Upper tropospheric humidity and climate change

对流层上层湿度和气候变化

• 批准号: 2740948
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Reading
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2740948
• 关键词: Upper; tropospheric; humidity; climate; change

The tiny quantities of water vapour in the air many kilometres above our heads is of central importance to theEarth's greenhouse effect and ongoing climate change. It regulates the planet's natural cooling system throughabsorption of outgoing infrared radiation and where the humidity exceeds saturation point determines thedistribution and thickness of high altitude clouds. Upper tropospheric humidity is an essential climate variablebecause it controls key atmospheric processes, including water vapour and cloud feedbacks that can amplify theclimate system's response to increases in other greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. It is therefore vital tounderstand past variability and change in upper tropospheric humidity and evaluate these key processes incomplex climate prediction models.This project will exploit state of the art global satellite measurements and novel diagnostic tools to evaluatedataset quality, quantify the variability of atmospheric humidity in space and time and use this information toadvance understanding of important atmospheric processes as well interrogate and improve detailed weather andclimate prediction models that are of great benefit to society. The research will provide a valuable interfacebetween Earth Observation and climate modelling, as well elucidating feedbacks processes fundamental toclimate change and therefore of great relevance to policymakers. The supervision team provides a broadexpertise across climate science and Earth Observation and there will be the opportunity to work with scientistsfrom the UK Met Office involved in the development of weather and climate models and with scientistsstationed in EUMETSAT who are directly involved in producing and extending key satellite observing systems.The project will tackle some important questions including:- How much does upper tropospheric humidity amplify climate change?- Can state of the art climate models capture the processes determining variability and change in uppertropospheric humidity?- Will signatures from upper tropospheric humidity provide new insight into high altitude cloud feedbacks?- How does upper tropospheric humidity control Earth's radiative energy balance and is there a tropical supergreenhouse effect?The project will exploit existing data, numerical models and diagnostic tools and advance these systems to better interface Earth Observation and climate modelling as well as developing concepts relating to feedbacks processes that are fundamental for policy relevant quantitative climate science as listed below: - Exploitation of new satellite measurements of UTH.- Development of techniques to simulate consistent upper tropospheric humidity diagnostics in current climate models using existing software available from partners- How can upper tropospheric humidity measurements by combined synergistically with Earth radiation budget and water cycle measurementsThere will be opportunities to liaise and learn from EUMETSAT partners involved in developing UpperTropospheric Humidity datasets, the ESA Water Vapour Climate Change Initiative and the Met Office partnerson using and evaluating climate model simulations. This will provide comprehensive training in cross-disciplinary data analysis skills applied to models and Earth observations.

在我们头顶上数公里的空气中，微量的水蒸气对地球的温室效应和持续的气候变化至关重要。它通过吸收向外辐射的红外线来调节地球的自然冷却系统，湿度超过饱和点的地方决定了高空云层的分布和厚度。对流层上部的湿度是一个重要的气候变量，因为它控制着关键的大气过程，包括水蒸气和云的反馈，这些反馈可以放大气候系统对二氧化碳等其他温室气体增加的反应。因此，了解对流层上部湿度过去的变率和变化并评估复杂气候预测模型中的这些关键过程至关重要。该项目将利用最先进的全球卫星测量和新的诊断工具来评估数据集质量，量化大气湿度在空间和时间上的变化，并利用这些信息来促进对重要大气过程的理解，以及询问和改进详细的天气和气候预测模型，对社会有很大的好处。这项研究将为地球观测和气候建模提供一个有价值的接口，并阐明对气候变化至关重要的反馈过程，因此对决策者具有重要意义。该项目的监督团队在气候科学和地球观测领域拥有广泛的专业知识，并将有机会与英国气象局参与天气和气候模型开发的科学家以及欧洲气象卫星应用组织直接参与生产和扩展关键卫星观测系统的科学家合作。该项目将解决一些重要问题，包括：-对流层上部湿度在多大程度上放大了气候变化？最先进的气候模式能否捕捉到决定对流层上部湿度变率和变化的过程？来自对流层上部湿度的特征是否会为高空云反馈提供新的见解？上对流层湿度如何控制地球的辐射能量平衡，是否存在热带超级温室效应？该项目将利用现有的数据，数值模型和诊断工具，并推进这些系统，以更好地将地球观测和气候建模结合起来，并开发与反馈过程相关的概念，这些反馈过程是与政策相关的定量气候科学的基础，如下所示：利用合作伙伴提供的现有软件，开发在当前气候模型中模拟一致的对流层上层湿度诊断的技术----对流层上层湿度测量如何与地球辐射收支和水循环测量协同结合----将有机会与参与开发对流层上层湿度数据集的欧洲气象卫星应用组织合作伙伴进行联络和学习，欧空局水汽气候变化倡议和气象局合作使用和评估气候模型模拟。这将提供应用于模型和地球观测的跨学科数据分析技能方面的全面培训。