Atmospheric discrepancies persist in climate models

Published in ERW, 4 Dec 2012

Researchers in the US have failed to resolve discrepancies between the predictions of atmospheric models and temperatures measured in the tropical upper troposphere. Their latest effort imposed historical sea-surface temperatures as a “boundary condition” on the models, but the predictions for warming were still greater than satellite temperature measurements.

Scientists are concerned about discrepancies between model temperature predictions and actual measurements of the upper troposphere because they may affect the models’ sensitivity to increased carbon dioxide. Although the discrepancies do not necessarily suggest that estimates of surface global warming will be inaccurate, they may indicate inaccuracies in the predictions for atmospheric circulation. […]

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