KECK INSTITUTE FOR SPACE STUDIES

       

Climate Feedbacks and Future Remote Sensing Observation

August 31 - September 10, 2009
California Institute of Technology - Pasadena, CA 91125

Workshop Overview:

Water vapor and cloud - climate feedbacks are currently considered to be the two most important feedbacks in the context of climate change. Although more realistic in terms of water vapor, present-day climate models fail to properly represent the physical processes associated with cloud-climate feedbacks. Remote sensing from space of these small-scale processes, such as clouds, turbulence and convection, is notoriously difficult and is still not good enough in order to provide the necessary constraints that would lead to a better understanding of the climate system and to improved climate prediction.
The goals of this Mini-Program are:

  • To bring together scientists from different branches of the climate research community (theory, models, observations) to address key problems in the physics of climate feedbacks;
  • To promote the use of remote sensing observational data in the climate physics and climate modeling community;
  • To provide guidance on future research and future missions regarding the physics of climate change.

Workshop Participants:

  • Tom Ackerman - University of Washington
  • Adriana Bailey - University of Colorado
  • Kevin W. Bowman - JPL
  • Chris Bretherton - University of Washington
  • Sambingo Cardoso - National Center for Atmospheric Research
  • Mous T. Chahine - JPL
  • Suvarchal Kumar Cheedela - Max Planck Institute for Meteorology
  • Daniel C. Chung - Caltech
  • Anthony B. Davis - JPL
  • Andrew Dessler- Texas A&M University
  • Eric J. Fetzer - JPL
  • Swati Gehlot - Max Planck Institute for Meteorology
  • Andrew Gettelman - National Center for Atmospheric Research
  • Alex Hall - UCLA
  • Andrew Ingersoll - Caltech
  • Jonathan H. Jiang - JPL
  • Alex K. Jonko - Oregon State University
  • Brian H. Kahn - JPL
  • Steve A. Klein - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
  • Daniel Klocke - Max Planck Institute for Meteorology
  • Bjorn Lambrigsten - JPL
  • Tony Ma - University of Hawaii
  • Brian E Mapes - University of Miami
  • Joao Paulo A. Martins - University of Lisbon
  • Georgios Matheou - Caltech
  • Dan McCleese - JPL
  • Christine C. Nam - Max Planck Institute for Meteorology
  • David Neelin - UCLA
  • David Noone - University of Colorado
  • Joel Norris - Scripps Institution of Oceanography
  • Louise A. Nuijens - UCLA
  • Olivier Pauluis - New York University
  • Mike S. Pritchard - UCSD
  • Phil J. Rasch - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
  • Camille Risi - LMD/IPSL
  • William B. Rossow - City College of New York
  • Ju-Mee Ryoo - JPL
  • Ben D. Santer - Lawrence Livermore National Lab
  • Tapio Schneider - Caltech
  • Pier Siebesma - Royal Netherlands Meterological Institute
  • Graeme L. Stephens - Colorado State University
  • Hui Su - JPL
  • Kay Suselj - JPL/Caltech
  • Joao Teixeira - JPL
  • Baijun Tian - JPL
  • Duane Waliser - JPL
  • Darryn W. Waugh - Johns Hopkins University
  • Marcin Witek - JPL
  • Rob Wood - University of Washington
  • John R. Worden - JPL
  • Dong L Wu - JPL
  • Yuk Yung - Caltech
  • Paquita Zuidema - RSMAS/U of Miami

Short Course Presentations

Andrew Gettelman
National Center for Atmospheric Research

Simulating H2O and its Feedbacks ("Water water everywhere")
(.pdf)
(video)

Tapio Schneider
Caltech

Water Vapor and the Dynamics of Climate Changes
(.pdf)
(video)

Joao Teixeira
JPL

Cloud Feedbacks and Climate Models
(.pdf)
(video)

Yuk Yung
Caltech

Climate and Radiation
(.pdf)
(video)


Workshop Presentations

Joao Teixeira
JPL
Yuk Yung
Caltech

Study Overview
Week 1 (.pdf)
Week 2 (.pdf)

Tom Ackerman
University of Washington

Classification as a Tool for Understanding Cloud Feedback?
(.pdf)

Chris Bretherton
University of Washington

Cloud Feedback
(.pdf)

Andrew Dessler
Texas A&M University

Verifying the water vapor feedback using ENSO
(.pdf)

Eric J. Fetzer
JPL

What is the A-Train Telling Us about Atmospheric Water Vapor (and other feedbacks)?
(.pdf)

Andrew Gettelman
National Center for Atmospheric Research

Necessary but not sufficient conditions for constraining water vapor feedbacks
(.pdf)

Steve A. Klein
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Using Ground-Based Remote-Sensors to Study Boundary-Layer Vertical Velocity Statistics
(.pdf)

Brian E Mapes
University of Miami

Free tropospheric moist processes and climate change feedbacks
(.pdf)

David Neelin
UCLA

Water vapor and the transition to strong convection
(.pdf)

David Noone
University of Colorado

Evaluating the rates of exchange in the tropospheric water budget
(.pdf)

Joel Norris
Scripps Institution of Oceanography

The Role of Dynamics in Cloud Feedbacks
(.pdf)

Olivier Pauluis
New York University

Isentropic analysis and atmospheric circulation
(.pdf)

Phil J. Rasch
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Uncertainties in Water vapor: Budgets in two versions of CAM (Track 1 and Track 5)
(.pdf)

William B. Rossow
City College of New York

Cloud—Climate Feedback
(.pdf)

Ben Santer
Lawrence Livermore National Lab

Observational constraints on the water vapor feedback: A search for the “Hall Effect”
(.pdf)

Tapio Schneider
Caltech

The relative humidity of the subtropical free troposphere
(.pdf)

Pier Siebesma
Royal Netherlands Meterological Institute

The difficult art of evaluation clouds and convection representation in GCM’s
(.pdf)

Graeme L. Stephens
Colorado State University

Low Cloud Feedbacks
(.pdf)

Hui Su
JPL

Examining Cloud Structure and Cloud Radiative Forcing in Large-Scale Regimes
(.pdf)

Joao Teixeira
JPL

Cloud Boundary Layers: PDFS and Vertical Structures
(.pdf)

Darryn W. Waugh
Johns Hopkins University

PDFS of Tropospheric Humidity: Measurements and Theory
(.pdf)

John R. Worden,
Kevin Bowman

JPL

Using Satellite Based Measurements of Water Vapor and its Isotopes to Quantify Water Cycle Sources and Processes
(.pdf)

Dong L Wu
JPL

Observing Cloud Properties and Processes from the A-Train and Future Sensors
(.pdf)

Paquita Zuidema
RSMAS/University of Miami

Connecting dynamics to boundary layer cloud properties
(.pdf)