New PCIC Science Brief: On Cloud-Circulation Coupling and Climate Sensitivity

One of the key uncertainties in climate model simulations has to do with the response of low-lying marine clouds to increasing temperatures. PCIC is pleased to announce the release of our most recent Science Brief, which covers research published in the journal Nature that uses a mix of radar, lidar and data from atmospheric probes to test one of the mechanisms by which cloud cover is projected to be reduced under climate change. The findings of this research show that this mechanism is not evident in the trade wind regions, which suggests that might not occur in nature. This further suggests that the most extreme estimates of the climate's response to greenhouse gas emissions are less likely than earlier research suggests. Here we discuss what these results tell us about changes to the Earth's sensitivity to greenhouse gas emissions and what this may mean for our province.

Read the new Science Brief.