Precipitation Efficiency and Climate Sensitivity (Invited Chapter for the AGU Geophysical Monograph Series "Clouds and Climate")

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Lutsko ◽  
Steven C Sherwood ◽  
Ming Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Climate Sensitivity ◽  
Monograph Series ◽  
Precipitation Efficiency

scholarly journals An Investigation of the Connections among Convection, Clouds, and Climate Sensitivity in a Global Climate Model

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 1845-1862 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Climate Sensitivity ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Climate Model ◽  
Convective Precipitation ◽  
Entrainment Rate ◽  
Cloud Radiative Forcing ◽  
Precipitation Efficiency ◽  
Perturbed Physics

Abstract This study explores connections between process-level modeling of convection and global climate model (GCM) simulated clouds and cloud feedback to global warming through a set of perturbed-physics and perturbed sea surface temperature experiments. A bulk diagnostic approach is constructed, and a set of variables is derived and demonstrated to be useful in understanding the simulated relationship. In particular, a novel bulk quantity, the convective precipitation efficiency or equivalently the convective detrainment efficiency, is proposed as a simple measure of the aggregated properties of parameterized convection important to the GCM simulated clouds. As the convective precipitation efficiency increases in the perturbed-physics experiments, both liquid and ice water path decrease, with low and middle cloud fractions diminishing at a faster rate than high cloud fractions. This asymmetry results in a large sensitivity of top-of-atmosphere net cloud radiative forcing to changes in convective precipitation efficiency in this limited set of models. For global warming experiments, intermodel variations in the response of cloud condensate, low cloud fraction, and total cloud radiative forcing are well explained by model variations in response to total precipitation (or detrainment) efficiency. Despite significant variability, all of the perturbed-physics models produce a sizable increase in precipitation efficiency to warming. A substantial fraction of the increase is due to its convective component, which depends on the parameterization of cumulus mixing and convective microphysical processes. The increase in convective precipitation efficiency and associated change in convective cloud height distribution owing to warming explains the increased cloud feedback and climate sensitivity in recently developed Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory GCMs. The results imply that a cumulus scheme using fractional removal of condensate for precipitation and inverse calculation of the entrainment rate tends to produce a lower climate sensitivity than a scheme using threshold removal for precipitation and the entrainment rate formulated inversely dependent on convective depth.

Development of a method for multielemental determination in water by EDXRF with radioisotopic source of 238Pu.

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2A) ◽  
Author(s):  
Camilo Fuentes Serrano ◽  
Juan Reinaldo Estevez Alvares ◽  
Alfredo Montero Alvarez ◽  
Ivan Pupo Gonzales ◽  
Zahily Herrero Fernandez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thin Layer ◽  
Expanded Uncertainty ◽  
Considerable Decrease ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Precipitation Efficiency ◽  
Method Of Determination ◽  
Sensitivity Curves ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Metrological Parameters

A method for determination of Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Hg and Pb in waters by Energy Dispersive X Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) was implemented, using a radioisotopic source of 238Pu. For previous concentration was employed a procedure including a coprecipitation step with ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (APDC) as quelant agent, the separation of the phases by filtration, the measurement of filter by EDXRF and quantification by a thin layer absolute method. Sensitivity curves for K and L lines were obtained respectively. The sensitivity for most elements was greater by an order of magnitude in the case of measurement with a source of 238Pu instead of 109Cd, which means a considerable decrease in measurement times. The influence of the concentration in the precipitation efficiency was evaluated for each element. In all cases the recoveries are close to 100%, for this reason it can be affirmed that the method of determination of the studied elements is quantitative. Metrological parameters of the method such as trueness, precision, detection limit and uncertainty were calculated. A procedure to calculate the uncertainty of the method was elaborated; the most significant source of uncertainty for the thin layer EDXRF method is associated with the determination of instrumental sensitivities. The error associated with the determination, expressed as expanded uncertainty (in %), varied from 15.4% for low element concentrations (2.5-5 μg/L) to 5.4% for the higher concentration range (20-25 μg/L).

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