Articles | Volume 25, issue 15
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8821-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8821-2025
Peer-reviewed comment
 | 
13 Aug 2025
Peer-reviewed comment |  | 13 Aug 2025

Comment on “Opinion: Can uncertainty in climate sensitivity be narrowed further?” by Sherwood and Forest (2024)

Nicholas Lewis

Related subject area

Subject: Climate and Earth System | Research Activity: Atmospheric Modelling and Data Analysis | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
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Cited articles

Andrews, T., Bodas-Salcedo, A., Gregory, J. M., Dong, Y., Armour, K., Paynter, D., Lin, P., Modak, A., Mauritsen, T., Cole, J. N., and Medeiros, B.: On the effect of historical SST patterns on radiative feedback, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 127, e2022JD036675, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JD036675, 2022a. 
Annan, J. D., Hargreaves, J. C., and Mauritsen, T.: A new global surface temperature reconstruction for the Last Glacial Maximum, Clim. Past, 18, 1883–1896, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1883-2022, 2022. 
Ceppi, P. and Nowack, P.: Observational evidence that cloud feedback amplifies global warming, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 118, e2026290118, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2026290118, 2021. 
Chao, L.-W., Muller, J. C., and Dessler, A. E.: Impacts of the Unforced Pattern Effect on the Cloud Feedback in CERES Observations and Climate Models, Geophys. Res. Lett., 49, 96299, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL096299, 2022. 
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This comment shows that claims made in an opinion article that challenged a 2022 study by this comment's author, which found a narrower and lower climate sensitivity range than an influential 2020 study with the same lead author as the opinion article, were wrong and explains why the article's favoured subjective Bayesian statistical methods are unreliable. It also reviews the 2022 study's revisions to the 2020 study's methods and assumptions and discusses structural uncertainties in climate models.
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