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Article: Tropospheric water vapor and climate sensitivity
- Article from:
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences
- Article date:
- June 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright American Meteorological Society Jun 1, 1999. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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ABSTRACT
Estimates are made of the effect of changes in tropospheric water vapor on the climate sensitivity to doubled carbon dioxide (CO2), using a coarse resolution atmospheric general circulation model coupled to a slab mixed layer ocean. The sensitivity of the model to doubled CO2 is found as the difference between the equilibrium responses for control and doubled CO2 cases. Clouds are specified to isolate the water vapor feedback. Experiments in which the water vapor distribution is specified rather than internally calculated are used to find the contribution of water vapor in various layers and latitude belts to the sensitivity.
The contribution of water vapor in layers of equal ...