Publication Abstracts

Rind et al. 1996

Rind, D., P. Lonergan, and K. Shah, 1996: Climatic effect of water vapor release in the upper troposphere. J. Geophys. Res., 101, 29395-29405, doi:10.1029/96JD02747.

Water vapor is released into the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) global climate middle atmosphere model at the locations and cruise altitide of subsonic aircraft. A range of water vapor values is used to simulate not only current and 2015 projected emissions but also to provide larger signal-noise ratios. The results show that aircraft water vapor emissions do not signifcantly affect the model's climate, either at the surface or in situ. With emissions some 15 times higher than the 2015 projection, a small impact is observed, amounting to a few tenths degrees celsius globally and locally, while with emissions 300 times the 2015 values, a global warming of 1°C results. However, with releases this large, only about 5% actually stays in the atmosphere. The larger emissions increase the specific humidity most in the tropical lower troposphere, partly as a result of increased evaporation due to the global warming; at flight altitudes, relative humidity and cloud cover increase at latitudes of emission, and temperature decreases. Surface warming is relatively independent of latitude, and only a slight longitudinal aircraft footprint is found in the warming for the most extreme experiment. Comparison to increased CO2 experiments of similar magnitude warming shows that the upper tropospheric response is greater in the water vapor release experiments, but the high-latitude surface tempreature response is larger with increased CO2 due to more effective cryospheric feedbacks.

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BibTeX Citation

@article{ri03600a,
  author={Rind, D. and Lonergan, P. and Shah, K.},
  title={Climatic effect of water vapor release in the upper troposphere},
  year={1996},
  journal={Journal of Geophysical Research},
  volume={101},
  pages={29395--29405},
  doi={10.1029/96JD02747},
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - JOUR
ID  - ri03600a
AU  - Rind, D.
AU  - Lonergan, P.
AU  - Shah, K.
PY  - 1996
TI  - Climatic effect of water vapor release in the upper troposphere
JA  - J. Geophys. Res.
JO  - Journal of Geophysical Research
VL  - 101
SP  - 29395
EP  - 29405
DO  - 10.1029/96JD02747
ER  -

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