February 28, 2007
GCRIO Program Overview
Our extensive collection of documents.
Archives of the
Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999
FROM VOLUME 7, NUMBER 8, AUGUST 1994
PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS... CLIMATE SENSITIVITY AND FEEDBACKS
"The Role of the Tropical Super Greenhouse
Effect in Heating the Ocean," D. Lubin (Calif. Space Inst.,
Univ. California, La Jolla CA 92093), Science, 265(5169),
224-227, July 8, 1994.
Measurements in the middle infrared made with an FTIR
spectroradiometer imply an anonymously large greenhouse effect
over equatorial oceans caused by water vapor. The super
greenhouse effect that has been inferred from satellite
measurements contributes directly to heating of the sea surface.
Two items in J. Clim., 7(6), June 1994:
"Relationship Between Clouds and Sea Surface Temperatures
in the Western Tropical Pacific," A. Arking (11810
Gainsborough Rd., Potomac MD 20854), D. Ziskin, 988-1000. Uses
four years of earth radiation budget, cloud, and sea surface
temperature data to challenge the hypothesis of Ramanathan and
Collins (1991) that high-level clouds act as a thermostatic
mechanism for regulating sea surface temperatures in the tropics.
Results lend support to earlier concepts of Bjerknes and Namias
that the Pacific warm pool is the product of large-scale
circulations and air-sea interactions.
"Some Sensitivity Evaluations of Potential 2xCO2
Climate Impact on Deep Convection over Water Bodies," M.
Segal (Dept. Agronomy, Iowa State Univ., Ames IA 50011), M.J.
Mitchell, R.W. Arritt, 1014-1018. In most situations investigated
with a boundary-layer numerical model, the potential for deep
convection was slightly reduced.
"Failure of Climate Regulation in a
Geophysiological Model," J.E. Lovelock (Coombe Mill, St.
Giles on the Heath, Launceston PL15 9RY, UK), L.R. Kump, Nature,
369(6483), 732-734, June 30, 1994. (See GCCD, p. 4, July.)
"An Inquiry into the Cirrus-Cloud Thermostat
Effect for Tropical Sea Surface Temperature," K.-M. Lau
(Lab. Atmos., NASA-Goddard, Greenbelt MD 20771), C.-H. Sui et
al., Geophys. Res. Lett., 21(12), 1157-1160, June 15,
Investigates the relative importance of local vs. remote
control on cloud radiative forcing using a cumulus ensemble
model. Cloud and surface radiation forcings are much more
sensitive to the mean vertical motion associated with large-scale
tropical circulation than to local sea surface temperature. This
result is inconsistent with the cirrus-thermostat hypothesis of
Ramanathan and Collins (1991). (Discussion between Ramanathan and
Collins and the authors of this paper appears on pp. 1185-1188 of
the same issue.)
"Physics of Greenhouse Effect and Convection in
Warm Oceans," A.K. Inamdar (Ctr. Clouds, Chem. & Clim.,
Scripps Inst. Oceanog., La Jolla CA 92093), V. Ramanathan, J.
Clim., 7(5), 715-731, May 1994.
Examines the effects of deep convection on the climatological
mean vertical distributions of water vapor and its greenhouse
effect over warm oceans, and the nature of the super greenhouse
effect. Used satellite radiation budget calculations, atmospheric
soundings from ships, and radiation calculations.
"Diagnostic Study of Climate Feedback Processes
in Atmospheric General Circulation Models," M.H. Zhang
(State Univ. New York, Stony Brook NY 11794), J.J. Hack et al., J.
Geophys. Res., 99(D3), 5525-5537, Mar. 20, 1994. (See Global
"Climate Sensitivity and Tropical Moisture
Distribution," A. Sinha (Dept. Meteor., Univ. Reading, 2
Earley Gate, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 2AU, UK), M.R. Allen, ibid.,
99(D2), 3707-3716, Feb. 20, 1994.
Using a 1-D model originally proposed by Lindzen and Sun,
explores the hypothesis that drying of the tropical upper
troposphere might limit the climate's sensitivity to changes in
greenhouse forcing. The effect of humidity changes on radiative
forcing is critically sensitive to undetermined parameters in the
model. Discusses the feasibility of placing constraints on
critical parameters through satellite observations of interannual
variability of the tropical clear-sky radiation field.
"Estimating Thermal Forcings of Greenhouse
Gases from Ancient Climates: The Problem of Statistical
Confounding," C. Loehle (Environ. Res. Div., Argonne Natl.
Lab., Argonne, Ill.), Geophys. Res. Lett., 21(2), 109-111,
Jan. 15, 1994.
Argues that estimating the strength of the CO2
warming effect from statistical evaluations of past climates
based on CO2 and orbital forcing is hampered by strong
multiple correlations among CH4, CO2, ocean currents,
ice volume (and therefore albedo), dust, and nonseasalt sulfate.
"Influence of the Vertical Structure of the
Atmosphere on the Seasonal Variation of Precipitable Water and
Greenhouse Effect," S. Bony (Lab. Météor. Dynamique, CNRS,
Ecole Normale Superieure, 24 rue Lhomond, F-75321, Paris Cedex
05, France), J.-P. Duvel, J. Geophys. Res., 99(D6),
12,963-12,980, June 20, 1994.
"A One-Dimensional Study of Possible Cirrus
Cloud Feedbacks," A. Sinha (Dept. Meteor., Univ. Reading, 2
Earley Gate, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 2AU, UK), K.P. Shine, J.
Clim., 7(1), 158-173, Jan. 1994.
"Large-Scale Effects on the Regulation of
Tropical Sea Surface Temperature," D.L. Hartmann (Dept.
Atmos. Sci., AK-40, Univ. Washington, Seattle WA 98195), M.L.
Michelsen, ibid., 6(11), 2049-2062, Nov. 1993.
"Large-Scale Variability of Atmospheric Deep
Convection in Relation to Sea Surface Temperature in the
Tropics," C. Zhang (JISAO, GJ-40, Univ. Washington, Seattle
WA 98195), ibid., 6(10), 1898-1913, Oct. 1993.
"Using Satellite Infrared Data in Studies of
Variabilities of the Western Pacific Warm Pool, Science,
262(5132), 440-441, Oct. 15, 1993. Comment by J.J. Bates (CMDL,
ERL, NOAA, 325 Broadway, Boulder CO 80303) et al. Response by
X.-H. Yan (Ctr. Remote Sensing, Marine Studies, Univ. Delaware,
Newark DE 19716) et al.
Guide to Publishers
Index of Abbreviations