PCIC Science Brief: Spread in Model Convective Sensitivity Traced to Atmospheric Convective Mixing

PCIC is pleased to announce the release of our next Science Brief. PCIC Science Briefs are a regular series of brief reports on recent climate science literature, relevant to stakeholders in the Pacific and Yukon Region of Canada. PCIC has developed these briefs because we recognize the need for a bridge between the cutting edge of climate science research and the various stakeholders who need access to this knowledge, in plain-language reports, filtered for regional relevance, and suitable for consideration in planning and adaptation. The PCIC Science Briefs contextualize and explain the results and implications of important scientific findings.
 
This Science Brief covers an article by Sherwood, Bony and Dufresne in the journal Nature, on the spread of climate sensitivity in current CMIP5 climate models. The authors find that part of the variance in climate sensitivity can be explained by how the models handle shallow, vertical mixing in the atmosphere. Using this result combined with observations, they find a lower bound of 3 °C on the warming that would result from a doubling of the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. 
 
Read this Science Brief. 

Sherwood, S.C., S. Bony and J.L Dufresne, 2014: Spread in model climate sensitivity traced to atmospheric convective mixing. Nature, 505, 37-42, doi:10.1038/nature12829.