KlimaCampus Kolloquium: The Incredible Lightness of Water Vapor
Conventional wisdom suggests that warm air rises while cold air sinks. However, recent satellite observations show that, on average, rising air is colder than sinking air in the tropical free troposphere. This is due to the buoyancy effect of water vapor: the molar mass of water vapor is less than that of dry air, making humid air lighter than dry air at the same temperature and pressure. Unfortunately, this vapor buoyancy effect has been considered negligibly small and thereby overlooked in large-scale climate dynamics. Here we use theory, reanalysis data, and a hierarchy of climate models to show that vapor buoyancy has a similar magnitude to thermal buoyancy in the tropical free troposphere. As a result, cold air rises in the tropical free troposphere. We further show that vapor buoyancy enhances thermal radiation, increases subtropical stratiform low clouds, favors convective aggregation, and stabilizes Earth’s climate. However, some state-of-the-art climate models fail to represent vapor buoyancy properly. This flaw leads to inaccurate simulations of cloud distributions - the largest uncertainty in predicting climate change. Implications of our results on paleoclimate and planetary habitability will also be discussed.
Date
11.04.2024
Time
15:15 h
Place
- Bundesstr. 53, room 022/023
- Seminar Room 022/023, Ground Floor, Bundesstrasse 53, 20146 Hamburg, Hamburg