| Session Details | |
| Section | AS - Atmospheric Sciences |
| Session Title | Climate Feedbacks: Observations, Modeling, and Theory |
| Main Convener | Prof. Yong-Sang Choi (Ewha Womans University, Korea, South) |
| Co-convener(s) | Prof. Roberto Rondanelli (University of Chile, Chile) Dr. Hui Su (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, United States) |
| Session Description | Climate prediction hinges largely upon climate feedbacks. Major climate feedbacks are associated with cloud, water vapor, lapse rate, and surface albedo changes; also, biogeochemical feedback has additional importance to the ecology prediction. In general current climate models have a high positive climate feedback, which makes modeled climate highly sensitive to forcing by increasing greenhouse gases (2 to 5K warming to a doubling of CO2 at equilibrium). Future climate scenarios predicted by these highly sensitive models are now being a basis of every adaptation and mitigation plans for climate change. Thus, climate feedback is of vital importance in both science and society. However, we do not know climate feedbacks quantitatively well at high and low latitudes. Especially cloud feedback, strongly coupled with other climate feedbacks, is acknowledged to be highly uncertain. The reason for this might be that the methodology of isolating the feedback process from the non-feedback noise in observations is currently imperfect. More importantly, feedback mechanisms are poorly understood, and are lacking for appropriate climate modeling. In this session, we solicit papers including new findings from satellite data, computer models, and theoretical insights. It is anticipated that constructive discussions on this issue can be made with most recent findings of climate feedbacks in Asia Oceania Geosciences Society. |