Identification

Title

Tracking shallow convective mixing and its influence on low-level clouds with stable water isotopes in vapor

Abstract

Low-cloud feedbacks contribute large uncertainties to climate projections and estimated climate sensitivity. A key physical process modulating low-cloud feedbacks is shallow convective mixing between the boundary layer and the free troposphere. However, there are challenges in acquiring observational constraints of shallow convective mixing with global coverage. To this end, we propose a novel approach to constraining convective mixing using stable water vapor isotope profiles from satellite retrievals. We demonstrate that the vertical gradient of water vapor delta D between the boundary layer and free troposphere can be used to track shallow convective mixing. Analyzing isotopes in water vapor alongside low-cloud properties from satellite retrievals, we find that low-cloud fraction appears largely insensitive to convective mixing in shallow cumulus regions. Our results also suggest that strong shallow convective mixing is associated with the moistening of the free troposphere. The new estimate of shallow convective mixing and its relationship with low-cloud properties offers a potential constraint on simulations of low-cloud feedbacks and estimates of climate sensitivity.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7v98cpj

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2022-03-16T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact