Effects of Cloud Vertical Structure on Atmospheric Circulation in the GISS GCM

Abstract Thirteen experiments have been performed using the Goddard Institute for Space Studies General Circulation Model (GISS GCM) to investigate the response of the large-scale circulation to different macroscale cloud vertical structures (CVS). The overall effect of clouds, the role of their geographic variations, and difference between the transient and equilibrium responses of the atmospheric circulation are also studied. Clouds act to suppress the Hadley circulation in the transient response, but intensify it in the equilibrium state. Changing CVS affects the atmospheric circulation directly by modifying the radiative cooling profile and atmospheric static stability, but the effect is opposed, on average, by an indirect effect on the latent heating profile produced by deep (moist) convection. Different interactions of radiation and convection with land and ocean surfaces mean that this cancellation of CVS effects on radiative and latent heating is not the same at all locations. All three parameters...