Thermostat and global warming
Article Abstract:
The contention that an atmospheric thermostat is not needed to explain why the maximum sea surface temperatures stay within a few degrees of the convection threshold temperatures in such regions as the western Pacific warm pool fails to accord with the observational data. The no-thermostat view holds that the efficiency of tropical dynamics explains the uniform temperatures; reflection by anvil clouds is unnecessary. However, the data show that evaporative cooling by itself is not enough; deep convection resulting in the reflection of heat by clouds is probably also a factor.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1992
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Cirrus-cloud thermostat for tropical sea surface temperatures tested using satellite data
Article Abstract:
Cirrus clouds probably do not function as atmospheric thermostats that prevent sea surface temperatures (SSTs) from rising above 305 degrees Kelvin. Researchers V. Ramanathan and W. Collins based their hypothesis that cirrus clouds do function in this way on an analysis of data from the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment satellite. However, a new analysis of data from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project found that large-scale atmospheric circulation rather than fluctuations in cirrus clouds caused SSTs to rise and fall.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1992
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A thermostat in the tropics?
Article Abstract:
The tropical oceans may have a thermostat process based upon the relation of cloud cover and solar radiation absorbed by the sea surface. Analysis of El Nino Currents from 1987 and a simulated model for 1982 and 1983 support the thermostat hypothesis. However, the changes in sea temperature and cloud convection could have no correlation and may indicate mean variations in the tropics which are due to location and are time invariant.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1993
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