Report 30: Correlation Between Outgoing Longwave Radiation and Surface
Temperature in the Tropical Pacific: A Model Intercomparison
Covey, Curt
January 1996, 14 pp.
Results from the Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project
show that general circulation models tend to underestimate the emission
of anomalous heat to space during the 1987 El Niño episode in the
tropical Pacific. This bias suggests that the models may underestimate
negative feedbacks on climate involving longwave radiation in the tropical
atmosphere. Such a possibility is consistent with analyses of paleo-data
that suggest climate models generally overestimate climate sensitivity
in the tropics. (pdf
file)
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