Surface warming patterns dominate the uncertainty in global water vapor plus lapse rate feedback

Climate feedbacks have been usually estimated using changes in radiative effects associated with increased global-mean surface temperature. Feedback uncertainties, however, are not only functions of global-mean surface temperature increase. In projections by global climate models, it has been demonstrated that the geographical variation of sea surface temperature change brings significant uncertainties into atmospheric circulation and precipitation responses at regional scales. Here we show that the spatial pattern of surface warming is a major contributor to uncertainty in the combined water vapour-lapse rate feedback. This is demonstrated by computing the global-mean radiative effects of changes in air temperature and relative humidity simulated by 31 climate models using a methodology based on radiative kernels. Our results highlight the important contribution of regional climate change to the uncertainty in climate feedbacks, and identify the regions of the world where constraining surface warming patterns would be most effective for higher skill of climate projections.

Revealing the working mechanism of a multi-functional block copolymer binder for lithium-sulfur batteries

The lithium-sulfur(Li-S)battery is one of the most promising substitutes for current energy storage systems because of its low cost,high theoretical capacity,and high energy density.However,the high solubility of intermediate products(i.e.,lithium polysulfides)and the resultant shuttle effect lead to rapidly fading capacity and a low coulombic efficiency,which hinder the practical application of Li-S batteries.In this study,block copolymers are constructed with both an ethylene oxide unit and a styrene unit and then used as binders for Li-S batteries.Electrochemical performance improvements are attributed to the synergistic effects contributed by the different units of the block copolymer.The ethylene oxide unit traps polysulfide,which bonds strongly with the intermediate lithium polysulfide,and enhances the transport of lithium ions to reach high capacity.Meanwhile,the styrene unit maintains cathode integrity by improving the mechanical properties and elasticity of the constructed block copolymer to accommodate the large volume changes.By enabling multiple functions via different units in the polymer chain,high sulfur utilization is achieved,polysulfide diffusion is confined,and the shuttle effect is suppressed during the cycle life of Li-S batteries,as revealed by operando ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and S Kedge X-ray absorption spectroscopy.

Impact of Arctic Oscillation on cloud radiative forcing and September sea ice retreat

The Arctic Oscillation(AO)has important effects on the sea ice change in terms of the dynamic and thermodynamic processes.However,while the dynamic processes of AO have been widely explored,the thermodynamic processes of AO need to be further discussed.In this paper,we use the fifth state-of-the-art reanalysis at European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts(ERA5)from 1979 to 2020 to investigate the relationship between AO and the surface springtime longwave(LW)cloud radiative forcing(CRF),summertime shortwave(SW)CRF in the Arctic region(65°-90°N).In addition,the contribution of CRF induced by AO to the sea ice change is also discussed.Results indicate that the positive(negative)anomalies of springtime LW CRF and summertime SW CRF are generally detected over the Arctic Ocean during the enhanced positive(negative)AO phase in spring and summer,respectively.Meanwhile,while the LW(SW)CRF generally has a positive correlation with AO index(AOI)in spring(summer)over the entire Arctic Ocean,this correlation is statistically significant over 70°-85°N and 120°W-90°E(i.e.,region of interest(ROI))in both seasons.Moreover,the response of CRF to the atmospheric conditions varies in spring and summer.We also find that the positive springtime(summertime)AOI tends to decrease(increase)the sea ice in September,and this phenomenon is especially prominent over the ROI.The sensitivity study among sea ice extent,CRF and AOI further reveals that decreases(increases)in September sea ice over the ROI are partly attributed to the springtime LW(summertime SW)CRF during the positive AOI.The present study provides a new pattern of AO affecting sea ice change via cloud radiative effects,which might benefit the sea ice forecast improvement.

Wave-ice dynamical interaction:a numerical model and its application

In this paper,an ice floe inner stress caused by the wave-induced bending moment is derived to estimate the stress failure of ice floe.The strain and stress failures are combined to establish a wave-induced ice yield scheme.We added ice stress and strain failure module in the Finite-Volume Community Ocean Model(FVCOM),which already includes module of ice-induced wave attenuation.Thus a fully coupled wave-ice dynamical interaction model is established based on the ice and wave modules of FVCOM.This model is applied to reproduce the ice and wave fields of the breakup events observed during the second Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystem Experiment(SIPEX-2)voyage.The simulation results show that by adopting the combined wave-induced ice yield scheme,the model can successfully predict the ice breakup events,which the strain failure model is unable to predict.By comparing the critical significant wave height deduced from strain and stress failure schemes,it is concluded that the ice breakup is caused by the strain failure when wave periods are shorter than a threshold value,while the stress failure is the main reason for the ice breakup when wave periods are longer than the threshold value.Neglecting either of these two ice-break inducement mechanisms could overestimate the ice floe size,and thus underestimate the velocity of the ice lateral melt and increase the error of simulation of polar ice extent.