Cho, H; Ho, CH; Choi, YS (2012). The observed variation in cloud-induced longwave radiation in response to sea surface temperature over the Pacific warm pool from MTSAT-1R imagery. GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, 39, L18802.

Abstract
This study investigated variations in outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) in response to changes in sea surface temperature (SST) over the Pacific warm pool area (20 degrees N-20 degrees S, 130 degrees E-170 degrees W). OLR values were obtained from recent (January 2008-June 2010) geostationary window channel imagery at hourly resolution, which resolves processes associated with tropical convective clouds. We used linear regression analysis with the domain-averaged OLR and SST anomalies (i.e., Delta OLR, Delta SST; deviations from their 90-day moving averages). Results show that the regression slope appears to be significant only with SST least-affected by cloud radiative forcing, for which SST needs to be obtained as daily average over cloud-free regions (Delta SSTclear). The estimated value of Delta OLR/Delta SSTclear is 15.72 W m(-2) K-1, indicating the presence of strong outgoing longwave radiation in response to surface warming. This atmospheric cooling effect is found to be primarily associated with reduced areal coverage of clouds (-14.4% K-1). Citation: Cho, H., C.-H. Ho, and Y.-S. Choi (2012), The observed variation in cloud-induced longwave radiation in response to sea surface temperature over the Pacific warm pool from MTSAT-1R imagery, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L18802, doi:10.1029/2012GL052700.

DOI:
0094-8276

ISSN:
10.1029/2012GL052700