Tropical rainfall is highly unevenly distributed, and correspondingly the tropics show a wide range – from rainforests to deserts – of local climates. In this talk I explore to what extent constraints arising from convective quasi-equilibrium combined with weak temperature gradients in the free troposphere as a result of the weak Coriolis force provides the theoretical framework for a coherent interpretation of key aspects of tropical climate and changes therein: the coupling of land climate to the ocean; the contraction of tropical rainfall area with global warming; a strongly negative cloud radiative feedback in recent decades; and the prediction of future heat stress maxima. Reliable prediction of the heat stress extrema as a function of global mean warming are of paramount importance since there is an upper limit of human adaptability to heat stress.

Stephan Fueglistaler est Associate Professor of Geosciences à Princeton University. Il est en visite au LMD, invité par le département, du 17 mai au 5 juin 2021.

Les prochains séminaires et soutenances du LGENS, du LMD-ENS, du CERES et du département de Géosciences sont affichés sur le site du département :
http://www.geosciences.ens.fr/recherche/seminaires/

En ligne : https://www.gotomeet.me/SeminairesGeosciencesENS