Fu et al. 1992
Fu, R., A.D. Del Genio, W.B. Rossow, and W.T. Liu, 1992: Cirrus-cloud thermostat for tropical sea surface temperature tested using satellite data. Nature, 358, 394-397, doi:10.1038/358394a0.
Ramanathan and Collins have suggested cirrus clouds associated with tropical convection may act as a 'thermostat' to limit tropical sea surface temperature (SSTs) to less than 305 K by shielding the ocean from sunlight. Here we use satellite radiance data to test this hypothesis. We find that changes in the properties of cirrus clouds do not seem to be related to changes in SSTs. During the 1987 El Niño event, large-scale perturbations to the radiative effects of cirrus clouds were controlled by changes in large-scale atmospheric circulation rather than directly by SSTs. If they are averaged over the entire tropical Pacific, increases in surface evaporative cooling are stronger than decreases in solar heating owing to cirrus cloud variation. Thus we conclude that there is no 'cirrus cloud thermostat' to tropical SSTs.
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Fu, R., Del Genio, A.D., Rossow, W.B., and Liu, W.T.: Cirrus-cloud thermostat for tropical sea surface temperature tested using satellite data, Nature, 358, 394-397, doi:10.1038/358394a0, 1992.
Fu, R., A.D. Del Genio, W.B. Rossow, and W.T. Liu (1992), Cirrus-cloud thermostat for tropical sea surface temperature tested using satellite data, Nature, 358, 394-397, doi:10.1038/358394a0.
Fu, R., A.D. Del Genio, W.B. Rossow, and W.T. Liu, 1992: Cirrus-cloud thermostat for tropical sea surface temperature tested using satellite data. Nature, 358, 394-397, doi:10.1038/358394a0.
Fu, R., Del Genio, A.D., Rossow, W.B., & Liu, W.T. 1992, Nature, 358, 394, doi:10.1038/358394a0.
Fu R, Del Genio AD, Rossow WB, Liu WT. Cirrus-cloud thermostat for tropical sea surface temperature tested using satellite data, Nature 1992;358:394-397. doi:10.1038/358394a0.
R. Fu, A.D. Del Genio, W.B. Rossow, W.T. Liu, Nature 358, 394-397, doi:10.1038/358394a0 (1992).
