TEDDY (TEsting isotopologues as Diabatic heating proxy for atmospheric Data analYses)

Clouds and water vapour control atmospheric radiative heating/cooling and condensation or evaporation of water determines where latent heating or latent heat consumption takes place. The heating patterns then drive atmospheric circulation, thereby causing additional evaporation/condensation and impacting on the distribution of water vapour and clouds, which in turn again modify the latent and radiative heating patterns of the atmosphere. The aim of this project is to develop and evaluate a novel method for bringing atmospheric reanalyses in better accordance to the actual atmospheric heating rates. The method consists in exploring the process information present in the atmospheric water vapour isotopologue composition within a novel data assimilation framework.