EGU2020-6316, updated on 31 Mar 2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-6316
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Could the cloud cover in future climate models be improved by incorporating the role of sea spray in surface heat fluxes?

Yajuan Song1,2,3, Fangli Qiao1,2,3, Qi Shu1,2,3, Jiping Liu4, Ying Bao1,2,3, Meng Wei1,2,3, Biao Zhao1,2,3, and Zhenya Song1,2,3
Yajuan Song et al.
  • 1First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao, China
  • 2Laboratory for Regional Oceanography and Numerical Modeling, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, China
  • 3Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao, China
  • 4Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, New York, USA

Accurate cloud cover and radiative effect simulation remains a long-standing challenge for global climate models (GCMs). The Southern Ocean (SO) cloud cover is substantially underestimated by most GCMs. Therefore, too much shortwave radiation is absorbed by oceans, which causes an overly warm sea surface temperature (SST) bias over the SO. For the first time, sea spray effects on latent and sensible heat fluxes are considered in a climate model. The most notable sea spray impacts on heat fluxes occur over the SO, with anomalous latent heat fluxes up to -7.74 W m-2. Enhanced latent heat release lead to SST cooling. In addition, more clouds are formed over the SO to reflect excessive downward shortwave radiation, especially low-level clouds at 1.51% increments. Our results provide a feasible solution to mitigate the lack of low-level clouds and overly warm SST biases over the SO in GCMs.

How to cite: Song, Y., Qiao, F., Shu, Q., Liu, J., Bao, Y., Wei, M., Zhao, B., and Song, Z.: Could the cloud cover in future climate models be improved by incorporating the role of sea spray in surface heat fluxes?, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-6316, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-6316, 2020.