Processes shaping the spatial pattern and seasonality of the surface air temperature response to anthropogenic forcing

In the period 1960–2010, the land surface air temperature (SAT) warmed more rapidly over some regions relative to the global mean. Using a set of time-slice experiments, we highlight how different physical processes shape the regional pattern of SAT warming. The results indicate an essential role of anthropogenic forcing in regional SAT changes from the 1970s to 2000s, and show that both surface–atmosphere interactions and large-scale atmospheric circulation changes can shape regional responses to forcing. Single forcing experiments show that an increase in greenhouse gases can lead to regional changes in land surface warming in winter (DJF) due to snow-albedo feedbacks, and in summer (JJA) due to soil-moisture and cloud feedbacks. Changes in anthropogenic aerosol and precursor (AA) emissions induce large spatial variations in SAT, characterized by warming over western Europe, Eurasia, and Alaska. In western Europe, SAT warming is stronger in JJA than in DJF due to substantial increases in clear sky shortwave radiation over Europe, associated with decreases in local AA emissions since the 1980s. In Alaska, the amplified SAT warming in DJF is due to increased downward longwave radiation, which is related to increased water vapor and cloud cover. In this case, although the model was able to capture the regional pattern of SAT change, and the associated local processes, it did not simulate all processes and anomalies correctly. For the Alaskan warming, the model is seen to achieve the correct regional response in the context of a wider North Pacific anomaly that is not consistent with observations. This demonstrates the importance of model evaluation that goes beyond the target variable in detection and attribution studies.     

Response of the Western European climate to a collapse of the thermohaline circulation

Two ensemble simulations with the ECHAM5/MPI-OM climate model have been investigated for the atmospheric response to a thermohaline circulation (THC) collapse. The model forcing was specified from observations between 1950 and 2000 and it followed a rising greenhouse gases emission scenario from 2001 to 2100. In one ensemble, a THC collapse was induced by adding freshwater in the northern North Atlantic, from 2001 onwards. After about 20 years, an almost stationary response pattern develops, that is, after the THC collapse, global mean temperature rises equally fast in both ensembles with the hosing ensemble displaying a constant offset. The atmospheric response to the freshwater hosing features a strong zonal gradient in the anomalous 2-m air temperature over Western Europe, associated with a strong land–sea contrast. Since Western Europe climate features a strong marine impact due to the prevailing westerlies, the question arises how such a strong land–sea contrast can be maintained. We show that a strong secondary cloud response is set up with increased cloud cover over sea and decreased cloud cover over land. Also, the marine impact on Western European climate decreases, which results from a reduced transport of moist static energy from sea to land. As a result, the change in lapse rate over the cold sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies west of the continent is much larger than over land, dominated by changes in moisture content rather than temperature.     

A hybrid technique for computing the monthly mean net longwave surface radiation over oceanic areas

Summary Global maps of the monthly mean net upward longwave radiation flux at the ocean surface have been obtained for April, July, October 1985 and January 1986. These maps were produced by blending information obtained from a combination of general circulation model cloud radiative forcing fields, the top-of-the-atmosphere cloud radiative forcing from ERBE and TOVS profiles and sea surface temperature on ISCCP C1 tapes. The fields are compatible with known meteorological regimes of atmospheric water vapor content and cloudiness. There is a vast area of high net upward longwave radiation flux (> 80 W m^–2) in the eastern Pacific Ocean throughout most of the year. Areas of low net upward longwave radiation flux (< 40 Wm^–2) are the tropical convective regions and extra tropical regions that tend to have persistent low cloud cover. The technique used in this study relies on GCM simulations and so is subject to some of the uncertainties associated with the model. However, all input information regarding temperature, moisture and cloud cover is from satellite data having near global coverage. This feature of the procedure alone warrants its consideration for further use in compiling global maps of the net longwave radiation at the surface over the oceans.With 9 Figures     

Adjustment and feedbacks in a global coupled ocean-atmosphere model

 We report the analysis of two 20-year simulations performed with the low resolution version of the IPSL coupled ocean-atmosphere model, with no flux correction at the air-sea interface. The simulated climate is characterized by a global sea surface temperature warming of about 4 °C in 20 years, driven by a net heat gain at the top of the atmosphere. Despite this drift, the circulation is quite realistic both in the ocean and the atmosphere. Several distinct periods are analyzed. The first corresponds to an adjustment during which the heat gain weakens both at the top of the atmosphere and at the ocean surface, and the tropical circulation is slightly modified. Then, the surface warming is enhanced by an increase of the greenhouse feedback. We show that the mechanisms involved in the model share common features with sensitivity experiments to greenhouse gases or to SST warming. At the top of the atmosphere, most of the longwave trapping in the atmosphere is driven by the tropical circulation. At the surface, the reduction of longwave cooling is a direct response to increased temperature and moisture content at low levels in the atmospheric model. During the last part of the simulation, a regulation occurs from evaporation at the surface and longwave cooling at TOA. Most of the model drift is attributed to a too large heating by solar radiation in middle and high latitudes. The reduction of the north–south temperature gradient, and the related changes in the meridional equator-to-pole ocean heat transport lead to a warming of equatorial and subtropical regions. This is also well demonstrated by the difference between the two simulations which differ only in the parametrization of sea-ice. When the sea-ice cover is not restored to climatology the model does not maintain sea-ice at high latitudes. The climate warms more rapidly and the water vapor and clouds feedback occurs earlier. Received: 24 May 1996 / Accepted: 29 November 1996     

Validation of a limited area model over Dome C, Antarctic Plateau, during winter

The limited area model MAR (Modèle Atmosphérique Régional) is validated over the Antarctic Plateau for the period 2004–2006, focussing on Dome C during the cold season. MAR simulations are made by initializing the model once and by forcing it through its lateral and top boundaries by the ECMWF operational analyses. Model outputs compare favourably with observations from automatic weather station (AWS), radiometers and atmospheric soundings. MAR is able to simulate the succession of cold and warm events which occur at Dome C during winter. Larger longwave downwelling fluxes (LWD) are responsible for higher surface air temperatures and weaker surface inversions during winter. Warm events are better simulated when the small Antarctic precipitating snow particles are taken into account in radiative transfer computations. MAR stratosphere cools during the cold season, with the coldest temperatures occurring in conjunction with warm events at the surface. The decrease of saturation specific humidity associated with these coldest temperatures is responsible for the formation of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) especially in August-September. PSCs then contribute to the surface warming by increasing the surface downwelling longwave flux.     

Radiative forcing and response of a GCM to ice age boundary conditions: cloud feedback and climate sensitivity

 A general circulation model is used to examine the effects of reduced atmospheric CO₂, insolation changes and an updated reconstruction of the continental ice sheets at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). A set of experiments is performed to estimate the radiative forcing from each of the boundary conditions. These calculations are used to estimate a total radiative forcing for the climate of the LGM. The response of the general circulation model to the forcing from each of the changed boundary conditions is then investigated. About two-thirds of the simulated glacial cooling is due to the presence of the continental ice sheets. The effect of the cloud feedback is substantially modified where there are large changes to surface albedo. Finally, the climate sensitivity is estimated based on the global mean LGM radiative forcing and temperature response, and is compared to the climate sensitivity calculated from equilibrium experiments with atmospheric CO₂ doubled from present day concentration. The calculations here using the model and palaeodata support a climate sensitivity of about 1 Wm^-2 K^-1 which is within the conventional range. Received: 8 February 1997 / Accepted: 4 June 1997     

陆面过程对全球变暖的响应及可能机制—基于CMIP3的多模式集合分析

利用“国际耦合模式比较计划” (Phase 3 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, CMIP3) 12个模式对20世纪 (The Twentieth-Century Climate in Coupled Models, 20C3M) 和21世纪SRES (Special Report on Emissions Scenarios) A1B 情景下的模拟结果, 通过21世纪 (2001～2099年) 与20世纪 (1901～1999年) 陆面能量和水文变量的对比分析, 揭示了陆面过程对全球变暖响应的基本特征, 并探讨了其可能的响应机制。结果表明, 与20世纪相比, 21世纪全球陆面平均的表面温度、 地表净辐射、 潜热通量明显增加; 而感热通量有所减小。降水、 径流、 蒸发等地表水循环分量也表现出不同程度的增加, 而土壤含水量有减小趋势。通过分析近地层主要大气强迫变量与陆面变量之间的联系, 发现陆面能量平衡过程对全球变暖的响应主要受向下长波辐射和气温变化的影响, 而温度的变化对陆面水文过程的影响起决定性的作用。进一步分析表明, 陆面过程对全球变暖的响应存在明显的区域性差异, 陆面温度和感热对全球变暖响应最显著的区域位于北半球中高纬, 而净辐射和潜热对全球变暖的响应在亚洲中部和非洲大陆最显著。相对于20世纪, 21世纪主要是长波辐射和温度对陆面能量平衡过程的贡献重要。对于陆面水文过程, 径流和土壤含水量对全球变暖的响应在亚洲中部以及北美最显著。在全球变暖背景下, 21世纪相对于20世纪, 温度对陆面水循环的影响更加显著, 主要体现在北半球中纬度地区。     

Glacial termination: sensitivity to orbital and CO2 forcing in a coupled climate system model

 To study glacial termination and related feedback mechanisms, a continental ice dynamics model is globally and asynchronously coupled to a physical climate (atmosphere-ocean-sea ice) model. The model performs well under present-day, 11 kaBP (thousand years before present) and 21 kaBP perpetual forcing. To address the ice-sheet response under the effects of both perpetual orbital and CO₂ forcing, sensitivity experiments are conducted with two different orbital configurations (11 kaBP and 21 kaBP) and two different atmospheric CO₂ concentrations (200 ppmv and 280 ppmv). This study reveals that, although both orbital and CO₂ forcing have an impact on ice-sheet maintenance and deglacial processes, and although neither acting alone is sufficient to lead to complete deglaciation, orbital forcing seems to be more important. The CO₂ forcing has a large impact on climate, not uniformly or zonally over the globe, but concentrated over the continents adjacent to the North Atlantic. The effect of increased CO₂ (from 200 ppmv to 280 ppmv) on surface air temperature has its peak there in winter associated with a reduction in sea-ice extent in the northern North Atlantic. These changes are accompanied by an enhancement in the intensity of the meridional overturning and poleward ocean heat transport in the North Atlantic. On the other hand, the effect of orbital forcing (from 21 kaBP to 11 kaBP) has its peak in summer. Since the summer temperature, rather than winter temperature, is found to be dominant for the ice-sheet mass balance, orbital forcing has a larger effect than CO₂ forcing in deglaciation. Warm winter sea surface temperature arising from increased CO₂ during the deglaciation contributes to ice-sheet nourishment (negative feedback for ice-sheet retreat) through slightly enhanced precipitation. However, the precipitation effect is totally overwhelmed by the temperature effect. Our results suggest that the last deglaciation was initiated through increasing summer insolation with CO₂ providing a powerful feedback. Received: 22 February 2000 / Accepted: 17 September 2000     

Suppression of ENSO in a coupled model without water vapor feedback

 We examine 800-year time series of internally generated variability in both a coupled ocean-atmosphere model where water vapor anomalies are not allowed to interact with longwave radiation and one where they are. The ENSO-like phenomenon in the experiment without water vapor feedback is drastically suppressed both in amplitude and geographic extent relative to the experiment with water vapor feedback. Surprisingly, the reduced amplitude of ENSO-related sea surface temperature anomalies in the model without water vapor feedback cannot be attributed to greater longwave damping of sea surface temperature. (Differences between the two experiments in radiative feedback due to clouds counterbalance almost perfectly the differences in radiative feedback due to water vapor.) Rather, the interaction between water vapor anomalies and longwave radiation affects the ENSO-like phenomenon through its influence on the vertical structure of radiative heating: Because of the changes in water vapor associated with it, a given warm equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature anomaly is associated with a radiative heating profile that is much more gravitationally unstable when water vapor feedback is present. The warm sea surface temperature anomaly therefore results in more convection in the experiment with water vapor feedback. The increased convection, in turn, is related to a larger westerly wind-stress anomaly, which creates a larger decrease in upwelling of cold water, thereby enhancing the magnitude of the original warm sea surface temperature anomaly. In this manner, the interaction between water vapor anomalies and longwave radiation magnifies the air-sea interactions at the heart of the ENSO phenomenon; without this interaction, the coupling between sea surface temperature and wind stress is effectively reduced, resulting in smaller amplitude ENSO episodes with a more limited geographical extent. Received: 26 March 1999 / Accepted: 25 October 1999     

Towards constraining climate sensitivity by linear analysis of feedback patterns in thousands of perturbed-physics GCM simulations

A linear analysis is applied to a multi-thousand member “perturbed physics" GCM ensemble to identify the dominant physical processes responsible for variation in climate sensitivity across the ensemble. Model simulations are provided by the distributed computing project, climate prediction.net . A principal component analysis of model radiative response reveals two dominant independent feedback processes, each largely controlled by a single parameter change. The leading EOF was well correlated with the value of the entrainment coefficient—a parameter in the model’s atmospheric convection scheme. Reducing this parameter increases high vertical level moisture causing an enhanced clear sky greenhouse effect both in the control simulation and in the response to greenhouse gas forcing. This effect is compensated by an increase in reflected solar radiation from low level cloud upon warming. A set of ‘secondary’ cloud formation parameters partly modulate the degree of shortwave compensation from low cloud formation. The second EOF was correlated with the scaling of ice fall speed in clouds which affects the extent of cloud cover in the control simulation. The most prominent feature in the EOF was an increase in longwave cloud forcing. The two leading EOFs account for 70% of the ensemble variance in λ—the global feedback parameter. Linear predictors of feedback strength from model climatology are applied to observational datasets to estimate real world values of the overall climate feedback parameter. The predictors are found using correlations across the ensemble. Differences between predictions are largely due to the differences in observational estimates for top of atmosphere shortwave fluxes. Our validation does not rule out all the strong tropical convective feedbacks leading to a large climate sensitivity.     

Climate feedbacks in a general circulation model incorporating prognostic clouds

 This study performs a comprehensive feedback analysis on the Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre General Circulation Model, quantifying all important feedbacks operating under an increase in atmospheric CO₂. The individual feedbacks are analysed in detail, using an offline radiation perturbation method, looking at long- and shortwave components, latitudinal distributions, cloud impacts, non-linearities under 2xCO₂ and 4xCO₂ warmings and at interannual variability. The water vapour feedback is divided into terms due to moisture height and amount changes. The net cloud feedback is separated into terms due to cloud amount, height, water content, water phase, physical thickness and convective cloud fraction. Globally the most important feedbacks were found to be (from strongest positive to strongest negative) those due to water vapour, clouds, surface albedo, lapse rate and surface temperature. For the longwave (LW) response the most important term of the cloud ‘optical property’ feedbacks is due to the water content. In the shortwave (SW), both water content and water phase changes are important. Cloud amount and height terms are also important for both LW and SW. Feedbacks due to physical cloud thickness and convective cloud fraction are found to be relatively small. All cloud component feedbacks (other than height) produce conflicting LW/SW feedbacks in the model. Furthermore, the optical property and cloud fraction feedbacks are also of opposite sign. The result is that the net cloud feedback is the (relatively small) product of conflicting physical processes. Non-linearities in the feedbacks are found to be relatively small for all but the surface albedo response and some cloud component contributions. The cloud impact on non-cloud feedbacks is also discussed: greatest impact is on the surface albedo, but impact on water vapour feedback is also significant. The analysis method here proves to be a␣powerful tool for detailing the contributions from different model processes (and particularly those of the clouds) to the final climate model sensitivity. Received: 15 June 2000 / Accepted: 10 January 2001     

Predictability of SST forced climate signals in two atmospheric general circulation models

 The predictability of atmospheric responses to global sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies is evaluated using ensemble simulations of two general circulation models (GCMs): the GENESIS version 1.5 (GEN) and the ECMWF cycle 36 (ECM). The integrations incorporate observed SST variations but start from different initial land and atmospheric states. Five GEN 1980–1992 and six ECM 1980–1988 realizations are compared with observations to distinguish predictable SST forced climate signals from internal variability. To facilitate the study, correlation analysis and significance evaluation techniques are developed on the basis of time series permutations. It is found that the annual mean global area with realistic signals is variable dependent and ranges from 3 to 20% in GEN and 6 to 28% in ECM. More than 95% of these signal areas occur between 35 °S–35 °N. Due to the existence of model biases, robust responses, which are independent of initial condition, are identified over broader areas. Both GCMs demonstrate that the sensitivity to initial conditions decreases and the predictability of SST forced responses increases, in order, from 850 hPa zonal wind, outgoing longwave radiation, 200 hPa zonal wind, sea-level pressure to 500 hPa height. The predictable signals are concentrated in the tropical and subtropical Pacific Ocean and are identified with typical El Ni?o/ Southern Oscillation phenomena that occur in response to SST and diabatic heating anomalies over the equatorial central Pacific. ECM is less sensitive to initial conditions and better predicts SST forced climate changes. This results from (1) a more realistic basic climatology, especially of the upper-level wind circulation, that produces more realistic interactions between the mean flow, stationary waves and tropical forcing; (2) a more vigorous hydrologic cycle that amplifies the tropical forcing signals, which can exceed internal variability and be more efficiently transported from the forcing region. Differences between the models and observations are identified. For GEN during El Ni?o, the convection does not carry energy to a sufficiently high altitude, while the spread of the tropospheric warming along the equator is slower and the anomaly magnitude smaller than observed. This impacts model ability to simulate realistic responses over Eurasia and the Indian Ocean. Similar biases exist in the ECM responses. In addition, the relationships between upper and lower tropospheric wind responses to SST forcing are not well reproduced by either model. The identification of these model biases leads to the conclusion that improvements in convective heat and momentum transport parametrizations and basic climate simulations could substantially increase predictive skill. Received: 25 April 1996 / Accepted: 9 December 1996     

Numerical simulation by a stretched-coordinate Ocean General Circulation Model: A preliminary results

Summary ?A three-dimensional Ocean General Circulation Model has been developed in stretched coordinate from scratch. The same model has been used to perform some numerical experiments to simulate the basic circulation pattern and the model variability to atmospheric forcing. For numerical simulations 72 × 25 grid points in the horizontal directions and nine (10, 30, 75, 250, 500, 1000, 1500, 2000 and 3000 m) vertical levels are considered. The lateral boundaries are set at 60° N and 60° S. The basic focus of the paper is on the demonstration of the performance of the model and its assessment by employing appropriate forcing from the outputs of an atmospheric general circulation model. Hence, the model was forced with the forcing (wind and thermodynamic) derived from the ECMWF runs from the AMIP archives. The preliminary results show the realistic simulation of basic pattern of different fields. The model simulations show that the model is able to reproduce some of the general features of the ocean, such as surface currents, surface temperature and salinity, mass transport and meridional heat transport. It is also to be noted that the model is capable to capture the El-Ni?o and La-Ni?a type events. Received April 3, 2002; revised June 6, 2002; accepted July 24, 2002 Published online: February 20, 2003     

中国西北三类典型裸土下垫面地表宽波段发射率变化特征研究

利用2013年我国西北戈壁、沙漠和黄土塬区三类典型裸土下垫面野外观测试验资料,探究了上述地区地表向下、向上长波辐射（DLR&ULR）、地表温度（LST）和地表宽波段发射率（LSBE）的变化特征,结果表明:黄土站地表ULR和LST明显比戈壁和沙漠站偏低;戈壁宽波段发射率（GbBE）、沙漠宽波段发射率（DeBE）和黄土宽波段发射率（LoBE）具有明显的变化特征,尤其是日变化特征;观测期内GbBE、DeBE和LoBE平均值分别约为0.926±0.0452、0.916±0.0419和0.881±0.049。三站点地表宽波段发射率的数值大小和变化特征与陆面模式中所指定的参数化情况不符。地表发射率会受站点周围环境和当时气象条件等因素的影响,表层土壤湿度被认为是一个非常重要的影响因子,将来的野外观测试验中需加强相关影响要素的观测与分析。     

Intraseasonal tropical variability in an intermediate complexity atmospheric model

The convective equatorial waves in the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis and intermediate complexity atmospheric model QTCM are studied on the base of double space-time spectral analysis. The frequency-wavenumber spectra of outgoing longwave radiation, precipitation, zonal wind stress and net heat flux are obtained. Further, the propagation characteristics, amplitude and seasonal variability of filtered waves are analyzed. It is shown that QTCM simulates a wide variety of equatorial waves that share many characteristics with the observations. It is suggested that convective scheme applied in the model allows for simulation of interaction at interannual-intraseasonal time scales. The role of interannual SST forcing and extratropical excitation is elucidated using the model’s experiments with specific boundary conditions.     

中纬度北太平洋依赖于ENSO事件及独立于ENSO事件的变率特征:观测事实与海气耦合模式模拟

观测事实显示,在E1 Ni(?)o发生期间,伴随着赤道中东太平洋的增暖,中纬度北大平洋中部表层海温（SST）常出现冷距平,而北美大陆西海岸SST则出现暖距平。借助观测资料分析和海气耦合模式模拟两种手段,检验了北太平洋对ENSO事件的上述响应。观测证据和数值模拟都支持有关学者提出的“大气桥”概念,即大气对赤道中东太平洋SST异常增暖的响应,随后强迫中纬度北太平洋,并导致那里SST的变冷,从而起到了连接热带和热带外特别是中纬度北太平洋的“桥梁”的作用。关于其机制,本文认为主要是海洋对大气强迫的动力响应导致那里的SST变冷,尽管潜热通量的贡献也很显著。至少模式结果证明短波辐射、长波辐射和感热通量的贡献都是次要的。进一步的分析揭示,北太平洋存在着线性独立于ENSO事件的所谓“北太平洋模态”,在空间型上,它和线性地依赖于ENSO事件的模态非常相近,即它们的纬向结构都呈现出扁平的“双极”型,只是彼此间SST距平极大值的中心位置不同。模拟结果表明,北太平洋模态与大气的耦合作用,主要是通过海气热通量交换实现的,其中短波辐射和长波辐射的作用居主导地位,而潜热通量的贡献则基本可以忽略。     

Frequency distributions of transient regional climate change from perturbed physics ensembles of general circulation model simulations

Large ensembles of coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation model (AOGCM) simulations are required to explore modelling uncertainty and make probabilistic predictions of future transient climate change at regional scales. These are not yet computationally feasible so we have developed a technique to emulate the response of such an ensemble by scaling equilibrium patterns of climate change derived from much cheaper “slab” model ensembles in which the atmospheric component of an AOGCM is coupled to a mixed-layer ocean. Climate feedback parameters are diagnosed for each member of a slab model ensemble and used to drive an energy balance model (EBM) to predict the time-dependent response of global surface temperature expected for different combinations of uncertain AOGCM parameters affecting atmospheric, land and sea-ice processes. The EBM projections are then used to scale normalised patterns of change derived for each slab member, and hence emulate the response of the relevant atmospheric model version when coupled to a dynamic ocean, in response to a 1% per annum increase in CO₂. The emulated responses are validated by comparison with predictions from a 17 member ensemble of AOGCM simulations, constructed from variants of HadCM3 using the same parameter combinations as 17 members of the slab model ensemble. Cross-validation permits estimation of the spatial and temporal dependence of emulation error, and also allows estimation of a correction field to correct discrepancies between the scaled equilibrium patterns and the transient response, reducing the emulation error. Emulated transient responses and their associated errors are obtained from the slab ensemble for 129 pseudo-HadCM3 versions containing multiple atmospheric parameter perturbations. These are combined to produce regional frequency distributions for the transient response of annual surface temperature change and boreal winter precipitation change. The technique can be extended to any surface climate variable demonstrating a scaleable, approximately linear response to forcing.     

STUDY ON AIR-SEA HEAT EXCHANGE MECHANISM IN EL NINO AND LA NINA EVENTS

2°×2° mean monthly COADS grid data in 1974 and 1987 of E1 Nino and La Nina years are used to compute thesensible and latent heat fluxes,the net longwave radiation,the incident solar radiation and heat budget on the tropicalPacific surface(30°S—30°N).The difference of the heat budget between El Nino and La Nina mainly occurred on theequatorial ocean surface,especially the water area west of Ecuador and Peru.During El Nino,the sensible and latentheat exchange increased,the net longwave radiation and incident solar radiation decreased and the net gain(loss) of heatreduced(increased) on the ocean surface.During La Nina,the circumstances were opposite.Finally an ideal model ofair-sea heat exchange mechanism for the El Nino-La Nina cycle is summarized. Key words:El Nino,La Nina,air-sea heat exchange,COADS grid data     

Impacts of shortwave radiation forcing on ENSO: a study with a coupled tropical ocean-atmosphere model

 We describe a coupled tropical ocean-atmosphere model that represents a new class of models that fill the gap between anomaly coupled models and fully coupled general circulation models. Both the atmosphere and ocean are described by two and half layer primitive equation models, which emphasize the physical processes in the oceanic mixed layer and atmospheric boundary layer. Ocean and atmosphere are coupled through both momentum and heat flux exchanges without explicit flux correction. The coupled model, driven by solar radiation, reproduces a realistic annual cycle and El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). In the presence of annual mean shortwave radiation forcing, the model exhibits an intrinsic mode of ENSO. The oscillation period depends on the mean forcing that determines the coupled mean state. A perpetual April (October) mean forcing prolongs (shortens) the oscillation period through weakening (enhancing) the mean upwelling and mean vertical temperature gradients. The annual cycle of the solar forcing is shown to have fundamental impacts on the behavior of ENSO cycles through establishing a coupled annual cycle that interacts with the ENSO mode. Due to the annual cycle solar forcing, the single spectral peak of the intrinsic ENSO mode becomes a double peak with a quasi-biennial and a low-frequency (4–5 years) component; the evolution of ENSO becomes phase-locked to the annual cycle; and the amplitude and frequency of ENSO become variable on an interdecadal time scale due to interactions of the mean state and the two ENSO components. The western Pacific monsoon (the annual shortwave radiation forcing in the western Pacific) is primarily responsible for the generation of the two ENSO components. The annual march of the eastern Pacific ITCZ tends to lock ENSO phases to the annual cycle. The model's deficiencies, limitations, and future work are also discussed. Received: 15 June 1999 / Accepted: 11 December 1999     

Climate variability in millennium integrations with coupled atmosphere-ocean GCMs: a spectral view

 Climate variations in four millennium integrations obtained with coupled GCMs are studied from a spectral point of view. It is shown that the bulk of these variations can be described by two distinctly different types of spectra. The type-I spectra, characterized by a high-frequency ω⁻² slope (with ω being frequency) and a low-frequency plateau, indicate the dominance of short-term fluctuations in generating climate variations. They are obtained for many atmospheric variables and variables representing predominantly the upper ocean and the high-latitude part of the deep ocean. The time scale, at which the spectra level off, varies from a few days for grid-point time series of atmospheric variables, to a few months for time series of large-scale atmospheric patterns, several years for SST anomalies in the tropical Pacific, and a few decades for variables describing oceanic baroclinic waves. The type-II spectra are obtained in the ocean interior, which is shielded from the fluctuating forcing at the surface. Since the ocean model does not produce oceanic eddies, the disappearance of type-I spectra in the deep ocean indicates that the fluctuating surface forcing does not fully penetrate into the deep ocean. While type-I spectra are supported by observations, type-II spectra might describe a model specific phenomenon and the realism of these spectra is still a open question. Received: 12 January 2000 / Accepted: 14 June 2000