Impact of the temperature-cloud phase relationship on the simulated Arctic warming during the Last Interglacial

Abstract

The Arctic during the Last Interglacial period (LIG) was considered warmer than it is today. The previous study points to a large difference in the degree of simulated annual-mean Arctic warming among models. While recent reconstructions suggest the disappearance of summer sea ice in the Arctic at the LIG, many climate models fail to capture this feature. It is thus essential to investigate sources of uncertainty in climate models. The current study examines the impact of the temperature-cloud phase relationship. Sensitivity studies are conducted for the first time to explore the potential importance of this relationship in simulating the LIG climate. Two different cloud parameter sets are used for an atmosphere-ocean general circulation model with and without the dynamic vegetation feedback. The model with cloud parametrization that permits liquid water at lower temperatures and a larger fraction of supercooled liquid water at the same temperature simulates a warmer preindustrial (PI) climate, greater annual-mean Arctic warming at the LIG, and substantially reduced summer sea ice cover at the LIG. It is demonstrated that the low-level clouds play a crucial role in controlling the Arctic response via the greenhouse effect. The result indicates the importance of the temperature-cloud phase relationship in simulating the Arctic climate at the LIG. It also highlights the importance of accurately simulating modern sea ice thickness and representing the processes that affect the fraction of supercooled liquid water in clouds.