ICON Simulations Suggest Model-Dependent Cloud Feedbacks in Global Storm-Resolving Models

ICON Simulations Suggest Model-Dependent Cloud Feedbacks in Global Storm-Resolving Models | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article ICON Simulations Suggest Model-Dependent Cloud Feedbacks in Global Storm-Resolving Models Alejandro Uribe, Malena Contizanetti, Frida A.-M Bender, Thorsten Mauritsen This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7572763/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 5 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Climate feedbacks, key determinants of Earth’s temperature response to radiative forcing, remain uncertain, largely because of challenges in representing cloud and convective processes. Global storm-resolving models (GSRMs), which explicitly resolve deep convection, have recently emerged as a promising alternative to conventional general circulation models to reduce uncertainties in clouds, convection, and possibly also climate feedbacks. Here, we perform control and +4K sea surface temperature perturbation experiments at two horizontal resolutions to evaluate climate feedbacks in the ICOsahedral Non-hydrostatic model (ICON) GSRM with convection parameterization disabled and compare them with models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6), and two independent GSRMs. The results show that ICON exhibits stronger radiative damping and lower climate sensitivity than most CMIP6 models, with net feedbacks near the lower end of the CMIP6 range. This response is partly due to more negative lapse rate and relative humidity feedbacks. Compared to other available GSRMs, ICON exhibits a different balance between shortwave and longwave feedbacks, even when net cloud feedbacks are similar, highlighting the sensitivity of climate feedbacks to model formulation and resolution across GSRMs. Spatially, ICON’s cloud feedbacks display characteristic regional contrasts driven by diverse known processes, including rising cloud tops, reduced tropical cloud anvils, enhanced land-sea warming contrasts, and increased low-cloud reflectivity in marine stratus regions and the extratropics. Finally, despite variations in spatial resolution and simulation length, ICON’s climate feedbacks and underlying processes remain remarkably consistent. These findings highlight the need for coordinated GSRM intercomparisons to better constrain real-world climate feedback estimates. Climate feedbacks ICON model Global storm-resolving models Cloud feedbacks Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Major Revision 03 Nov, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 29 Sep, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 28 Sep, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 16 Sep, 2025 First submitted to journal 10 Sep, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7572763","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":521898831,"identity":"7c60deba-0a7c-4785-86ab-2673c24cf329","order_by":0,"name":"Alejandro 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Global storm-resolving models (GSRMs), which explicitly resolve deep convection, have recently emerged as a promising alternative to conventional general circulation models to reduce uncertainties in clouds, convection, and possibly also climate feedbacks. Here, we perform control and +4K sea surface temperature perturbation experiments at two horizontal resolutions to evaluate climate feedbacks in the ICOsahedral Non-hydrostatic model (ICON) GSRM with convection parameterization disabled and compare them with models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6), and two independent GSRMs. The results show that ICON exhibits stronger radiative damping and lower climate sensitivity than most CMIP6 models, with net feedbacks near the lower end of the CMIP6 range. This response is partly due to more negative lapse rate and relative humidity feedbacks. 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