Phys.org July 19, 2021
Researchers in the UK used data from Earth observations and climate model simulations to develop a statistical learning analysis of how clouds respond to changes in the environment. They showed that global cloud feedback is dominated by the sensitivity of clouds to surface temperature and tropospheric stability. Considering changes in just these two factors, they were able to constrain global cloud feedback to 0.43 ± 0.35 W⋅m−2⋅K−1 (90% confidence), implying a robustly amplifying effect of clouds on global warming and only a 0.5% chance of Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity below 2 K. The “cloud feedback” is the single most important cause of uncertainty in Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity. Their approach may enable tighter constraints on climate change projections, including its manifold socioeconomic and ecological impacts…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
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