents a series of overview articles arising from a workshop exploring the links among shallow clouds, water vapor, circulation, and climate sensitivity. It provides a state-of-the art synthesis of understanding about the coupling of clouds and water vapor to the large-scale circulation. The emphasis is on two phenomena, namely the self-aggregation of deep convection and interactions between low clouds and the large-scale environment, with direct links to the sensitivity of climate to radiative perturbations. Each subject is approached using simulations, observations, and synthesizing theory; particular attention is paid to opportunities offered by new remote-sensing technologies, some still prospective. The collection provides a thorough grounding in topics representing one of the World Climate Research Program’s Grand Challenges. Previously published in Surveys in Geophysics, Volume 38, Issue 6, 2017 The aritcles “Observing Convective Aggregation”, “An Observational View of Relationships Between Moisture Aggregation, Cloud, and Radiative Heating Profiles”, “Implications of Warm Rain in Shallow Cumulus and Congestus Clouds for Large-Scale Circulations”, “A Survey of Precipitation-Induced Atmospheric Cold Pools over Oceans and Their Interactions with the Larger-Scale Environment”, “Low-Cloud Feedbacks from Cloud-Controlling Factors: A Review”, “Mechanisms and Model Diversity of Trade-Wind Shallow Cumulus Cloud Feedbacks: A Review”, “Structure and Dynamical Influence of Water Vapor in the Lower Tropical Troposphere”, “Emerging Technologies and Synergies for Airborne and Space-Based Measurements of Water Vapor Profiles”, “Observational Constraints on Cloud Feedbacks: The Role of Active Satellite Sensors”, and “EUREC4A: A Field Campaign to Elucidate the Couplings Between Clouds, Convection and Circulation” are available as open access articles under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com. Front Matter ....Pages i-viii Convective Self-Aggregation in Numerical Simulations: A Review (Allison A. Wing, Kerry Emanuel, Christopher E. Holloway, Caroline Muller)....Pages 1-25 Observing Convective Aggregation (Christopher E. Holloway, Allison A. Wing, Sandrine Bony, Caroline Muller, Hirohiko Masunaga, Tristan S. L’Ecuyer et al.)....Pages 27-64 An Observational View of Relationships Between Moisture Aggregation, Cloud, and Radiative Heating Profiles (Matthew D. Lebsock, Tristan S. L’Ecuyer, Robert Pincus)....Pages 65-82 Correction to: An Observational View of Relationships Between Moisture Aggregation, Cloud, and Radiative Heating Profiles (Matthew D. Lebsock, Tristan S. L’Ecuyer, Robert Pincus)....Pages 83-83 Implications of Warm Rain in Shallow Cumulus and Congestus Clouds for Large-Scale Circulations (Louise Nuijens, Kerry Emanuel, Hirohiko Masunaga, Tristan L’Ecuyer)....Pages 85-110 A Survey of Precipitation-Induced Atmospheric Cold Pools over Oceans and Their Interactions with the Larger-Scale Environment (Paquita Zuidema, Giuseppe Torri, Caroline Muller, Arunchandra Chandra)....Pages 111-133 Low-Cloud Feedbacks from Cloud-Controlling Factors: A Review (Stephen A. Klein, Alex Hall, Joel R. Norris, Robert Pincus)....Pages 135-157 Mechanisms and Model Diversity of Trade-Wind Shallow Cumulus Cloud Feedbacks: A Review (Jessica Vial, Sandrine Bony, Bjorn Stevens, Raphaela Vogel)....Pages 159-181 Importance Profiles for Water Vapor (Brian Mapes, Arunchandra S. Chandra, Zhiming Kuang, Paquita Zuidema)....Pages 183-197 Structure and Dynamical Influence of Water Vapor in the Lower Tropical Troposphere (Bjorn Stevens, Hélène Brogniez, Christoph Kiemle, Jean-Lionel Lacour, Cyril Crevoisier, Johannes Kiliani)....Pages 199-225 The Representation of Tropospheric Water Vapor Over Low-Latitude Oceans in (Re-)analysis: Errors, Impacts, and the Ability to Exploit Current and Prospective Observations (Robert Pincus, Anton Beljaars, Stefan A. Buehler, Gottfried Kirchengast, Florian Ladstaedter, Jeffrey S. Whitaker)....Pages 227-251 Airborne Lidar Observations of Water Vapor Variability in Tropical Shallow Convective Environment (Christoph Kiemle, Silke Groß, Martin Wirth, Luca Bugliaro)....Pages 253-271 Emerging Technologies and Synergies for Airborne and Space-Based Measurements of Water Vapor Profiles (Amin R. Nehrir, Christoph Kiemle, Mathew D. Lebsock, Gottfried Kirchengast, Stefan A. Buehler, Ulrich Löhnert et al.)....Pages 273-310 Observational Constraints on Cloud Feedbacks: The Role of Active Satellite Sensors (David Winker, Helene Chepfer, Vincent Noel, Xia Cai)....Pages 311-336 Shallow Circulations: Relevance and Strategies for Satellite Observation (Gilles Bellon, Oliver Reitebuch, Ann Kristin Naumann)....Pages 337-356 EUREC4A: A Field Campaign to Elucidate the Couplings Between Clouds, Convection and Circulation (Sandrine Bony, Bjorn Stevens, Felix Ament, Sebastien Bigorre, Patrick Chazette, Susanne Crewell et al.)....Pages 357-396