Convection and Climate: What Have We Learned from Simple Models and Simplified Settings?

Purpose of Review

We ask what fundamental insights about the relationship of tropical convection to climate have arisen from recent investigations using simplified models.

Recent Findings

The vertical distribution of relative humidity should remain approximately constant in a changed climate. The temperature of clouds in the upper troposphere should also remain effectively constant for climate changes likely to occur in response to human-induced warming. The fractional coverage of convective clouds will likely decrease slightly with warming, but it is not known how the albedo and net radiative effect of tropical convective clouds will change. The areal extent and net radiative effect of tropical convective clouds depend on the interactions of radiation, cloud physics, and turbulence within the extended upper-level ice clouds. SST gradients develop naturally as a result of the aggregation of convection and large-scale thermodynamics and circulation act to couple the cloud properties and the SST.

Summary

Radiative-convective equilibrium continues to provide insight into the structure and energy balance of the atmosphere by incorporating the interactions among radiation, cloud physics, and atmospheric motion.