Temperature-dependence of the clear-sky feedback in radiative-convective
equilibrium
Abstract
We quantify the temperature-dependence of the clear-sky climate
sensitivity in a one-dimensional radiative-convective equilibrium model.
The atmosphere is adjusted to fixed surface temperatures between 280 and
320 K while preserving other boundary conditions in particular the
relative humidity and the CO2 concentration. We show that an
out-of-bounds usage of the radiation scheme RRTMG can lead to an
erroneous decrease of the feedback parameter and an associated “bump”
in climate sensitivity as found in other modelling studies. Using a
line-by-line radiative transfer model, we find an almost constant
longwave radiative feedback at surface temperatures above 300 K.
However, the line-by-line simulations also show a slight decrease in
climate sensitivity when surface temperatures exceed 310 K. This
decrease is caused by water-vapor masking the radiative forcing at the
flanks of the CO2 absorption band, which reduces the total radiative
forcing by about 18%.