Atmospheric water vapor flux,bifurcation of the thermohaline circulation,and climate change

Latitudinal heat transport in the ocean and atmosphere represents a fundamental process of the Earth's climate system. The ocean component of heat transport is effected by the thermohaline circulation. Changes in this circulation, and hence latitudinal heat transport, would have a significant effect on global climate. Paleoclimate evidence from the Greenland ice cores and deep sea sediment cores suggests that during much of glacial time the climate system oscillated between two different states. Bimodal equilibrium states of the thermohaline circulation have been demonstrated in climate models. We address the question of the role of the atmospheric hydrological cycle on the global thermohaline circulation and the feedback to the climate system through changes in the ocean's latitudinal heat transport, with a simple coupled ocean-atmosphere energy-salt balance model. Two components of the atmospheric hydrological cycle, i.e., latitudinal water vapor transport and the net flux of water vapor from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean appear to play separate roles. If the inter-basin transport is sufficiently large, small changes in water vapor transport over the North Atlantic can effect bifurcation or a rapid transition between two different equilibria in the global thermohaline circulation; maximum difference between the modes occurs in the North Atlantic. If the inter-basin transport is from the Pacific to the Atlantic and sufficiently large, latitudinal vapor transport in the North Pacific controls the bifurcations, with maximum changes occurring in the North Pacific. For intermediate values of inter-basin transport, no rapid transitions occur in either basin. In the regime with vapor flux from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the on mode has strong production of deep water in the North Atlantic and a large flux of heat to the atmosphere from the high latitude North Atlantic. The off mode has strong deep water production in the Southern Ocean and weak production in the North Pacific. Heat transport into the high latitude North Atlantic by the ocean is reduced to about 20% of the on mode value. For estimated values of water vapor transport for the present climate the model asserts that while water vapor transport from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean is sufficiently large to make the North Atlantic the dominant region for deep water production, latitudinal water vapor transport is sufficiently low that the thermohaline circulation appears stable, i.e., far from a bifurcation point. This conclusion is supported to some extent by the fact that the high latitude temperature of the atmosphere as recorded in the Greenland ice cores has changed little over the last 9000 years.     

Sea-ice anomalies observed in the Greenland and Labrador seas during 1901–1984 and their relation to an interdecadal Arctic climate cycle

Two independent ice data sets from the Greenland and Labrador Seas have been analyzed for the purpose of characterizing interannual and decadal time scale sea-ice extent anomalies during this century. Sea-ice concentration data for the 1953–1984 period revealed the presence of a large positive anomaly in the Greenland Sea during the 1960s which coincided with the great salinity anomaly, an upper-ocean low-salinity water mass that was observed to travel cyclonically around the northern North Atlantic during 1968–1982. This ice anomaly as well as several smaller ones propagated into the Labrador Sea and then across to the Labrador and east Newfoundland coast, over a period of 3 to 5 years. A complex empirical orthogonal function analysis of the same data also confirmed this propagation phenomenon. An inverse relation between sea-ice and salinity anomalies in the Greenland-Labrador Sea region was also generally found. An analysis of spring and summer ice-limit data obtained from Danish Meteorological Institute charts for the period 1901–1956 indicated the presence of heavy ice conditions (i.e., positive ice anomalies) in the Greenland Sea during 1902–1920 and in the late 1940s, and generally negative ice anomalies during the 1920s and 1930s. Only limited evidence of the propagation of Greenland Sea ice anomalies into the Labrador Sea was observed, however, probably because the data were from the ice-melt seasons. On the other hand, several large ice anomalies in the Greenland Sea occurred 2–3 years after large runoffs (in the early 1930s and the late 1940s) from northern Canada into the western Arctic Ocean. Similarly, a large runoff into the Arctic during 1964–1966 preceded the large Greenland Sea ice anomaly of the 1960s. These facts, together with recent evidence of climatic jumps in the Northern Hemisphere tropospheric circulation, suggest the existence of an interdecadal self-sustained climate cycle in the Arctic. In the Greenland Sea, this cycle is characterized by a state of large sea-ice extent overlying an upper layer of cool, relatively fresh water that does not convectively overturn, which alternates every 10–15 years with a state of small sea-ice extent and relatively warm saline surface water that frequently overturns.Dedicated to Robert W. Stewart on the occasion of his retirement     

A shift of the NAO and increasing storm track activity over Europe due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas forcing

 In accordance with a number of other general circulation model experiments, the coupled atmosphere-ocean-GCM ECHAM4+OPYC3 simulates increasing upper air storm track activity over the east Atlantic and Western Europe with rising greenhouse gas forcing. This paper addresses the question to what extent this change is attributable to the variable north Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), which is closely related to the intensity of the Atlantic storm track’s extension into Europe. The NAO index, which is based on sea level pressure fluctuations over the north Atlantic in the 300-y control run of this model, only shows a moderate increase within the 240-y scenario run, so that its long-term trend does not exceed the variability of the control climate before the end of the simulation. In contrast, the steadily growing storm track activity over northwestern Europe already surpasses the standard deviation defined from the control run after about 160 y. This effect is associated with a change of the NAO pattern. A determination of the centres of action for subsequent 10-y periods based on empirical orthogonal functions shows a systematic northeastward shift of the NAO’s northern variability centre from a position close to the east coast of Greenland, where it is also located in the control run, to the Norwegian Sea. Received: 10 September / Accepted: 15 January 1999     

20世纪北大西洋温盐环流的年代际变化试评估

根据相对丰富的大气器测资料,综合前人对有限的海洋资料的诊断分析,从北大西洋涛动(NAO)变率、表层海温(SST)变率、格陵兰海和拉布拉多海的深对流活动长期变化等不同角度,对20世纪大洋温盐环流(Thermohaline Circulation,THC)变率进行了试评估.结果表明:(1)19世纪末以来,大西洋温盐环流的变化可分为4个时期:1900年以前的一段时期,THC较强;1904年到1930年,THC较弱;1931年到1972年,THC较强;1973年至1995年,THC较弱,目前则又有所增强.(2)与THC的变化相联系,大西洋主要气候要素的变化,相互间存在着某种协调关系,THC强,NAO弱,北大西洋北部SST升高,格陵兰海的对流活动增强,拉布拉多海的对流活动则减弱.     

The North Atlantic Oscillation in coupled climate models: a CMIP1 evaluation

This study investigates the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) simulated by 17 global coupled ocean-atmosphere models participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP). Robust NAO indices are defined by calculating the leading principal components of winter time mean surface temperatures (land and sea) in the North Atlantic region (120°W-60°E, 20-80°N). Encouragingly, 13 out of 17 of the models capture the NAO surface temperature quadrupole pattern with centres of action over Northwest Europe, the northwest Atlantic, the southeastern USA, and the Middle East. The northern dipole is better captured than the southern dipole which is often simulated too far eastwards over the Atlantic Ocean. Out of the 17 models, ten models produce NAO indices that vary similar to the observations as stationary "weakly red noise" with only small correlations between successive winters (r < 0.3). Another five models drift monotonically towards warmer conditions, and two models exhibit long-term stochastic trends. Several of the models significantly overestimate the teleconnection between NAO and the tropical ENSO phenomenon.     

The hierarchical structure of glacial climatic oscillations: interactions between ice-sheet dynamics and climate

Abrupt climatic oscillations around the North Atlantic have been identified recently in Greenland ice cores as well as in North Atlantic marine sediment cores. The good correlation between the Dansgaard-Oeschger events in the ice and the Heinrich events in the ocean suggests that climate, in the North Atlantic region, underwent several massive reorganizations in the last glacial period. A characteristic feature of these events seems to be their hierarchical structure. Every 7 to 10-thousand years, when the temperature is close to its minimum, the ice-sheet undergoes a massive iceberg discharge. This Heinrich event is then followed by an abrupt warming, then by several other oscillations, each one lasting between one and two thousand years. These secondary oscillations do not have a clear signature in marine sediments but constitute most of the Dansgaard-Oeschger events found in the ice. Here we use a simplified model coupling an ice-sheet and an ocean basin, in order to illustrate how the interactions between these two components can lead to such a hierarchical structure. The ice-sheet model exhibits internal oscillations composed of ice-sheet growing phases and basal ice melting phases that induce massive iceberg discharges. These massive fresh water inputs in the ocean stop for a moment the thermohaline circulation, enhancing the temperature contrast between low- and high-latitudes. Just after this event, the thermohaline circulation restarts and an abrupt warming of high-latitude regions is observed. For some parameter values, these warmer temperatures have in turn some influence on the ice-sheet, inducing secondary oscillations similar to those found in paleoclimatic records. Although the mechanism presented here may be too grossly simplified, it nevertheless underlines the potential importance of the coupling between ice-sheet dynamics and oceanic thermohaline circulation on the structure of the climatic records during the last glacial period.     

Stability of the glacial thermohaline circulation and its dependence on the background hydrological cycle

Different reconstructions of glacial sea-surface temperatures (SST) are used to force a hybrid coupled atmosphere–ocean model. The resulting glacial states differ in global salinity and temperature distributions, and consequently in the strength of the thermohaline circulation. Stability analysis of the Atlantic Ocean circulation, by means of freshwater-flux hysteresis maps, reveals mono-stability for each glacial background state, which appears to be a robust feature of the glacial ocean. We show that this behaviour is directly linked to the hydrological cycle. A monotonic relation between the freshwater input necessary for reaching the off-mode and the hydrological budget in the Atlantic catchment area, accounts for the sensitivity of the oceans circulation. The most sensitive part of the hydrological balance appears to be in the tropical and subtropical regions suggesting that the Achilles heel of the global conveyor belt circulation is not restricted to the northern North Atlantic where convection occurs.     

An Asymmetric Spatiotemporal Connection between the Euro-Atlantic Blocking within the NAO Life Cycle and European Climates

This paper examines an asymmetric spatiotemporal connection and climatic impact between the winter atmospheric blocking activity in the Euro-Atlantic sector and the life cycle of the North Atlantic Oscillation(NAO) during the period 1950–2012. Results show that, for positive NAO(NAO+) events, the instantaneous blocking(IB) frequency exhibits an enhancement along the southwest–northeast(SW–NE) direction from the eastern Atlantic to northeastern Europe(SW–NE pattern, hereafter), which is particularly evident during the NAO+decaying stage. By contrast, for negative NAO(NAO-)events, the IB frequency exhibits a spatially asymmetric southeast–northwest(SE–NW) distribution from central Europe to the North Atlantic and Greenland(SE–NW pattern, hereafter). Moreover, for NAO-(NAO+) events, the most marked decrease(increase) in the surface air temperature(SAT) in winter over northern Europe is in the decaying stage. For NAO+events, the dominant positive temperature and precipitation anomalies exhibit the SW–NE-oriented distribution from western to northeastern Europe, which is parallel to the NAO+-related blocking frequency distribution. For NAO-events, the dominant negative temperature anomaly is in northern and central Europe, whereas the dominant positive precipitation anomaly is distributed over southern Europe along the SW–NE direction. In addition, the downward infrared radiation controlled by the NAO's circulation plays a crucial role in the SAT anomaly distribution. It is further shown that the NAO's phase can act as an asymmetric impact on the European climate through producing this asymmetric spatiotemporal connection with the Euro-Atlantic IB frequency.     

The influence of sea surface temperature anomalies on low-frequency variability of the North Atlantic Oscillation

The influence of sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) on multi-year persistence of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) during the second half of the twentieth century is investigated using the Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies (COLA) Atmospheric GCM (AGCM) with an emphasis on isolating the geographic location of the SSTA that produce this influence. The present study focuses on calculating the atmospheric response to the SSTA averaged over 1988–1995 (1961–1968) corresponding to the observed period of strong persistence of the positive (negative) phase of the decadal NAO. The model response to the global 1988–1995 average SSTA shows a statistically significant large-scale pattern characteristic of the positive phase of the NAO. Forcing with the global 1961–1968 average SSTA generates a NAO of the opposite polarity compared to observations. However, all large-scale features both in the model and observations during this period are weaker in magnitude and less significant compared to 1988–1995. Additional idealized experiments show that over the northern center of the NAO the non-linear component of the forced response appears to be quite important and acts to enhance the positive NAO signal. On the other hand, over the southern center where the model response is the strongest, it is also essentially linear. The 1988–1995 average SSTA restricted to the western tropical Pacific region produce a positive NAO remarkably similar in structure but stronger in magnitude than the model response to the global and tropical Indo-Pacific 1988–1995 forcing. A 200-hPa geopotential height response in these experiments shows a positive anomaly over the southern center of the NAO embedded in the Rossby wave trains propagating from the western tropical Pacific. Indian Ocean SSTA lead to much weaker positive NAO primarily through the effect on its northern center. SST forcing confined to the North Atlantic north of equator does not produce a response statistically different from the control simulation, suggesting that it is not strong enough to significantly affect the phase of the decadal NAO. Inclusion of the South Atlantic north of 45° south does not change this result.

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Teleconnection between rainfall over South China and the East European Plain in July and August

In the present reported work, we identified that there is a significant negative relationship between rainfall over South China (SC) and the East European Plain (EEP) in the months of July and August, and investigated the possible reason for this negative relationship. The correlation coefficients between SC and the EEP rainfall were calculated to be ?0.42 for July and ?0.35 for August, both significant at the 95 % confidence level. We report that a wave-like train of circulation anomalies and a pathway of wave-activity flux stretching from Europe to East China connect the anticyclonic anomaly over Europe and the cyclonic anomaly over central and southern China, which are responsible for less EEP rainfall and more SC rainfall. We suggest that the teleconnection between SC and EEP rainfall results from the extension of stationary Rossby waves in the mid-latitudes in the upper troposphere for both July and August. This stationary Rossby wave is contributed to by summer North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and its extension features are determined by the location and intensity of the climatological upper-tropospheric westerly jet. Furthermore, we found that there was an interdecadal change around the mid-1970s in the negative SC–EEP rainfall relationship for both July and August. The negative correlation was significant and strong in the period 1976–2005, but much weaker in the period 1955–1975. The extension of stationary Rossby waves from Europe to East China was responsible for the significant negative relationship during the period 1976–2005.     

The Time Period A.D. 1400-1980 in Central Greenland Ice Cores in Relation to the North Atlantic Sector

This paper presents a review of the time period A.D. 1400-1980 based on Greenland ice cores from the central west Greenland averaged record, and from winter and summer seasonal isotopic records from the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2). This time period includes the so-called "Little Ice Age". The concept of the "Little Ice Age" has evolved from the idea of a simple, centuries-long period of lower temperatures to a more complex view of temporal and spatial climatic variability. In the central Greenland ice core isotopic signals, the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries show multi-decadal excursions above and below the mean reference. The sixteenth and mid-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries are notable for decade-to-decade swings (high-low) in the isotopic signal, while multi-decadal low excursions dominate the seventeenth century. The "subdued" nature of the "Little Ice Age" isotopic signal in central Greenland is probably influenced by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), which presents opposing temperature excursions between west Greenland and northern Europe. Changes in the prevailing atmospheric circulation (Iceland Low) can explain some of the spatial and temporal variability between the central Greenland isotopic records and Iceland temperature.     

Interannual variation of Gulf Stream heat transport in a high-resolution model forced by reanalysis data

The variability present in a 1/6th degree Atlantic ocean simulation forced by analysed wind stress and heat flux over a 20-year period is investigated by means of heat transport diagnostics. A section is defined which follows the Gulf Stream and its seaward extension, and transport of heat across this section is analysed to reveal the physical mechanisms responsible for intergyre heat exchanges on a variety of time scales. Heat transport across another section that crosses the Gulf Stream is also diagnosed to reveal the temporal behaviour of the gyre circulation. The Ekman response to wind stress variations accounts for the annual cycle and much of the interannual variability in both measures. For the intergyre heat transports, cancellation by transient-mean flow terms leads to a very weak annual cycle. Transient eddies account for approximately half the total intergyre transport of 0.7 Petawatts. They also account for a significant fraction of the interannual variability, but separate experiments with repeated-annual-cycle forcing indicate that the transient eddy component of the heat transport variability is internally generated. Links between the intergyre transport, the wind-driven gyre circulation, the surface heat budget and the atmospheric North Atlantic Oscillation are discussed.     

Twentieth century north atlantic climate change. Part I: assessing determinism

Boreal winter North Atlantic climate change since 1950 is well described by a trend in the leading spatial structure of variability, known as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Through diagnoses of ensembles of atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) experiments, we demonstrate that this climate change is a response to the temporal history of sea surface temperatures (SSTs). Specifically, 58 of 67 multi-model ensemble members (87%), forced with observed global SSTs since 1950, simulate a positive trend in a winter index of the NAO, and the spatial pattern of the multi-model ensemble mean trend agrees with that observed. An ensemble of AGCM simulations with only tropical SST forcing further suggests that variations in these SSTs are of primary importance. The probability distribution function (PDF) of 50-year NAO index trends from the forced simulations are, moreover, appreciably different from the PDF of a control simulation with no interannual SST variability, although chaotic atmospheric variations are shown to yield substantial 50-year trends. Our results thus advance the view that the observed linear trend in the winter NAO index is a combination of a strong tropically forced signal and an appreciable noise component of the same phase. The changes in tropical rainfall of greatest relevance include increased rainfall over the equatorial Indian Ocean, a change that has likely occurred in nature and is physically consistent with the observed, significant warming trend of the underlying sea surface.     

基于弱耦合资料同化的冬季北大西洋涛动年际变率预测

北大西洋涛动作为冬季北大西洋地区大气环流的主模态之一,其年际变率对全球许多地区气候变率具有重要影响,但目前其预测技巧并不高。采用降维投影四维变分同化方法,在耦合模式中建立了基于全球大气资料的弱耦合资料同化系统,直接同化月平均再分析资料,并进行了年代际后报试验。结果表明,通过耦合资料同化的手段,可以显著提升耦合模式对冬季北大西洋涛动年际变率及其相关的欧洲北部、美国东部、欧亚大陆北部的冬季近地面温度年际变率的后报效果,相关系数均超过0.05显著水平t检验。该后报效果的改进主要与在耦合同化过程中通过耦合模式中自由发展的海-气相互作用将大气的观测信息储存在耦合模式的海洋分量中,改进了冬季北大西洋地区海表温度“三极”型分布的时空变率及其时间序列的后报效果有关。该研究强调了耦合模式初始状态的准确度对提升冬季北大西洋涛动年际变率的后报技巧具有重要作用。     

我国前冬和后冬的划分及其气温的年际变异

基于我国762站均一化逐日平均和逐日最低气温数据集，对我国年最低气温的概率密度分布的分析表明，我国年最低气温的概率密度呈现清晰的双峰分布特征。进一步考察其原因发现东亚冬季风盛行期间我国年最低气温的分布具有显著的地域性差异，以冬季气候态气温的0℃为界大致可以分为两种气候区。综合不同气候区内年最低气温所在日期的概率密度分布的结果，将11月16日至次年1月15日划分为前冬，次年1月16日至3月15日划分为后冬。在此基础上，通过依赖于季节的经验正交函数分解方法分析了近56年我国前冬和后冬气温在年际变异上的特征，并进一步利用NCEP/NCAR全球日平均再分析资料通过合成分析的方法研究了其对应的大气定常波和瞬变波特征。结果表明:年际变化时间尺度上，我国前冬和后冬气温演变仍表现为前、后冬同相演变和反相演变这两个主要模态。同相演变模态环流异常的空间形态在前冬和后冬较为一致，并随着前冬向后冬的推移其环流异常的强度在不断加强；反相演变模态则对应了环流异常在前冬和后冬的相反变化，且其环流异常的空间形态在前冬和后冬有较大不同。对大气波动特征的分析表明，瞬变波的动力和热力的强迫作用以及定常波能量向下游的频散对北大西洋至欧亚大陆上定常波列的维持和发展具有重要作用。同相演变模态中，北大西洋上的波列将能量从北美向欧洲地区传播，加强了后冬欧洲地区的高压异常，该中心在后冬向下游的能量频散显著增强，形成了一个自欧洲经喀拉海以东至贝加尔湖附近的定常波列，大气瞬变波所引起的动力和热力强迫对该波列位于欧洲和贝加尔湖地区的大气活动中心的维持和发展具有正的贡献。反相演变模态中前冬的波动特征与同相演变模态后冬基本一致，而后冬则表现为从北大西洋中部向格陵兰岛传播，并进一步向东经乌拉尔山附近传向青藏高原北部的波列，风暴轴移动所引起的大气瞬变波的动力和热力强迫对该波列位于北大西洋地区南侧的中心有维持作用。     

ENSO teleconnections in projections of future climate in ECHAM5/MPI-OM

The teleconnections of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in future climate projections are investigated using results of the coupled climate model ECHAM5/MPI-OM. For this, the IPCC SRES scenario A1B and a quadrupled CO₂ simulation are considered. It is found that changes of the mean state in the tropical Pacific are likely to condition ENSO teleconnections in the Pacific North America (PNA) region and in the North Atlantic European (NAE) region. With increasing greenhouse gas emissions the changes of the mean states in the tropical and sub-tropical Pacific are El Niño-like in this particular model. Sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific are increased predominantly in its eastern part and redistribute the precipitation further eastward. The dynamical response of the atmosphere is such that the equatorial east–west (Walker) circulation and the eastern Pacific inverse Hadley circulation are decreased. Over the subtropical East Pacific and North Atlantic the 200 hPa westerly wind is substantially increased. Composite maps of different climate parameters for positive and negative ENSO events are used to reveal changes of the ENSO teleconnections. Mean sea level pressure and upper tropospheric zonal winds indicate an eastward shift of the well-known teleconnection patterns in the PNA region and an increasing North Atlantic oscillation (NAO) like response over the NAE region. Surface temperature and precipitation underline this effect, particularly over the North Pacific and the central North Atlantic. Moreover, in the NAE region the 200 hPa westerly wind is increasingly related to the stationary wave activity. Here the stationary waves appear NAO-like.     

Rainfall patterns in the eastern United States

This investigation is an extension of earlier work on rainfall patterns in the western United States. In the present study, rainfall figures from World Weather Records for cities east of the Mississippi have been subjected to filter analysis using the four filters described in the earlier investigation.The results suggest substantial coherence of rainfall data in a broad central area of North America, from the Great Lakes to the Rockies and into southern parts of the Canadian Prairies and Ontario. In this entire region there appears to be a pronounced rainfall cycle, of about 22 yr, which exhibits a possible relationship with the double sunspot cycle. However, inland from the U.S. north-east coast and including southern Quebec and the Canadian maritime Provinces, the cycle is different and is closer to 16 yr.Although the earlier investigation pointed to a connection between the lunar cycle of 18.6 yr and rainfall behaviour in the far west of the United States, there is little evidence of a similar connection in the east.     

Characterizing atmospheric circulation signals in Greenland ice cores: insights from a weather regime approach

Greenland ice cores offer seasonal to annual records of δ¹⁸O, a proxy for precipitation-weighted temperature, over the last few centuries to millennia. Here, we investigate the regional footprints of the North Atlantic weather regimes on Greenland isotope and climate variability, using a compilation of 22 different shallow ice-cores and the atmospheric pressure conditions from the twentieth century reanalysis (20CR). As a first step we have verified that the leading modes of winter and annual δ¹⁸O are well correlated with oceanic (Atlantic multidecadal oscillation) and atmospheric [North Atlantic oscillation (NAO)] indices respectively, and also marginally with external forcings, thus confirming earlier studies. The link between weather regimes and Greenland precipitation, precipitation-weighted temperature and δ¹⁸O is further explored by using an isotope simulation from the LMDZ-iso model, where the 3-dimensional wind fields are nudged to those of 20CR. In winter, the NAO+ and NAO? regimes in LMDZ-iso produce the largest isotopic changes over the entire Greenland region, with maximum anomalies in the South. Likewise, the Scandinavian blocking and the Atlantic ridge also show remarkable imprints on isotopic composition over the region. To assess the robustness and model dependency of our findings, a second isotope simulation from the isotopic model is also explored. The percentage of Greenland δ¹⁸O variance explained by the ensemble of weather regimes is increased by a factor near two in both LMDZ-iso and IsoGSM when compared to the contribution of the NAO index only. Similarly, weather regimes provide a net gain in the δ¹⁸O variance explained of similar magnitude for the whole set of ice core records. Greenland δ¹⁸O also appears to be locally affected by the low-frequency variations in the centres of action of the weather regimes, with clearer imprints in the LMDZ-iso simulation. This study opens the possibility for reconstructing past changes in the frequencies of occurrence of the weather regimes, which would rely on the sensitive regions identified here, and the use of additional proxies over the North Atlantic region.     

On the misinterpretation of the North Atlantic Oscillation in CMIP5 models

The representation of the wintertime North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and its relationship with atmospheric blocking and the Atlantic jet stream is investigated in a set of CMIP5 models. It is shown that some state-of-the-art climate models are unable to correctly simulate the physical processes connected to the NAO. This is especially true for models with a strongly underestimated frequency of high-latitude blocking over Greenland. In these models the first empirical orthogonal function (EOF1) of the Euro-Atlantic sector can represent at least three different categories of dominant modes of variability associated with different prevalent regions of blocking occurrence and jet stream displacements. It is therefore possible to show that such “biased NAOs” are connected with different dynamical processes with respect to the canonical NAO seen in observations. Since the NAO is a widely used concept in scientific community, the consequent “dynamical misinterpretation” of the NAO that can result when climate models are analyzed may have important implications for the NAO-related studies. This may be especially relevant for the ones involving climate scenarios, since these modeled NAOs may react differently to greenhouse gas forcing.     

The landfall and structure of a tropical cyclone: The sensitivity of model predictions to soil moisture parameterizations

A regional mesoscale multi-level primitive equation model is used to predict the landfall and structure of a tropical cyclone. Three areas of model sensitivity are addressed in this paper; (1) the horizontal resolution, which includes the representation of orography; (2) the impact of an improved representation of the distribution of land surface soil moisture on the landfall problem; and (3) the sensitivity of the storm to lateral boundary conditions. A diagnostic part of this study describes a statistical regression approach to determining a ground wetness parameterization from moisture budget computations to derive estimates of surface fluxes, which are used to determine the parameterization. The model sensitivity analysis compares several versions of ground wetness parameterization. The experiment where perfect (i.e., based on analysis of observations) boundary conditions are used is defined as a bench-mark. At the highest horizontal resolution (=50km) using the ground wetness obtained from the regression, the best results were found for the structure and motion of the tropical cyclone. When the boundary conditions from a global model are used at a resolution T106 (roughly 100 km resolution for the transformed grid), the results degrade somewhat. The rain bands are predicted, but do not contain the same detail. Several other sensitivity experiments illustrate the degree of degradation of rain bands, precipitation distribution, hurricane structure, and phase speed errors as the lateral boundaries, resolution, and ground wetness parameterization are altered.