Articles | Volume 22, issue 22
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14603-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14603-2022
Research article
 | 
17 Nov 2022
Research article |  | 17 Nov 2022

Southern Ocean cloud and shortwave radiation biases in a nudged climate model simulation: does the model ever get it right?

Sonya L. Fiddes, Alain Protat, Marc D. Mallet, Simon P. Alexander, and Matthew T. Woodhouse

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Short summary
Climate models have difficulty simulating Southern Ocean clouds, impacting how much sunlight reaches the surface. We use machine learning to group different cloud types observed from satellites and simulated in a climate model. We find the model does a poor job of simulating the same cloud type as what the satellite shows and, even when it does, the cloud properties and amount of reflected sunlight are incorrect. We have a lot of work to do to model clouds correctly over the Southern Ocean.
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