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What controls the total heat transport in CMIP3 models Aaron Donohoe AGU 2010 – 12/12/2010.

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Presentation on theme: "What controls the total heat transport in CMIP3 models Aaron Donohoe AGU 2010 – 12/12/2010."— Presentation transcript:

1 What controls the total heat transport in CMIP3 models Aaron Donohoe AGU 2010 – 12/12/2010

2 Heat Transport Spread In Climate Models Observations Peak Heat Transport Histograms

3 Understanding heat transport 5.7 PW Heat Transport = - 8.1 PW 2.4 PW ASR*OLR*

4 Model heat transport spread in terms of OLR* and ASR*

5 Understanding ASR*

6 Heat transport and planetary albedo

7 What determines the amount of solar radiation reflected at the top of the atmosphere? Earth’s Surface Atmosphere Solar Incident Reflected by Atmosphere Reflected by Surface

8 Zonal Mean Planetary albedo partition (observations are dark models dotted and light).

9 Heat transport and cloud reflection

10 Conclusions The model spread in heat transport is due to gradients in net solar radiation (ASR*) Gradients in net solar radiation are due to gradients in Planetary Albedo Gradients in Planetary Albedo are due to the simulated cloud distribution Cloud’s determine Heat Transport We explained a dynamic quantity without invoking dynamics- do dynamics play an active or passive role in determining the radiative fields?


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