World Library  
My Account |  Register |  Help  
  
Flag as Inappropriate
Email this Article

Iris hypothesis

Article Id: WHEBN0002794507
Reproduction Date:

Title: Iris hypothesis  
Author: World Heritage Encyclopedia
Language: English
Subject: Richard Lindzen, Global warming controversy, Climatology, Roy Spencer (scientist), Cirrus cloud
Collection: Climate Change Science, Climate Feedbacks, Climatology
Publisher: World Heritage Encyclopedia
Publication
Date:
 

Iris hypothesis

The iris hypothesis is a hypothesis proposed by Richard Lindzen et al. in 2001 that suggested increased sea surface temperature in the tropics would result in reduced cirrus clouds and thus more infrared radiation leakage from Earth's atmosphere. His study of observed changes in cloud coverage and modeled effects on infrared radiation released to space as a result supported the hypothesis.[1] This suggested infrared radiation leakage was hypothesized to be a negative feedback in which an initial warming would result in an overall cooling of the surface. The consensus view is that increased sea surface temperature would result in increased cirrus clouds and reduced infrared radiation leakage and therefore a positive feedback.

Other scientists have since tested the hypothesis. Some concluded that there was no evidence supporting the hypothesis.[2] Others found evidence suggesting that increased sea surface temperature in the tropics did indeed reduce cirrus clouds but found that the effect was nonetheless a positive feedback rather than the negative feedback that Lindzen had hypothesized.[3][4] A later 2007 study conducted by Roy Spencer et al. using updated satellite data potentially supported the iris hypothesis.[5] In 2011, Lindzen published a rebuttal to the main criticisms.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ Lindzen, R.S., M.-D. Chou, and A.Y. Hou (2001). "Does the Earth have an adaptive infrared iris?" (PDF). Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. 82 (3): 417–432.  
  2. ^ Hartman, D.L., and M.L. Michelsen (2002). "No evidence for iris". Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. 83 (2): 249–254.  
  3. ^ Fu, Q., Baker, M., and Hartman, D. L. (2002). "Tropical cirrus and water vapor: an effective Earth infrared iris feedback?". Atmos. Chem. Phys. 2 (1): 31–37.  
  4. ^ Lin, B., B. Wielicki, L. Chambers, Y. Hu, and K.-M. Xu (2002). "The Iris Hypothesis: A Negative or Positive Cloud Feedback?". J. Clim. 15 (1): 3–7.  
  5. ^ Spencer, R.W., Braswell, W.D., Christy, J.R., Hnilo, J. (2007). "Cloud and radiation budget changes associated with tropical intraseasonal oscillations". Geophys. Res. Lett. 34 (15): L15707.  
  6. ^ Lindzen R.S., Y.-S. Choi (2011). "On the observational determination of climate sensitivity and its implications" (PDF). Asia-Pacific J. Atmos. Sci. 47: 377–390.  

External links

  • NASA summary of Global Warming and Iris Hypothesis (June 2002)
This article was sourced from Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. World Heritage Encyclopedia content is assembled from numerous content providers, Open Access Publishing, and in compliance with The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., Public Library of Science, The Encyclopedia of Life, Open Book Publishers (OBP), PubMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and USA.gov, which sources content from all federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government publication portals (.gov, .mil, .edu). Funding for USA.gov and content contributors is made possible from the U.S. Congress, E-Government Act of 2002.
 
Crowd sourced content that is contributed to World Heritage Encyclopedia is peer reviewed and edited by our editorial staff to ensure quality scholarly research articles.
 
By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. World Heritage Encyclopedia™ is a registered trademark of the World Public Library Association, a non-profit organization.
 



Copyright © World Library Foundation. All rights reserved. eBooks from Hawaii eBook Library are sponsored by the World Library Foundation,
a 501c(4) Member's Support Non-Profit Organization, and is NOT affiliated with any governmental agency or department.