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

提供资金，以调查赤道到极点的温度差异和高纬度季节性在始新世时期的气候平稳，当两者都比今天小得多。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）了解是什么因素控制着对流云反馈激活的临界二氧化碳水平，以及反馈可以产生的地表变暖的幅度; 2）确定对流云反馈在大陆内部以及海洋上提供变暖的能力，与始新世化石和代用观测相一致; 3）利用现代观测约束对流云反馈; 4）研究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）资助的。

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).