Temperature Dependence of Low Cloud Optical Thickness in the GISS GCM: Contributing Mechanisms and Climate Implications

Abstract A current-climate simulation of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) GCM, which includes interactive cloud optical properties that depend on the predicted cloud water content, is analyzed to document the variations of low cloud optical thickness with temperature in the model atmosphere. It is found that low cloud optical thickness decreases with temperature in the warm subtropical and tropical latitudes and increases with temperature in the cold midlatitude regions. This behavior is in agreement with the results of two observational studies that analyzed satellite data from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project and Special Sensor Microwave/Imager datasets. The increase of low cloud optical thickness with temperature in the midlatitudes is due to vertical extent and cloud water increases, whereas the decrease with temperature in the warm latitudes is due to decreases in cloud water content and happens despite increases in cloud vertical extent. The cloud processes that pr...

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