Abstract
Water vapor clouds in the stratosphere can produce surface warming via radiative effects. These (type II) polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) form only in regions of very low temperature and as a result the clouds only exist in winter stratospheric polar regions. The formation of Type II PSCs may be linked to tropospheric methane concentrations because oxidation of tropospheric methane is a significant source of stratospheric water vapor. It has been proposed that substantial tropospheric methane existed during the early Eocene, derived from extensive wetland regions and enhanced by global warmth. Increased tropospheric methane concentrations may have led to greater amounts of stratospheric water vapor, creating greater areal extents of PSCs, and/or higher emissitivity values of the clouds. To explore this idea, we have included an extreme case of noninteractive PSCs in a climate modeling sensitivity study of the early Eocene. Results show that the clouds can cause up to 20°C of surface warming in winter high latitudes. The warming is caused by direct radiative responses to the clouds and by indirect seaice/albedo feedback mechanisms. The temperature response is concentrated at high latitudes, and tropical temperatures are not significantly affected. The temperature pattern produced by the PSCs corresponds more closely to proxy records of high latitude Eocene temperatures than results from other modeling studies to date. Wind patterns, wind-driven oceanic upwelling, and inferred surface salinity also show a response to the PSC forcing. PSCs may have been a significant climate forcing factor for past time intervals associated with high concentrations of atmospheric methane.
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Sloan, L.C., Huber, M., Ewing, A. (1999). Polar Stratospheric Cloud Forcing in a Greenhouse World. In: Abrantes, F., Mix, A.C. (eds) Reconstructing Ocean History. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4197-4_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4197-4_16
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