To what extent can uncertainties in model projections due to climate system feedbacks be reduced?
Climate system feedbacks, such as from clouds, water vapor, atmospheric convection, ocean circulation produce large uncertainties in climate change projections by modulating the direct response to radiative perturbations that result from changing greenhouse gas concentrations, solar variability, or land-cover changes. Important feedbacks include relatively fast processes on time scales of minutes to months, e.g., clouds and turbulent ocean mixing. Such rapid processes also affect models used for seasonal-to-interannual climate predictions, which can be used as effective test beds for research in this area.
