Articles | Volume 17, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-21-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-21-2017
Research article
 | 
02 Jan 2017
Research article |  | 02 Jan 2017

Why do general circulation models overestimate the aerosol cloud lifetime effect? A case study comparing CAM5 and a CRM

Cheng Zhou and Joyce E. Penner

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Observation-based studies have shown that the aerosol cloud lifetime effect or the increase of cloud liquid water with increased aerosol loading may have been overestimated in climate models. Here, by simulating the same shallow, warm clouds using a global climate model (CAM5) and a cloud resolving model (CRM) which has more complete and detailed cloud physics, we show how a climate model can overestimate the aerosol cloud lifetime effect due to its simplified representation of cloud processes.
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