Climate sensitivity, the water vapor feedback and "Simpson's law"
Channel: ICAT-UNAM Oficial
Date: 2022-10-04

Nadir Jeevanjee

Semblanza
Nadir Jeevanjee studies the physics of clouds, radiation, and climate, using a hierarchy of approaches ranging from pencil-and-paper theory to comprehensive computer simulations. He is currently a Research Physical Scientist at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. Prior to this, he held post-doctoral positions in Princeton Geosciences as well as Princeton's AOS program, and got the PhD in 2016 from UC Berkeley working with David Romps. Dr. Jeevanjee have a keen interest in communicating climate science to other scientists as well as the public, both on his own and as a member of Climate Up Close. He also collaborates with C-Change Conversations. Before turning to climate science Dr. Jeevanjee studied mathematical physics for many years, during which he authored the textbook An Introduction to Tensors and Group Theory for Physicists. 

Resumen
The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded in part for the first credible calculation, in 1967, of Earth's climate sensitivity to CO2 forcing. A critical piece of this 1-D calculation was the proper treatment of the so-called "water vapor feedback”, whose physics we explore. The talk will emphasize how this feedback is anchored in a fundamental physical fact known as "Simpson’s Law”, and also demonstrate the validation of this feedback across a hierarchy of models, ranging from the original 1-D models in which it was discovered to today’s most comprehensive 3-D global climate models.