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Anthony Del Genio

Publications and source records attributed to Anthony Del Genio.

6 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2021

Evolution of Tropical Cyclone Properties Across the Development Cycle of the GISS-E3 Global Climate Model

The next-generation global climate model from the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, GISS-E3, contains many improvements to resolution and physics that allow for improved representation of tropical cyclones (TCs) in the model. This study examines the properties of TCs in two different versions of E3 at different points in its development cycle, run for 20 years at 0.5 degree resolution, and compares these TCs with observations, the previous generation GISS model, E2, and other climate models. E3 shares many TC biases common to global climate models, such as having too few tropical cyclones, but is much improved from E2. E3 produces strong enough TCs that observation-based wind speed thresholds can now be used to detect and track them, and some storms now reach hurricane intensity; neither of these was true of E2. Model development between the first and second versions of E3 further increased the number and intensity of TCs and reduced TC count biases globally and in most regions. One-year sensitivity tests to changes in various microphysical and dynamical tuning parameters are also examined. Increasing the entrainment rate for the more strongly-entraining plume in the convection scheme increases the number of TCs (though also affecting other climate variables, and in some cases increasing biases). Variations in divergence damping did not have a strong effect on simulated TC properties, contrary to expectations based on previous studies. Overall, the improvements in E3 make it more credible for studies of TC activity and its relationship to climate.

Tropical Cyclones↗
NASA NTRS2019

Cloud Scattering Impact on Thermal Radiative Transfer and Global Longwave Radiation

The potential importance of longwave (LW) cloud scattering has been recognized but the actual estimate of this effect on thermal radiation varies greatly among different studies. General circulation models (GCMs) generally neglect or simplify the multiple scattering in the LW. In this study, we use a rigorous radiative transfer algorithm to explicitly consider LW multiple-scattering and apply the GCM to quantify the impact of cloud LW scattering on thermal radiation fluxes. Our study shows that the cloud scattering effect on downward thermal radiation at the surface is concentrated in the infrared atmospheric window spectrum (800–1250 cm9exp −1)). The scattering effect on the outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) is also present in the window region over low clouds but it is mainly in the far-infrared spectrum (300–600 cm(exp −1)) over high clouds. For clouds with small to moderate optical depth (τ < 10), the scattering effect on thermal fluxes shows large variation with the cloud τ and has a maximum at an optical depth of ∼3. For opaque clouds, the scattering effect approaches an asymptote and is smaller and less important. The 2-stream radiative transfer scheme could have an error over 10% with an RMS error around 3.5%–4.0% in the calculated LW flux. This algorithm error of the 2-stream approximation could readily exceed the no-scattering error in the LW, and thus it is worthless to include the time-consuming computation of multiple scattering in a 2-stream radiative transfer scheme. However, the calculation error rapidly decreases as stream number increases and the RMS error in LW flux using the 4-stream scheme is under 0.3%, an accuracy sufficient for most climate studies. We implement the 4-stream discrete-ordinate algorithm in the GISS GCM and run the GCM for 20 years with and without the LW scattering effect, respectively. When cloud LW scattering is included, we find that the global annual mean OLR is reduced by 2.7 W/m(exp 2), and the downward surface flux and the net atmospheric absorption are increased by 1.6 W/m2 and 1.8 W/m(exp 2), respectively. Using one year of ISCCP clouds and running the standalone radiative transfer offline, the global annual mean non-scattering errors in OLR, surface LW downward flux and net atmospheric absorption are 3.6 W/m(exp 2), −1.1 W/m(exp 2), and −2.5 W/m(exp 2), respectively. The global scattering impact of 2.7 W/m(exp 2) on the OLR is small when compared to the typical global OLR value of 240 W/m2, but it is significant when compared to cloud LW radiative forcing (30 W/m2) and net cloud forcing (−14 W/m(exp 2)). Overall, the effect of neglecting scattering on the thermal fluxes is comparable to the reported clear sky radiative effect of doubling CO2.

longwave cloud scattering↗
NASA NTRS2019

Climates of Warm Earth-like Planets. II. Rotational "Goldilocks" Zones for Fractional Habitability and Silicate Weathering

Planetary rotation rate has a significant effect on atmospheric circulation, where the strength of the Coriolis effect in part determines the efficiency of latitudinal heat transport, altering cloud distributions, surface temperatures, and precipitation patterns. In this study, we use the ROCKE-3D dynamic ocean general circulation model to study the effects of slow rotations and increased insolations on the "fractional habitability" and silicate weathering rate of an Earth-like world. Defining the fractional habitability f (h) to be the percentage of a planet's surface that falls in the 0 ≤ T ≤ 100 °C temperature regime, we find a moderate increase in f (h) with a 10% and 20% increase in insolation and a possible maximum in f (h) at sidereal day lengths between 8 and 32 times that of the modern Earth. By tracking precipitation and runoff, we further determine that there is a rotational regime centered on a 4 day period in which the silicate weathering rate is maximized and is particularly strongly peaked at higher overall insolations. Because of weathering's integral role in the long-term carbonate–silicate cycle, we suggest that climate stability may be strongly affected by the anticipated rotational evolution of temperate terrestrial-type worlds and should be considered a major factor in their study. In light of our results, we argue that planetary rotation period is an important factor to consider when determining the habitability of terrestrial worlds.

atmospheric effects↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Better Constraining Supercooled Clouds Could Reduce Projected Warming Spread

The increase of climate sensitivity to rising greenhouse gas concentrations in the coupled model intercomparison project phase 6 (CMIP6) Earth system models (ESMs) compared to CMIP5 ESMs is primarily attributed to a larger extratropical cloud response to climate change, referred to as cloud feedback. The ratio of supercooled liquid cloud water relative to all cloud water, termed liquid phase ratio (LPR), which has also notably increased in many recent ESMs, is thought to be a primary driver of the extratropical cloud feedback increase. Unlike the preponderance of previous studies that compare native model LPR directly with observations, here we evaluate LPR over three ESM generations against Cloud–Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) using an instrument simulator approach, which mimics instrument limitations and uses consistent cloud definitions and resolutions. We find that current coupled model intercomparison project (CMIP) ESMs collectively simulate greater LPR than previous CMIP generations and overestimate LPR compared to observations, contrary to previous findings, likely driven by past inconsistent comparisons of ESM outputs with CALIPSO observations. We further show that greater LPR in ESM present-day climate is unexpectedly correlated with a smaller extratropical cloud feedback, attributable to a decrease of cloud amount exceeding the increase of cloud optical depth. Finally, our results suggest that improving constraints on model LPR using our evaluation framework would likely reduce the spread in CMIP6 climate sensitivities, owing to its effect on extratropical cloud feedback from supercooled clouds.

greenhouse gas concentrations↗