Abstract
Observations made during the 1987 El Niño show that in the upper range of sea surface temperatures, the greenhouse effect increases with surface temperature at a rate which exceeds the rate at which radiation is being emitted from the surface. In response to this 'super greenhouse effect', highly reflective cirrus clouds are produced which act like a thermostat shielding the ocean from solar radiation. The regulatory effect of these cirrus clouds may limit sea surface temperatures to less than 305 K.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Mitchell, J. F. B., Senior, C. A. & Ingram, W. J. Nature 341, 132–134 (1989).
IPCC Climate Change (Cambridge University Press, 1990).
Cess, R. D. et al. Science 245, 513–516 (1989).
Philander, G. S. El Niño, La Niña & the Southern Oscillation (Academic, London, 1990).
Ardanuy, P. E. & Kyle, H. L. Mon. Weath. Rev. 114, 415–433 (1986).
Harrison, E. F. et al. J. geophys. Res. 95, 18687–18703 (1990).
Reynolds, R. W. J. Clim. 1, 75–86 (1988).
WMO Report: The Global Climate System 1986–1988 3rd Biennial Rev. (CSMR 89/86 Geneva).
Raval, A. & Ramanathan, V. Nature 342, 758–761 (1989).
Stephens, G. L. J. Clim. 3, 634–645 (1990).
Betts, A. K. & Ridgway, W. J. atmos. Sci. 46, 2621–2641 (1989).
Houze, R. A. & Betts, A. K. Rev. Geophys. Space Phys. 19, 541–576 (1981).
Cane, M. A. & Zebiak, S. E. Science 228, 1085–1087 (1985).
Gadgil, S., Joseph, P. V. & Joshi, N. V. Nature 312, 141–143 (1984).
Graham, N. E. & Barnett, T. P. Science 238, 657–659 (1987).
Somerville, R. C. & Remer, L. J. geophys. Res. 89, 9668–9672 (1984).
Hallberg, R. thesis, Univ. of Chicago (1990).
Rind, D. et al. Nature 349, 500–503 (1991).
Hallberg, R. Eureka Conf. Abstr. ENV1.1K CALTECH (Calif. Inst. Technol., Pasadena, California, 1991).
Cess, R. D., Briegleb, B. P. & Lian, M. S. J. atmos. Sci. 39, 53–59 (1982).
Randel, D. L. & vonder Haar, T. H. J. Clim. 3, 1168–1173 (1990).
Liou, K. Mon. weath. Rev. 114, 1167–1199 (1986).
Houze, R. A. & Hobbs, P. V. Adv. Geophys. 24, 225–314 (1982).
Fu, R., Del Genio, A. D. & Rossow, W. J. Clim. 3, 1129–1152 (1990).
Newell, R. E. et al. The General Circulation of the Tropical Atmosphere Vol. 1 (MIT Press, Massachusetts, 1974).
Ramanathan, V. J. atmos. Sci. 34, 1886–1897 (1977).
Cornejo-Garrido, A. G. & Stone, P. H. J. atmos. Sci. 34, 1155–1162 (1977).
Barnett, T. P. et al. J. Clim. (in the press).
Hartmann, D. L. et al. J. atmos. Sci. 41, 113–121 (1984).
Lindzen, R. S. & Nigam, S. J. atmos. Sci. 44, 2418–2428 (1987).
Pickard, G. L. & Emery, W. J. Descriptive Physical Oceanography (Pergamon, Oxford, 1982).
Gent, P. R. J. geophys. Res. 96, 3323–3330 (1991).
Holton, J. Introduction to Dynamic Meteorology (Academic, 1972).
Slingo, A. & Slingo, J. M. Q. Jl. R. met. Soc. 114, 1027–1062 (1988).
Ramaswamy, V. & Ramanathan, V. J. atmos. Sci. 46, 2293–2310 (1989).
Stephens, G. et al. J. geophys. Res. 86, 9739–9760 (1981).
Ramanathan, V. & Dickinson, R. E. J. atmos. Sci. 36, 1084–1104 (1979).
Ramanathan, V. J. met. Soc. Japan, spec. vol. Short- and Medium-Range Numerical Weather Prediction, 151–176 (1987).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ramanathan, V., Collins, W. Thermodynamic regulation of ocean warming by cirrus clouds deduced from observations of the 1987 El Niño. Nature 351, 27–32 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/351027a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/351027a0
This article is cited by
-
Seasonally varying SST changes in the joining area of Asia and Indian-Pacific Ocean from boreal spring to summer
Climate Dynamics (2024)
-
Revisiting the equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature response to global warming
Climate Dynamics (2024)
-
Reconciling opposite trends in the observed and simulated equatorial Pacific zonal sea surface temperature gradient
Geoscience Letters (2023)
-
Mid-Holocene expansion of the Indian Ocean warm pool documented in coral Sr/Ca records from Kenya
Scientific Reports (2023)
-
Intermodel uncertainty in response of the Pacific Walker circulation to global warming
Climate Dynamics (2023)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
