Low clouds (LC) are the largest source of uncertainty in the climate response to increased in global climate models. This is due to the multitude of factors that affect their behavior and how these are characterized across models. Previous work has explored how the deep convective tropical ascent regions can affect LC in subsidence regimes. In this study we apply a cooling in the free troposphere over the tropical West Pacific (WP) to induce a weakening in deep convection in an atmosphere-only configuration of the HadGEM3 model. This weakened WP ascent causes a reduction in LC in the East Pacific (EP) subsiding region. Our hypothesized mechanism is that the weakened ascent leads to a weakening of lower tropospheric advection across the equatorial Pacific, decreasing moistening in the lower free troposphere. This reduction in moisture increases net longwave cooling immediately above the boundary layer, which increases cloud-top cooling and cloud-top entrainment of dry air, deepening the boundary layer while drying the air below, leading to a reduction in LC fraction. Finally, this causes a positive local cloud radiative effect response, the same sign as that expected from predicted greenhouse gas driven climate change. Although the inversion strength plays a large role in LC reduction in some parts of the EP, it is not the main cause at all locations and still does not account for the entirety of LC reduction. Other potential mechanisms, such as changes in subsidence, are explored and ruled out as the main cause for the change in LC.

Convective processes are crucial in shaping exoplanetary atmospheres but are computationally expensive to simulate directly. A novel technique of simulating moist convection, especially on tidally locked exoplanets such as those orbiting TRAPPIST-1, is to use a 3D general circulation model (GCM) with a global stretched mesh. This allows us to locally refine the model resolution to a km-scale and resolve deep convection without relying on parameterization. We explore the impact of explicit vs parameterized convection on the climate of TRAPPIST-1e, a confirmed rocky exoplanet in the habitable zone and a primary candidate for atmospheric characterization. We show allowing for explicit convection in a stretched-mesh simulation results primarily in changes in cloud distribution and precipitation on a planetary scale. Nevertheless, the overall climate state is close to that produced with parameterized convection and a non-stretched mesh. Additionally, these novel simulations shed more light on the bistability of the atmospheric circulation on TRAPPIST-1e. Our methodology opens an exciting and computationally feasible avenue for improving our understanding of fine-scale 3D mixing in exoplanetary atmospheres.

Changes in “blue water”, which is the total supply of fresh water available for human extraction over land, are quite closely related to changes in runoff or equivalently precipitation minus evaporation, P − E $$ P-E $$ . This article examines how climate change-driven recent past and future changes in the regional water cycle relate to blue water availability and changes in human blue water demand. Although at the largest scales theoretical and numerical model predictions are in broad agreement with observations, at continental scales and below models predict large ranges of possible future P − E $$ P-E $$ and runoff especially at the scale of individual river catchments and for shorter timescale subseasonal floods and droughts. Nevertheless, it is expected that the occurrence and severity of floods will increase and that of droughts may increase, possibly compounded by human-driven non-climatic changes such as changes in land use, dam water impoundment, irrigation and extraction of groundwater. Contemporary assessments predict that increases in 21st century human water extraction in many highly-populated regions are unlikely to be sustainable given projections of future P − E $$ P-E $$ . To reduce uncertainty in future predictions, there is an urgent need to improve modeling of atmospheric, land surface and human processes and how these components are coupled. This should be supported by maintaining the observing network and expanding it to improve measurements of land surface, oceanic and atmospheric variables. This includes the development of satellite observations stable over multiple decades and suitable for building reanalysis datasets appropriate for model evaluation.

Global Climate Models (GCMs) are essential for predicting the impact of climate change in the coming decades. However, the primary source of uncertainty in these predictions is our limited understanding of cloud feedback and its representation in models. Improving our knowledge of how changes in local heating rates affect low clouds via tropical overturning circulation is crucial to refining climate projections. In this study, we use an AMIP climate assessment configuration (with CMIP6 forcing) of the Met Office Unified Model to test the remote effects on subtropical clouds caused by localised changes in tropical atmospheric circulation. We conduct this causal analysis by applying a heating/cooling perturbation in the free troposphere in a typical convecting and in a typical subsiding region in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. This method allows us to perturb large-scale circulation and track the subsequent effects on subtropical clouds. We find that when we apply a heating or cooling in the tropical free troposphere, the subsidence in the subtropics strengthens but we do not find a change in the low-cloud content. However, when we apply a cooling perturbation in the Southeast Pacific subsidence region, which increases subsidence, we get more local low-clouds. This is the opposite of what is suggested by previous studies which use a correlative approach on a global scale. We show how changing the intensity of the large-scale circulation in the equatorial Pacific influences subtropical low clouds, while tracking the effects of our perturbations in the transition regions between the tropics and subtropics. Our findings demonstrate a new way to conduct causal studies to better understand and isolate the influence of the free troposphere on large-scale circulation and subtropical clouds in a full GCM setup. Additionally, our findings emphasise how regional influences might differ from global results, highlighting the importance of recognising and quantifying regional contributions which dictate global trends.

Agricultural irrigation extracts large amounts of land surface runoff and groundwater to grow crops. A systematic modelling study now suggests that historical increases in irrigation have led to net losses of both surface and groundwater beyond those caused by climate change.

Improving the estimates of global climate sensitivity relies on understanding the mechanisms that control the fractional coverage of tropical anvil clouds. Even small changes in the tropical anvil cloud coverage have been shown to significantly impact the radiative budget of the Earth. Most general circulation models and cloud resolving models depict a decrease in the tropical anvil cloud cover with surface warming. According to the "stability-iris" hypothesis, this reduction is thermodynamically controlled by the changes in the upper-tropospheric static stability, which in turn is governed by the peak of the radiatively-driven clear-sky convergence. However, the influence of the changes in the atmospheric dynamics independent of the local SST changes remains relatively less explored due to the difficulty in segregating the dynamical influence from the local thermodynamic influence on the tropical anvil cloud cover. Using idealized general circulation model simulations from the Met Office Unified Model, our study aims to understand the dynamical impact on the fractional cloudiness of tropical high clouds with global warming. To achieve this, we propose a novel method to separate the dynamical effects from the local thermodynamical effects by warming the extratropics and keeping the tropical sea surface temperatures unchanged. We thereby focus on the mechanisms underpinning the changes in the tropical high clouds resulting from changes in the atmospheric dynamics induced by extratropical warming. We find that the depositional growth of ice cloud condensates has relatively greater significance than the net convective detrainment of condensates in controlling the reduction of the fractional cloudiness over a considerable altitude range of the upper troposphere in the deep tropics.

The West African Monsoon (WAM) precipitation response to increased CO 2 is uncertain, with both large increases and decreases predicted by CMIP6 models. To address this, the full impact of increased CO 2 has been decomposed into several drivers, three of which are shown to contribute most to the uncertainty in theWAM precipitation response; the direct radiative effect of increased CO 2 , the impact of a uniform Sea Surface Temperature (SST) warming, and the impact of a patterned SST change. Much of the uncertainty associated with the response to the direct radiative effect and uniform SST warming is shown to be related to differing changes in 700hPa moisture flux divergence associated with the shallow meridional circulation over West Africa as well as differences in a soil moisture - surface heat flux feedback over the Sahel. For the SST pattern effect, the difference between North Atlantic SSTs and tropical mean SSTs, as well as inter-hemispheric gradients in surface temperatures are key drivers of intermodel spread. Suggestions for how to reduce uncertainty in the response are discussed.

Complex numerical models of climate consist of simulation of fluid dynamics and thermodynamics on a discrete grid, and parameterizations, which are algorithms that approximate processes smaller than gridscale. Because parameterizations of a given process may be written as different functions of different, potentially non-observable variables, it can be difficult to quantify the process differences between individual climate models and between climate models and the real world.Here, we attempt to write down a simple linear model that represents the response of the Earth's tropical land surface to atmospheric forcing on monthly timescales in terms of the same observable variables using a technique called continuous structural parameterization. Simulated data are taken from complex General Circulation Models (GCMs) run under the AMIP protocol and a CESM2 perturbed physics ensemble (PPE) of our own devising; observed measurements are taken from FLUXNET flux tower sites. We find that the simple model captures land surface behaviour well except in mountainous regions.Establishing a generalised parameter space, we see that most GCMs are in reasonable agreement with FLUXNET at FLUXNET sites, although there is evidence that GCMs consistently slightly overestimate the response of surface turbulent fluxes to downward radiation. Further, it is found that the differences between structurally different AMIP models are considerably greater than the differences between CESM2 PPE members -- even though the PPE parameters are varied across their realistic domain. If the simple model is trained only at GCM spatial gridpoints that contain a FLUXNET site, there is little degradation in simple model performance compared with global training, suggesting that even the few available tropical FLUXNET sites are useful for constraining land surface model response throughout the tropics. This is of course contingent on whether or not point measurements taken by FLUXNET are representative of the wider area around FLUXNET sites.

Convective processes are crucial in shaping exoplanetary atmospheres but are computationally expensive to simulate directly. A novel technique of simulating moist convection on tidally locked exoplanets is to use a global 3D model with a stretched mesh. This allows us to locally refine the model resolution to 4.7 km and resolve fine-scale convective processes without relying on parameterizations. We explore the impact of mesh stretching on the climate of a slowly rotating TRAPPIST-1e-like planet, assuming it is 1:1 tidally locked. In the stretched-mesh simulation with explicit convection, the climate is 5 K colder and 25% drier than that in the simulations with parameterized convection(with both stretched and quasi-uniform meshes). This is due to the increased cloud reflectivity—because of an increase in low-level cloudiness—and exacerbated by the diminished greenhouse effect due to less water vapor. At the same time, our stretched-mesh simulations reproduce the key characteristics of the global climate of tidally locked rocky exoplanets, without any noticeable numerical artifacts. Our methodology opens an exciting and computationally feasible avenue for improving our understanding of 3D mixing in exoplanetary atmospheres. Our study also demonstrates the feasibility of a global stretched-mesh configuration for LFRic-Atmosphere, the next-generation Met Office climate and weather model.

In order to assess observational evidence for potential atmospheric biosignatures on exoplanets, it will be essential to test whether spectral fingerprints from multiple gases can be explained by abiotic or biotic-only processes. Here, we develop and apply a coupled 1D atmosphere-ocean-ecosystem model to understand how primitive biospheres, which exploit abiotic sources of H2, CO and O2, could influence the atmospheric composition of rocky terrestrial exoplanets. We apply this to the Earth at 3.8 Ga and to TRAPPIST-1e. We focus on metabolisms that evolved before the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis, which consume H2 and CO and produce potentially detectable levels of CH4. O2-consuming metabolisms are also considered for TRAPPIST-1e, as abiotic O2 production is predicted on M-dwarf orbiting planets. We show that these biospheres can lead to high levels of surface O2 (approximately 1-5 %) as a result of \ch{CO} consumption, which could allow high O2 scenarios, by removing the main loss mechanisms of atomic oxygen. Increasing stratospheric temperatures, which increases atmospheric OH can reduce the likelihood of such a state forming. O2-consuming metabolisms could also lower O2 levels to around 10 ppm and support a productive biosphere at low reductant inputs. Using predicted transmission spectral features from CH4, CO, O2/O3 and CO2 across the hypothesis space for tectonic reductant input, we show that biotically-produced CH4 may only be detectable at high reductant inputs. CO is also likely to be a dominant feature in transmission spectra for planets orbiting M-dwarfs, which could reduce the confidence in any potential biosignature observations linked to these biospheres.

Climate over land—where humans live and the majority of food is produced—is changing rapidly, driving severe impacts through extreme heat, wildfires, drought and flooding. Our ability to monitor and model this changing climate is being transformed through new observational systems and increasingly complex Earth system models. But fundamental understanding of the processes governing land climate has not kept pace, weakening our ability to interpret and utilize data from these advanced tools. Here we argue that for land-climate science to accelerate forwards, an alternative approach is needed. We advocate a parallel scientific effort, one emphasizing robust theories, that aims to inspire current and future land-climate scientists to better comprehend the processes governing land climate, its variability and extremes and its sensitivity to global warming. Such an effort, we believe, is essential to better understand the risks people face, where they live, in an era of climate change. Accelerating progress in land-climate science requires a renewed focus on developing theory to complement and underpin Earth system models and observations.

The East Asian summer monsoon rainfall provides water security and socio‐economic benefit for over 20% of the global population. However, the sources of this rainfall and how it is carried to the East Asian landmass are still uncertain. To address this, atmospheric water sources and pathways associated with the East Asian summer rainfall are identified and quantified in this study using atmospheric water trajectories, calculated with a novel Lagrangian framework. Evaporated water from the East Asian landmass is found to be the major contributor to East Asian rainfall, amounting to local recycling. The results further indicated that the south Indian Ocean is a major non‐local source for rainfall over southern East Asia during June to August. The role of the south Indian Ocean as a source of atmospheric water is one of the major findings of the study and would help in better understanding and predicting the East Asian summer rainfall. Evaporated waters from the Pacific Ocean (particularly the far‐west Pacific Ocean) dominate the non‐local contribution to precipitation over northern East Asia during June to September and over southern East Asian rainfall during September. The spatial structure of the East Asian rainfall is reported to be determined by the atmospheric waters that are evaporated and transported from the non‐local sources. The role of the north Indian Ocean and the South Asian landmass as a source of water for East Asian precipitation is minimal and restricted to southern East Asia. The cross‐equatorial Somali jet and equatorial trade winds associated with the western North Pacific subtropical high are important pathways for East Asian precipitation sourced over the south Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean respectively. In contrast, minor roles are attributed to the Bay of Bengal as a source, and midlatitude westerlies as a transport pathway, for East Asian precipitation.

Tropical high cloud cover decreases with surface warming in most general circulation models. This reduction, according to the “stability‐iris” hypothesis, is thermodynamically controlled and linked to a decrease in the radiatively‐driven clear‐sky convergence, when the peak anvil clouds rise because of the rising isotherms. The influence of the large‐scale dynamical changes on the tropical high cloud fraction remains difficult to disentangle from the local thermodynamic influence, given that the mean meridional circulation remains inextricably tied to the local thermodynamic structure of the atmosphere. However, using idealized general circulation model simulations, we propose a novel method to segregate the dynamical impact from the thermodynamic impact on the tropical high cloud fraction. To this end, our investigation primarily focuses on the mechanisms underpinning changes in the high cloud cover in the deep tropics in response to extratropical surface warming, when the tropical sea surface temperatures remain invariant. Net convective detrainment of ice cloud condensates decreases at the peak detrainment region, without a rise in its altitude. We also find that the importance of depositional growth of ice cloud condensates in controlling the high cloud fraction response in the deep tropics varies with altitude.

AbstractThe El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) teleconnection to Europe is projected to strengthen under global warming in most climate model simulations. However, given the current difference between recent observations and historical model simulations of tropical Pacific sea surface temperature trends, with models simulating an El Niño‐like warming in recent decades which is in disagreement with observations, it is important to understand the relative contributions of changes to the teleconnection forcing and background state to the overall teleconnection change. Using idealized climate model experiments, we show that both the eastward shift of El Niño precipitation and background state changes make contributions to the overall teleconnection change. These results suggest that the ENSO–Europe teleconnection can be expected to strengthen under global warming, even if ENSO precipitation anomalies do not shift eastwards as currently projected. However, the magnitude of the strengthening may depend on how much of an eastward shift does occur.

Methane is thought to have been an important greenhouse gas during the Archean, although its potential warming has been found to be limited at high concentrations due to its high shortwave absorption. We use the Met Office Unified Model, a general circulation model, to further explore the climatic effect of different Archean methane concentrations. Surface warming peaks at a pressure ratio CH$_4$:CO$_2$ of approximately 0.1, reaching a maximum of up to 7 K before significant cooling above this ratio. Equator-to-pole temperature differences also tend to increase up to pCH$_4$ $\leq$300 Pa, which is driven by a difference in radiative forcing at the equator and poles by methane and a reduction in the latitudinal extend of the Hadley circulation. 3D models are important to fully capture the cooling effect of methane, due to these impacts of the circulation.

Projections of future West African monsoon (WAM) precipitation change in response to increased greenhouse gases are uncertain, and an improved understanding of the drivers of WAM precipitation change is needed to help aid model development and better inform adaptation policies in the region. Here, we address two of these drivers: the direct radiative effect of increased CO2 (referring to the impact of increased CO2 in the absence of SST changes), and the impact of a uniform SST warming. Atmosphere only models are used to investigate the response, finding that these two drivers have opposing impacts on WAM precipitation. In response to the direct radiative effect, an increase in precipitation is caused by a northward shift and a weakening of the shallow meridional circulation over West Africa, advecting less dry air into the monsoon rainband. In contrast, the uniform SST warming causes a decrease in precipitation due to a strengthening of the shallow meridional circulation and enhanced moisture gradients between the moist monsoon airmass and the dry desert airmass. These changes in the shallow meridional circulation are shown to be caused by large scale temperature changes as well as the more localised impact of a soil moisture feedback mechanism over the Sahel. It is then shown that the processes discussed are relevant to the intermodel uncertainty in WAM projections across a range of CMIP6 models.

State-of-the-art models show significant climatological biases in their simulation of East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) rainfall, with biases even more pronounced in atmosphere-only simulations versus simulations with a coupled-ocean. It has further been noted that systematic evapotranspiration biases occur locally over East Asia, and globally over land, in simulations both with and without a coupled ocean. Here, we explore a possible role for evapotranspiration in EASM precipitation biases. Idealized model simulations are presented in which the parameterization of land evaporation is modified. The results suggest a feedback whereby excessive evapotranspiration over East Asia can result in cooling of land, a weakened monsoon low, and a shift of rainfall from the Philippine Sea to China, moistening land and further fueling evapotranspiration. Cross-model regressions against evapotranspiration over China indicate that a similar pattern of behavior is seen in Atmosphere Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP) simulations. In AMIP, the feedback is not explained by a too-intense global hydrological cycle or by differences in radiative processes. Analysis of land-only simulations indicates that evapotranspiration biases are present even when models are forced with prescribed meteorological conditions. These biases are strengthened when the land model is coupled to the atmosphere, suggesting a role for land-model errors in driving atmospheric biases. Coupled atmosphere-ocean models are shown to have similar evapotranspiration biases to those in AMIP over China, but different precipitation biases, including a northward shift in the Intertropical Convergence Zone over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

The East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) provides the majority of annual rainfall to countries in East Asia. Although state-of-the-art models broadly project increased EASM rainfall, the spread of projections is large and simulations of present-day rainfall show significant climatological biases. Systematic evapotranspiration biases occur locally over East Asia, and globally over land, in simulations both with and without a coupled ocean. This study explores the relationship between evapotranspiration and EASM precipitation biases. First, idealized model simulations are presented in which the parameterization of land evaporation is modified, while sea surface temperature is fixed. The results suggest a feedback whereby excessive evapotranspiration over East Asia results in cooling of land, a weakened monsoon low, and a shift of rainfall from the Philippine Sea to China, further fueling evapotranspiration. Cross-model regressions against evapotranspiration over China indicate a similar pattern of behavior in Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP) simulations. Possible causes of this pattern are investigated. The feedback is not explained by an overly intense global hydrological cycle or by differences in radiative processes. Analysis of land-only simulations indicates that evapotranspiration biases are present even when models are forced with prescribed rainfall. These are strengthened when coupled to the atmosphere, suggesting a role for land-model errors in driving atmospheric biases. Coupled atmosphere-ocean models are shown to have similar evapotranspiration biases to those in AMIP over China, but different precipitation biases, including a northward shift in the ITCZ over the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.