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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Keywords

  • water vapor
  • isotopes
  • condensate

Index Terms

  • Hydrology: Hydrological cycles and budgets
  • Atmospheric Processes: Global climate models
  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Constituent sources and sinks
  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Troposphere: composition and chemistry

Abstract

Influence of condensate evaporation on water vapor and its stable isotopes in a GCM

Jonathon S. Wright

Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA

Adam H. Sobel

Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA

Gavin A. Schmidt

NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA

The direct effect of condensate evaporation on atmospheric water vapor and its isotopic composition is assessed in a climate model. The model contains two parallel hydrologic cycles, an active one which influences the model physics and dynamics and a passive one which does not. Two model simulations are performed, one in which passive cloud and precipitation can evaporate and one in which they cannot. The active hydrologic cycles, and thus the simulated circulations and temperatures, are identical in both simulations. Eliminating passive condensate evaporation reduces the specific humidity in the passive cycle by around 5%; this reduction varies from a few percent to 25% of the control value, depending on location. Zonal mean water vapor in the lower and middle troposphere is enriched in HDO relative to the control case, and is depleted in the upper troposphere.

Received 17 March 2009; accepted 19 May 2009; published 17 June 2009.

Citation: Wright, J. S., A. H. Sobel, and G. A. Schmidt (2009), Influence of condensate evaporation on water vapor and its stable isotopes in a GCM, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L12804, doi:10.1029/2009GL038091.

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