Collaborative Research: P2C2--Understanding the Role of a High-Latitude Convective Cloud Feedback in Equable and Future Climate Dynamics

提供资金用于研究始新世气候均衡时期的赤道到极地温差和高纬度季节性，当时两者都比现在小得多。这些情况很难在目前对气候动力学的理解框架内解释。研究人员试图：1)了解哪些因素控制对流云反馈激活的临界二氧化碳水平以及反馈可能产生的表面变暖的幅度；2)确定对流云反馈在大陆内部和海洋上空提供变暖的能力，这与始新世化石和替代观测一致；3)利用现代观测限制对流云反馈；以及4)调查对流云反馈对未来气候的可能影响。更广泛的影响主要是博士后学者和研究生的支持。该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)提供资金的。

Funding is provided to investigate equator-to-pole temperature differences and high-latitude seasonality during the equable climate of the Eocene Period when both were much smaller than they are today. These circumstances are difficult to explain within the framework of the current understanding of climate dynamics.The researchers seek to: 1) understand what factors control the critical carbon dioxide level at which the convective cloud feedback activates and the magnitude of the surface warming the feedback can produce; 2) determine the ability of convective cloud feedback to provide warming in continental interiors as well as over ocean, consistent with Eocene fossil and proxy observations; 3) constrain the convective cloud feedback using modern observations; and 4) investigate the possible implications of the convective cloud feedback for future climate.The broader impacts are primarily the support of a postdoctoral scholar and graduate student. This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).