Ubiquitous influence of waves on tropical high cirrus clouds
Abstract Cirrus clouds in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) and water vapor transported into the stratosphere have significant impacts on the global radiation budget and circulation patterns. Climate models, however, have large uncertainties in representing dehydration and cloud processes in the T...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2016-06-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069293 |
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| _version_ | 1849321726381391872 |
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| author | Ji‐Eun Kim M. Joan Alexander T. Paul Bui Jonathan M. Dean‐Day R. Paul Lawson Sarah Woods Dennis Hlavka Leonhard Pfister Eric J. Jensen |
| author_facet | Ji‐Eun Kim M. Joan Alexander T. Paul Bui Jonathan M. Dean‐Day R. Paul Lawson Sarah Woods Dennis Hlavka Leonhard Pfister Eric J. Jensen |
| author_sort | Ji‐Eun Kim |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Cirrus clouds in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) and water vapor transported into the stratosphere have significant impacts on the global radiation budget and circulation patterns. Climate models, however, have large uncertainties in representing dehydration and cloud processes in the TTL, and thus their feedback on surface climate, prohibiting an accurate projection of future global and regional climate changes. Here we use unprecedented airborne measurements over the Pacific to reveal atmospheric waves as a strong modulator of ice clouds in the TTL. Wave‐induced cold and/or cooling conditions are shown to exert a nearly ubiquitous influence on cirrus cloud occurrence at altitudes of 14–18 km, except when air was very recently influenced by convective hydration. We further observe that various vertical scales of cloud layers are associated with various vertical scales of waves, suggesting the importance of representing TTL waves in models. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-819829175f234d61995f49769584e72a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2016-06-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-819829175f234d61995f49769584e72a2025-08-20T03:49:41ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072016-06-0143115895590110.1002/2016GL069293Ubiquitous influence of waves on tropical high cirrus cloudsJi‐Eun Kim0M. Joan Alexander1T. Paul Bui2Jonathan M. Dean‐Day3R. Paul Lawson4Sarah Woods5Dennis Hlavka6Leonhard Pfister7Eric J. Jensen8Earth System Research Laboratory National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Boulder Colorado USANorthWest Research Associates CoRA Office Boulder Colorado USANASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field California USABay Area Environmental Research Institute Petaluma California USASPEC Inc. Boulder Colorado USASPEC Inc. Boulder Colorado USAScience Systems and Applications, Inc. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USANASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field California USANASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field California USAAbstract Cirrus clouds in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) and water vapor transported into the stratosphere have significant impacts on the global radiation budget and circulation patterns. Climate models, however, have large uncertainties in representing dehydration and cloud processes in the TTL, and thus their feedback on surface climate, prohibiting an accurate projection of future global and regional climate changes. Here we use unprecedented airborne measurements over the Pacific to reveal atmospheric waves as a strong modulator of ice clouds in the TTL. Wave‐induced cold and/or cooling conditions are shown to exert a nearly ubiquitous influence on cirrus cloud occurrence at altitudes of 14–18 km, except when air was very recently influenced by convective hydration. We further observe that various vertical scales of cloud layers are associated with various vertical scales of waves, suggesting the importance of representing TTL waves in models.https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069293cirrus cloudstropical tropopausetropical wavescold pointstratospheric water vaporairborne measurements |
| spellingShingle | Ji‐Eun Kim M. Joan Alexander T. Paul Bui Jonathan M. Dean‐Day R. Paul Lawson Sarah Woods Dennis Hlavka Leonhard Pfister Eric J. Jensen Ubiquitous influence of waves on tropical high cirrus clouds Geophysical Research Letters cirrus clouds tropical tropopause tropical waves cold point stratospheric water vapor airborne measurements |
| title | Ubiquitous influence of waves on tropical high cirrus clouds |
| title_full | Ubiquitous influence of waves on tropical high cirrus clouds |
| title_fullStr | Ubiquitous influence of waves on tropical high cirrus clouds |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ubiquitous influence of waves on tropical high cirrus clouds |
| title_short | Ubiquitous influence of waves on tropical high cirrus clouds |
| title_sort | ubiquitous influence of waves on tropical high cirrus clouds |
| topic | cirrus clouds tropical tropopause tropical waves cold point stratospheric water vapor airborne measurements |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069293 |
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