Effects of convection on the removal of the multiplicity of stable states in one‐dimensional vertical models

SUMMARY Here I develop a model of a radiative–convective atmosphere with both radiative and convective schemes highly simplified. The atmospheric absorption of radiation at selective wavelengths makes use of constant mass absorption coefficients in finite width spectral bands. The convective regime is introduced by using a prescribed lapse rate in the troposphere. The main novelty of the radiative–convective model developed here is that it is solved without using any angular approximation for the radiation field. The solution obtained in the purely radiation mode (i.e. with convection ignored) leads to multiple equilibria of stable states, being very similar to some results recently found in simple models of planetary atmospheres. However, the introduction of convective processes removes the multiple equilibria of stable states. This shows the importance of taking convective processes into account even for qualitative analyses of planetary atmospheres.