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

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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).