Physics of Greenhouse Effect and Convection in Warm Oceans

Inamdar, Anand K.; Ramanathan, V.

doi:10.1175/1520-0442(1994)007<0715:pogeac>2.0.co;2

Cited by 66 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…To validate this point, we present the precipitable water above 500 mbar retrieved from the TOVS Pathfinder Path-A project collocated with the CERES footprints shown in the top two panels and averaged over the same period, in the bottom panel of Figure 7. The dynamics associated with convective regime [Inamdar and Ramanathan, 1994] contributes to the strong moistening shown in the bottom panel of Figure 7. This is also the same regime (in T s ) experiencing the super greenhouse effect [Raval and Ramanathan, 1989] whereby an increase in T s beyond 297 K, leads to an increase in G a that exceeds that due to an increase in the black body surface emission.…”

Section: Interactions Between Column Radiative Cooling Surface Tempementioning

confidence: 99%

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Satellite observations of the water vapor greenhouse effect and column longwave cooling rates: Relative roles of the continuum and vibration‐rotation to pure rotation bands

2004

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[1] The Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument on board the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite provides, for the first time, a largescale (40 S to 40 N) data set for the atmospheric greenhouse effect and the columnaveraged longwave (LW) radiative cooling rates in the broadband (5-100 microns) and the window (8-12 microns) regions. We demonstrate here that the separation into the window and the nonwindow (5-8 microns and 12-100 microns) fluxes provides the first global-scale data set to exhibit the sensitivity of the atmospheric greenhouse effect to vertical water vapor distribution. The nonwindow greenhouse effect varies linearly with the logarithm of column water vapor amount weighted with the atmospheric pressure, while the window component varies quadratically with the water vapor partial pressure. The column cooling rates range from about À170 to À210 W m À2 for the nonwindow region. The window cooling rates are only about 10% to 20% of the above range and approach rapidly to near-zero values for surface temperatures less than 288 K. The nonwindow component of the greenhouse effect and cooling rates are shown to be more sensitive to upper troposphere water vapor, while the window greenhouse effect and cooling rates are shown to be more sensitive to the lower troposphere water vapor amount. In addition, the data reveal that in tropical regions, with warm sea surface temperatures (greater than 297 K) and elevated upper tropospheric water vapor amounts, the continuum emission in the window region leads to enhanced cooling of the column, while the rotational bands in the nonwindow region lead to a net decrease in the longwave cooling of the atmospheric column.

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Section: Interactions Between Column Radiative Cooling Surface Tempementioning

confidence: 99%

“…These data have been quality checked before use following the procedure described in our earlier papers [e.g., Inamdar and Ramanathan, 1994]. Ideally, we would have preferred to use sounding data over the oceans.…”

Section: Rawinsonde Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Satellite observations of the water vapor greenhouse effect and column longwave cooling rates: Relative roles of the continuum and vibration‐rotation to pure rotation bands

2004

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“…For long timescales, however, relative humidity is considered more stable, but it also depends on different climate regimes. For example, over the tropical oceans the relative humidity in convective regions is higher than in nonconvective regions, which is not only because of the temperature dependence of the saturation vapor pressure but also because of the moistening effect of lowlevel convergence of moisture, upward transport by deep convection, and the detraining of ice from the associated cirrus anvils [Sun and Oort, 1995;Inamdar and Ramanathan, 1994]. Nevertheless, the above sensitMty studies provide useful insights as to the dependence of SDLW upon other atmospheric parameters.…”

Section: Model Sensitivity Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Algorithm development strategies for retrieving the downwelling longwave flux at the Earth's surface

Zhou¹,

Cess²

2001

J. Geophys. Res.

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IntroductionThe surface radiation budget not only represents direct radiative forcing at the surface, but it also determines the latent and sensible heating fluxes to the atmosphere. The surface net longwave (LW) flux is further a manifestation of the greenhouse effect of the atmosphere, and it is essential to reproduce it accurately. Direct surface radiation measurements, however, are geographically sparse. Over the years many algorithms have been developed in an effort to obtain a global surface radiation data set. The upward emission from the surface (SULW) is usually determined from the Stephen-Boltzmann

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“…The crucial question was whether convection enhances or diminishes the concentration of upper tropospheric water vapour. Early attempts to check this consisted of measuring the vertical distribution of water vapour in regions of more or less convection (Inamdar and Ramanathan, 1994) or in cold and warm seasons (Rind et al, 1991). It turned out that convective regions are more humid than non-convective ones with a higher relative humidity over the entire tropospheric column (Inamdar and Ramanathan, 1994).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Early attempts to check this consisted of measuring the vertical distribution of water vapour in regions of more or less convection (Inamdar and Ramanathan, 1994) or in cold and warm seasons (Rind et al, 1991). It turned out that convective regions are more humid than non-convective ones with a higher relative humidity over the entire tropospheric column (Inamdar and Ramanathan, 1994). Comparing summer vs. winter values of middle and upper tropospheric water vapour concentrations using satellite data showed that increased convection leads to increased water vapour above the 500 hpa level (Rind et al, 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Upper tropospheric humidity changes under constant relative humidity

Gierens

Eleftheratos

2016

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. Theoretical derivations are given on the change of upper tropospheric humidity (UTH) in a warming climate. The considered view is that the atmosphere, which is getting moister with increasing temperatures, will retain a constant relative humidity. In the present study, we show that the upper tropospheric humidity, a weighted mean over a relative humidity profile, will change in spite of constant relative humidity. The simple reason for this is that the weighting function that defines UTH changes in a moister atmosphere. Through analytical calculations using observations and through radiative transfer calculations, we demonstrate that two quantities that define the weighting function of UTH can change: the water vapour scale height and the peak emission altitude. Applying these changes to real profiles of relative humidity shows that absolute UTH changes typically do not exceed 1 %. If larger changes would be observed they would be an indication of climatological changes of relative humidity. As such, an increase in UTH between 1980 and 2009 in the northern midlatitudes, as shown by earlier studies using the High-resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS) data, may be an indication of an increase in relative humidity as well.

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Physics of Greenhouse Effect and Convection in Warm Oceans

Cited by 66 publications

References 21 publications

Satellite observations of the water vapor greenhouse effect and column longwave cooling rates: Relative roles of the continuum and vibration‐rotation to pure rotation bands

Satellite observations of the water vapor greenhouse effect and column longwave cooling rates: Relative roles of the continuum and vibration‐rotation to pure rotation bands

Algorithm development strategies for retrieving the downwelling longwave flux at the Earth's surface

Upper tropospheric humidity changes under constant relative humidity

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