HR: 1340h
AN: GC33A-0949    [Abstracts]
TI: Seasonal Modulation of Atmospheric Parameters From AIRS and Correlations With the GISS and CCSM Climate Models
AU: * Gregorich, D T
EM: david.t.gregorich@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Dr, Pasadena, CA 91109, United States
AU: Aumann, H H
EM: aumann@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Dr, Pasadena, CA 91109, United States
AB: The first five years of data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) show very consistent seasonal modulations of key surface, cloud, and atmospheric temperatures and water vapor, which give a unique insight into the way the Earth Climate System responds to periodic forcing with changes in surface and atmospheric temperatures. We characterize this seasonal modulation by its mean, it peak-to-peak amplitude and its phase relative to the top-of-atmosphere incident shortwave solar radiation. The comparison of equivalent parameters from the NASA/GISS and the NCAR/CCSM climate models show high correlation between the two models, but relatively poor correlation with the AIRS observations, except for the annual mean, amplitude modulation and phase of the sea surface temperature. The phase shift between the driving force (the solar incident radiation) and the response of the atmosphere is the key parameter in the evaluation of feedback. A phase shift difference in key atmospheric and cloud related parameters of more than one month between the AIRS observations and the climate models suggest that the clouds and water vapor processes implemented in both models are inadequate.
DE: 1610 Atmosphere (0315, 0325)
DE: 1616 Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513)
DE: 1620 Climate dynamics (0429, 3309)
DE: 1640 Remote sensing (1855)
SC: Global Environmental Change [GC]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting