The Temperature Dependence of the Liquid Water Path of Low Clouds in the Southern Great Plains

Abstract Satellite observations of low-level clouds have challenged the idea that increasing liquid water content with temperature combined with constant physical thickness will lead to a negative cloud optics feedback in a decadal climate change. The reasons for the satellite results are explored using 4 yr of surface remote sensing data from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program Cloud and Radiation Testbed site in the southern Great Plains of the United States. It is found that low-cloud liquid water path is approximately invariant with temperature in winter but decreases strongly with temperature in summer, consistent with satellite inferences at this latitude. This behavior occurs because liquid water content shows no detectable temperature dependence while cloud physical thickness decreases with warming. Thinning of clouds with warming is observed on seasonal, synoptic, and diurnal timescales; it is most obvious in the warm sectors of baroclinic waves. Although cloud top is observed to slight...

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