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Global Cooling After the Eruption of Mount Pinatubo: A Test of Climate Feedback by Water Vapor
Brian J. Soden,1*Richard T. Wetherald,1Georgiy L. Stenchikov,2Alan Robock2
The sensitivity of Earth's climate to an external radiative
forcing depends critically on the response of water vapor. Weuse the
global cooling and drying of the atmosphere that was observedafter the
eruption of Mount Pinatubo to test model predictionsof the climate
feedback from water vapor. Here, we first highlightthe success of the
model in reproducing the observed drying afterthe volcanic eruption.
Then, by comparing model simulations withand without water vapor
feedback, we demonstrate the importanceof the atmospheric drying in
amplifying the temperature changeand show that, without the strong
positive feedback from watervapor, the model is unable to reproduce
the observed cooling.These results provide quantitative evidence of
the reliabilityof water vapor feedback in current climate models,
which is crucialto their use for global warming projections.
1 Geophysical Fluid Dynamics
Laboratory/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Princeton
University, Princeton, NJ 08542, USA.
2 Department
of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
bjs{at}gfdl.gov
