Speaker: Dr. Ming Cai from Florida State University
Title: "A Dissection of Anthropogenic Forcing and Feedback Contributions to Global Warming: From External Forcing to the Final Warming Pattern"
Abstract: In this talk, I will first introduce a new framework for diagnosing climate feedback in coupled general circulation models called Climate Feedback-Response Analysis Method (CFRAM), and demonstrate its advantages over two widely used methods, Partial Radiative Perturbation (PRP) and Online Feedback Suppression (OFS). The CFRAM allows one to decompose the total 3D temperature response to a climate forcing (say the doubling of CO2) into individual partial temperature responses to each of radiative and non-radiative heating perturbations due to different physical/dynamic processes, such as water vapor, clouds, snow/ice, and large-scale heat transport. Unlike the PRP, the CFRAM naturally takes the non-radiative dynamic feedback processes into consideration. As a diagnosing tool, CFRAM has no compensating effects from other feedbacks, as it happens in OFS.
Next, I will apply the CFRAM to global warming simulations derived from both a conceptual climate model and an idealized GCM model without ice-albedo feedback to show the change in the atmospheric poleward energy transport alone can cause exaggerated warming over the pole. The theoretical proof resolves the seemingly paradox, namely, “how come the atmospheric down-gradient heat transport can increase the equator-pole temperature contrast at the surface”?
LOCATION:HUCE Seminar Room MCZ 440 STATUS:CONFIRMED DTSTART:20190417T160000Z DTEND:20190417T160000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR