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The importance of clouds

Explore the significance of clouds in Earth's climate system, from their radiative effects to their influence on precipitation patterns and atmospheric chemistry. Learn about the different cloud types, factors affecting their formation, and their role in climate change modeling. Discover how clouds are crucial for understanding the global hydrological cycle.

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The importance of clouds

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  1. The importance of clouds

  2. The Global Climate System http://www.dkrz.de/dkrz/broschuere-eng/research/climatesystem.html http://www.lwr.kth.se/Grundutbildning/1B1292/Compendium_online/ch05s01s02.html

  3. Radiation in the climate system Kiehl and Trenberth, BAMS, 1997

  4. Net cloud radiative effect from ERBE -90 -70 -50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40

  5. Latent Heating Combined satellite rainfall measurements Reflects locations of major precipitating cloud systems spatiotemporal variability

  6. The Global Hydrological Cycle http://www.dkrz.de/dkrz/broschuere-eng/research/water.html

  7. 1000 km 100 km 10 km 1 km From global to local – range of scales

  8. Impact of cloud type upon radiation

  9. Impact of cloud type upon radiation

  10. Impact of cloud type upon radiation

  11. Distribution of cloud types Deep convection High Anvils Tropical East Pacific Mid-level Low Stratocumulus

  12. Radiative effect of cloud types High Mid-level Low

  13. Factors influencing cloud types

  14. SST anomaly from zonal mean ERBE net cloud forcing

  15. ISCCP inferred St/Sc amount

  16. Tropical-subtropical general circulation from Randall et al., J. Atmos. Sci., 37, 125-130, 1980 warm SST cold SST

  17. Seasonal cycle of precipitation Jan 2004 Jul 2004

  18. Interannual variability of precipitation El Niño Jan 1998 La Niña Jan 1999

  19. Global frequency and distribution of lightning as observed from space Christian et al., J. Geophys. Res., 2003.

  20. Tight couplings between SST, winds, and clouds

  21. Clouds and precipitation associated with midlatitude cyclones warm conveyor

  22. Orographic precipitation enhancement

  23. Clouds and climate change

  24. GFDL Clouds in climate models- change in low cloud amount for 2CO2 CCM model number from Stephens (2005)

  25. IPCC, 2007

  26. Pacific Northwest Projected River Flow

  27. Cloud effects on atmospheric chemistry • Acidity of rain • Gas-particle conversion • Biogeochemical feedbacks to tropical cloud pattern

  28. Hobbs 2000

  29. Hobbs 2000

  30. Modeling clouds and precipitation • Forecasting of precipitation • Climate impacts

  31. From the sublime…. 10x10x5 m resolution 20x20x3 km domain Stevens et al. (2002)

  32. ….to the ridiculous, but necessary 3x3o resolution global domain climateprediction.net

  33. O3 photolyzed OH Hobbs 2000

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