Thermal Equilibrium of the Atmosphere with a Given Distribution of Relative Humidity

"Thermal Equilibrium of the Atmosphere with a Given Distribution of Relative Humidity" is a scientific article published by Syukuro Manabe and Richard Wetherald (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory) in 1967 in Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences and dedicated to climate modelling. It is often considered to be the most influential paper in history of climate change science: the climate model that it describes is indeed the first one to address the main physical mechanisms that determine the influence of carbon dioxide on Earth surface temperature through greenhouse effect.

Manabe and Wetherald one-dimension climate radiative-convective model takes includes an accurate spectroscopy of, ozone and water vapor, atmospheric convection and water vapor feedback. When a doubling atmospheric concentration is given as input to the model, it gives a temperature shift (equilibrium climate sensitivity) of +2.4 °C, which is consistent with modern estimates, such as those published in the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report.