Heat budget of the south-central equatorial Pacific in CMIP3 models

ABSTRACT Using data from 17 coupled models and nine sets of corresponding Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project （AMIP） results, we investigated annual and seasonal variation biases in the upper 50 m of the south-central equatorial Pacific, with a focus on the double-ITCZ bias, and examined the causes for the amplitude biases by using heat budget analysis. The results showed that, in the research region, most of the models simulate SSTs that are higher than or similar to observed. The simulated seasonal phase is close to that observed, but the amplitudes of more than half of the model results are larger than or equal to observations. Heat budget analysis demonstrated that strong shortwave radiation in individual atmospheric models is the main factor that leads to high SST values and that weak southward cold advection is an important mechanism for maintaining a high SST. For seasonal circulation, large surface shortwave radiation amplitudes cause large SST amplitudes.     

Surface currents and equatorial thermocline in a coupled upper ocean-atmosphere GCM

The Oregon State University coupled upper ocean-atmosphere GCM is evaluated in terms of the simulated winds, ocean currents and thermocline depth variations. Although the zonal wind velocities in the model are underestimated by a factor of about three and the zonal current velocities are underestimated by a factor of about five, the model is seen to qualitatively simulate the major features of the gyral scale currents, and the phases of the seasonal variation of the principal equatorial currents are in reasonable agreement with observations. The simulated tropical currents are dominated by Ekman transport and the eastern boundary currents do not penetrate far enough equatorward, while the western boundary currents do not penetrate far enough poleward. The subtropical trade wind belt and the mid-latitude westerlies are displaced equatorward of observations; hence, the mid-latitude eastward currents, principally the Kuroshio-North Pacific Drift and the Gulf Stream-North Atlantic Current are displaced equatorward. In spite of these shortcomings the surface current simulation of this two-layer upper ocean model is comparable with that of other ocean GCMs of coarse resolution. The coupled model successfully simulates the deepening of the thermocline westward across Pacific as a consequence of the prevailing Walker circulation. The region of most intense simulated surface forcing is located in the western Pacific due to a southwestward displacement of the northeast trade winds relative to observations; hence the equatorial Pacific is dominated by eastward propagation of thermocline depth variations. The excessively strong Ekman divergence and upwelling in the western Pacific cools the local warm pool, while incorrectly simulated westerlies in the eastern Pacific suppress upwelling and inhibit cooling from below. These features reduce the simulated trans-Pacific sea-surface temperature gradient, weakening the Walker circulation and the anomalies associated with the simulated Southern Oscillation. Offprint requests to: KR Sperber     

BCC S2S模式对亚洲夏季风准双周振荡预报评估

利用1994-2013年ERA-Interim及NCEP/NCAR再分析数据,对国家气候中心（BCC）次季节到季节尺度模式（S2S）1994-2013年的回报试验数据进行亚洲季风区准双周振荡（QBWO）预报能力评估,并诊断模式预报误差来源。结果表明:BCC S2S模式对QBWO的预报能力随着预报提前时间的增长而降低,9 d后预报技巧明显减弱,其周期、传播特征和强度出现误差;在提前9 d预报中,印度洋地区QBWO对流-环流系统结构松散,信号偏弱,对流向东传播,这与印度洋平均态的预报误差有关,夏季对流平均态低层水汽场在西太平洋和阿拉伯海较强,而东印度洋、孟加拉湾一带偏弱;西北太平洋地区QBWO具有向西北传播的特征,但强度偏弱,可能原因是预报低估了QBWO对流西北侧低层涡度的超前信号,经涡度方程诊断发现,地转涡度平流正贡献微弱,相对涡度平流在对流西北侧引发负涡度,从而减弱了对流西北侧由低层正涡度引发的有利条件。     

热带太平洋盐度年际变化对海表温度异常作用比较：1997/1998、2014/2015和2015/2016年El Niño事件

海洋盐度变化为研究气候变化的机制提供了一个新的视角。本文通过对比1997/1998年、2015/2016年两次强厄尔尼诺（El Ni?o）事件和2014/2015年特殊El Ni?o事件,对盐度变化及其影响海表面温度异常（SSTA）的物理过程进行了比较分析。研究表明,El Ni?o和南方涛动（El Ni?o–Southern Oscillation, ENSO）发展的强弱与热带西太平洋大范围海表层盐度异常（SSSA）及其向东扩散的差异有明显关联。1997/1998、2015/2016年赤道东太平洋SSTA的增暖,对应两次强El Ni?o事件,在发生年4月,中西太平洋海域出现了明显的负SSSA,之后东移至日期变更线以西,SSSA引发的混合层深度（MLD）变浅、障碍层厚度（BLT）变厚,导致热带中—西太平洋表层升温增强,促使了赤道中太平洋的早期变暖;2014/2015年弱El Ni?o事件虽然在发生年4月,位于赤道中西太平洋出现了负SSSA,但没有发展东移,导致BLT的增厚过程减弱,对表层温度的调制作用减弱甚至消失。三次事件对应的盐度变化过程中,水平平流和淡水通量（FWF）引起的表层强迫是影响盐度收支的主要因子,水平平流影响盐度异常的前期变化,触发事件的发生;热带太平洋西部降水引起的FWF负异常的影响最为显著,对ENSO异常信号出现后SSSA的维持起决定性作用。相比较两次强El Ni?o事件,2014/2015年El Ni?o对应的早期FWF负异常没有发展和东移,并且之后迅速减弱,导致中西太平洋盐度负趋势减缓,MLD加深,BLT变薄,促使上表层海水冷却,抑制了赤道东太平洋的早期变暖和ENSO发展。研究结果表明,盐度变化与ENSO密切相关,热带中西太平洋海域早期表层盐度变化可能可以作为SSTA的指数。特别地,SSSA在调节SSTA时,不仅影响它的强度,而且可以作为判断ENSO是否发展及其强弱的前兆因子。     

An assessment of Indo-Pacific oceanic channel dynamics in the FGOALS-g2 coupled climate system model

Lag correlations of sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs), sea surface height anomalies (SSHAs), subsurface temperature anomalies, and surface zonal wind anomalies (SZWAs) produced by the Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System model: Grid-point Version 2 (FGOALS-g2) are analyzed and compared with observations. The insignificant, albeit positive, lag correlations between the SSTAs in the southeastern tropical Indian Ocean (STIO) in fall and the SSTAs in the central-eastern Pacific cold tongue in the following summer through fall are found to be not in agreement with the observational analysis. The model, however, does reproduce the significant lag correlations between the SSHAs in the STIO in fall and those in the cold tongue at the one-year time lag in the observations. These, along with the significant lag correlations between the SSTAs in the STIO in fall and the subsurface temperature anomalies in the equatorial Pacific vertical section in the following year, suggest that the Indonesian Throughflow plays an important role in propagating the Indian Ocean anomalies into the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Analyses of the interannual anomalies of the Indonesian Throughflow transport suggest that the FGOALS-g2 climate system simulates, but underestimates, the oceanic channel dynamics between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. FGOALS-g2 is shown to produce lag correlations between the SZWAs over the western equatorial Pacific in fall and the cold tongue SSTAs at the one-year time lag that are too strong to be realistic in comparison with observations. The analyses suggest that the atmospheric bridge over the Indo-Pacific Ocean is overestimated in the FGOALS-g2 coupled climate model.     

The Asymmetry of Subsurface Temperature Anomalies Associated with ENSO in the Equatorial Western Pacific

The phenomenon of ENSO asymmetry has been recognized for many years, but most studies have focused on the asymmetry of surface temperature anomalies in the equatorial eastern Pacific. Here, the authors investigate the temperature asymmetry associated with ENSO in the subsurface of the western Pacific through analysis of observations and numerical experiments with an ocean GCM. Both the observation and simulation exhibit significant ENSO asymmetry, characterized by negative temperature skewness in the equatorial western Pacific and positive skewness in the eastern Pacific. Heat budget analysis reveals that nonlinear dynamical heating results in the positive temperature asymmetry in the equatorial eastern Pacific, but tends to weaken the negative temperature asymmetry in the equatorial western Pacific. The climatological meridional current transports the temperature anomalies and corresponding negative asymmetry from the off-equator region to the equator in the subsurface of the western Pacific. Through a sensitivity experiment with reversed wind stress forcing, the authors suggest that the skewness of the wind stress anomalies does not contribute to the negative temperature asymmetry in the western Pacific in the first-order approximation, while the internal nonlinear dynamics does play a key role. The study suggests that, as a result of nonlinear processes, the oceanic responses to anomalous wind stress are nonlinear and asymmetric in the tropical Pacific.     

Simulation and Improvements of Oceanic Circulation and Sea Ice by the Coupled Climate System Model FGOALS-f3-L

This study documents simulated oceanic circulations and sea ice by the coupled climate system model FGOALS-f3-L developed at the State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, under historical forcing from phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6). FGOALS-f3-L reproduces the fundamental features of global oceanic circulations, such as sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface salinity (SSS), mixed layer depth (MLD), vertical temperature and salinity, and meridional overturning circulations. There are notable improvements compared with the previous version, FGOALS-s2, such as a reduction in warm SST biases near the western and eastern boundaries of oceans and salty SSS biases in the tropical western Atlantic and eastern boundaries, and a mitigation of deep MLD biases at high latitudes. However, several obvious biases remain. The most significant biases include cold SST biases in the northwestern Pacific (over 4°C), freshwater SSS biases and deep MLD biases in the subtropics, and temperature and salinity biases in deep ocean at high latitudes. The simulated sea ice shows a reasonable distribution but stronger seasonal cycle than observed. The spatial patterns of sea ice are more realistic in FGOALS-f3-L than its previous version because the latitude–longitude grid is replaced with a tripolar grid in the ocean and sea ice model. The most significant biases are the overestimated sea ice and underestimated SSS in the Labrador Sea and Barents Sea, which are related to the shallower MLD and weaker vertical mixing.     

Lower Stratospheric Water Vapor Variations Diagnosed from Satellite Observations,Reanalysis Data,and a Chemistry–Climate Model

Stratospheric water vapor variations, which may play an important role in surface climate, have drawn extensive studies. Here, the variation in stratospheric water vapor is investigated by using data from observations of the Microwave Limb Sounder(MLS) on the Aura satellite, from the ECMWF Interim Reanalysis(ERAI), and simulations by the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model(WACCM). We find that the differences of annual mean stratospheric water vapor among these datasets may be partly caused by the differences in vertical transports. Using budget analysis, we find that the upward transport of water vapor at 100 h Pa is mainly located over the Pacific warm pool region and South America in the equatorial tropics in boreal winter and over the southeast of the South Asian high and south of North America in boreal summer. It is found that temperature averaged over regions with upward transport is a better indicator of interannual variability of tropical mean stratospheric water vapor than the tropical mean temperature. It seems that the distributions of the seasonal cycle amplitude of lower stratospheric water vapor in the tropics can also be impacted by the vertical transport. The radiative effects of the interannual changes in water vapor in the lowermost stratosphere are underestimated by approximately 29% in both ERAI and WACCM compared to MLS, although the interannual variations of water vapor in the lowermost stratosphere are dramatically overestimated in ERAI and WACCM. The results here indicate that the radiative effect of long-term changes in water vapor in the lowermost stratosphere may be underestimated in both ERAI and WACCM simulations.     

On the Second-Year Warming in Late 2019 over the Tropical Pacific and Its Attribution to an Indian Ocean Dipole Event※

After its maturity, El Ni?o usually decays rapidly in the following summer and evolves into a La Ni?a pattern. However, this was not the case for the 2018/19 El Ni?o event. Based on multiple reanalysis data sets, the space-time evolution and triggering mechanism for the unusual second-year warming in late 2019, after the 2018/19 El Ni?o event, are investigated in the tropical Pacific. After a short decaying period associated with the 2018/19 El Ni?o condition, positive sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs) re-intensified in the eastern equatorial Pacific in late 2019. Compared with the composite pattern of El Ni?o in the following year, two key differences are evident in the evolution of SSTAs in 2019. First, is the persistence of the surface warming over the central equatorial Pacific in May, and second, is the re-intensification of the positive SSTAs over the eastern equatorial Pacific in September. Observational results suggest that the re-intensification of anomalous westerly winds over the western and central Pacific, induced remotely by an extreme Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) event, acted as a triggering mechanism for the second-year warming in late 2019. That is, the IOD-related cold SSTAs in the eastern Indian Ocean established and sustained anomalous surface westerly winds over the western equatorial Pacific, which induced downwelling Kelvin waves propagating eastward along the equator. At the same time, the subsurface ocean provided plenty of warm water in the western and central equatorial Pacific. Mixed-layer heat budget analyses further confirm that positive zonal advection, induced by the anomalous westerly winds, and thermocline feedback played important roles in leading to the second-year warming in late 2019. This study provides new insights into the processes responsible for the diversity of El Ni?o evolution, which is important for improving the physical understanding and seasonal prediction of El Ni?o events.     

Impacts of an improved low-level cloud scheme on the eastern Pacific ITCZ-cold tongue complex

A statistically-based low-level cloud parameterization scheme is introduced, modified, and applied in the Flexible coupled General Circulation Model (FGCM-0). It is found that the low-level cloud scheme makes improved simulations of low-level cloud fractions and net surface shortwave radiation fluxes in the subtropical eastern oceans off western coasts in the model. Accompanying the improvement in the net surface shortwave radiation fluxes, the simulated distribution of SSTs is more reasonably asymmetrical about the equator in the tropical eastern Pacific, which suppresses, to some extent, the development of the double ITCZ in the model. Warm SST biases in the ITCZ north of the equator are more realistically reduced, too. But the equatorial cold tongue is strengthened and extends further westward, which reduces the precipitation rate in the western equatorial Pacific but increases it in the ITCZ north of the equator in the far eastern Pacific. It is demonstrated that the low-level cloud-radiation feedback would enhance the cooperative feedback between the equatorial cold tongue and the ITCZ. Based on surface layer heat budget analyses, it is demonstrated that the reduction of SSTs is attributed to both the thermodynamic cooling process modified by the increase of cloud fractions and the oceanic dynamical cooling processes associated with the strengthened surface wind in the eastern equatorial Pacific, but it is mainly attributed to oceanic dynamical cooling processes associated with the strengthening of surface wind in the central and western equatorial Pacific.     

Remote Efects of Tropical Cyclone Wind Forcing over the Western Pacific on the Eastern Equatorial Ocean

An ocean general circulation model(OGCM)is used to demonstrate remote efects of tropical cyclone wind(TCW)forcing in the tropical Pacific.The signature of TCW forcing is explicitly extracted using a locally weighted quadratic least-squares regression(called as LOESS)method from six-hour satellite surface wind data;the extracted TCW component can then be additionally taken into account or not in ocean modeling,allowing isolation of its efects on the ocean in a clean and clear way.In this paper,seasonally varying TCW fields in year 2008 are extracted from satellite data which are prescribed as a repeated annual cycle over the western Pacific regions of the equator(poleward of 10 N/S);two long-term OGCM experiments are performed and compared,one with the TCW forcing part included additionally and the other not.Large,persistent thermal perturbations(cooling in the mixed layer(ML)and warming in the thermocline)are induced locally in the western tropical Pacific,which are seen to spread with the mean ocean circulation pathways around the tropical basin.In particular,a remote ocean response emerges in the eastern equatorial Pacific to the prescribed of-equatorial TCW forcing,characterized by a cooling in the mixed layer and a warming in the thermocline.Heat budget analyses indicate that the vertical mixing is a dominant process responsible for the SST cooling in the eastern equatorial Pacific.Further studies are clearly needed to demonstrate the significance of these results in a coupled ocean-atmosphere modeling context.     

Remote effects of tropical cyclone wind forcing over the western Pacific on the eastern equatorial ocean

An ocean general circulation model （OGCM） is used to demonstrate remote effects of tropical cyclone wind （TCW） forcing in the tropical Pacific. The signature of TCW forcing is explicitly extracted using a locally weighted quadratic least=squares regression （called as LOESS） method from six-hour satellite surface wind data; the extracted TCW component can then be additionally taken into account or not in ocean modeling, allowing isolation of its effects on the ocean in a clean and clear way. In this paper, seasonally varying TCW fields in year 2008 are extracted from satellite data which are prescribed as a repeated annual cycle over the western Pacific regions off the equator （poleward of 10°N/S）; two long-term OGCM experiments are performed and compared, one with the TCW forcing part included additionally and the other not. Large, persistent thermal perturbations （cooling in the mixed layer （ML） and warming in the thermocline） are induced locally in the western tropical Pacific, which are seen to spread with the mean ocean circulation pathways around the tropical basin. In particular, a remote ocean response emerges in the eastern equatorial Pacific to the prescribed off-equatorial TCW forcing, characterized by a cooling in the mixed layer and a warming in the thermocline. Heat budget analyses indicate that the vertical mixing is a dominant process responsible for the SST cooling in the eastern equatorial Pacific. Further studies are clearly needed to demonstrate the significance of these results in a coupled ocean-atmosphere modeling context.     

Seasonal evolution of subtropical anticyclones in the climate system model FGOALS-s2

The simulation characteristics of the seasonal evolution of subtropical anticyclones in the Northern Hemisphere are documented for the Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land Systemmodel, Spectral Version 2 (FGOALS-s2), developed at the State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, the Institute of Atmospheric Physics. An understanding of the seasonal evolution of the subtropical anticyclones is also addressed. Compared with the global analysis established by the European Centre for Medium-Range Forecasts, the ERA-40 global reanalysis data, the general features of subtropical anticyclones and their evolution are simulated well in both winter and summer, while in spring a pronounced bias in the generation of the South Asia Anticyclone(SAA) exists. Its main deviation in geopotential height from the reanalysis is consistent with the bias of temperature in the troposphere. It is found that condensation heating (CO) plays a dominant role in the seasonal development of the SAA and the subtropical anticyclone over the western Pacific (SAWP) in the middle troposphere. The CO biases in the model account for the biases in the establishment of the SAA in spring and the weaker strength of the SAA and the SAWP from spring to summer. CO is persistently overestimated in the central-east tropical Pacific from winter to summer, while it is underestimated over the area from the South China Sea to the western Pacific from spring to summer. Such biases generate an illusive anticyclonic gyre in the upper troposphere above the middle Pacific and delay the generation of the SAA over South Asia in April. In midsummer, the simulated SAA is located farther north than in the ERA-40 data owing to excessively strong surface sensible heating (SE) to the north of the Tibetan Plateau. Whereas, the two surface subtropical anticyclones in the eastern oceans during spring to summer are controlled mainly by the surface SE over the two continents in the Northern Hemisphere, which are simulated reasonably well, albeit with their centers shifted westwards owing to the weaker longwave radiation cooling in the simulation associated with much weaker local stratiform cloud. Further improvements in the related parameterization of physical processes are therefore identified.     

On the phase propagation and relationship of interannual variability in the tropical Pacific climate system

—Upper ocean thermal data and surface marine observations are used to describe the three-dimensional, basinwide co-evolution of interannual variability in the tropical Pacific climate system. The phase propagation behavior differs greatly from atmosphere to ocean, and from equatorial to off-equatorial and from sea surface to subsurface depths in the ocean. Variations in surface zonal winds and sea surface temperatures (SSTs) exhibit a standing pattern without obvious zonal phase propagation. A nonequilibrium ocean response at subsurface depths is evident, characterized by coherent zonal and meridional propagating anomalies around the tropical North Pacific: eastward on the equator but westward off the equator. Depending on geographic location, there are clear phase relations among various anomaly fields. Surface zonal winds and SSTs in the equatorial region fluctuate approximately in-phase in time, but have phase differences in space. Along the equator, zonal mean thermocline depth (or heat content) anomalies are in nonequilibrium with the zonal wind stress forcing. Variations in SSTs are not in equilibrium either with subsurface thermocline changes in the central and western equatorial Pacific, with the former lagging the latter and displaced to the east. Due to its phase relations to SST and winds, the basinwide temperature anomaly evolution at thermocline depths on an interannual time scale may determine the slow physics of ENSO, and play a central role in initiating and terminating coupled air-sea interaction. This observed basinwide phase propagation of subsurface anomaly patterns can be understood partially as water discharge processes from the western Pacific to the east and further to high latitudes, and partially by the modified delayed oscillator physics. Received: 17 January 1997 / Accepted: 10 March 1998     

Annual cycle and interannual variability in the tropical pacific as simulated by three versions of FGOALS

The seasonal cycle and interannual variability in the tropical oceans simulated by three versions of the Flexible Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System (FGOALS) model (FGOALS-g1.0, FGOALS-g2 and FGOALSs2), which have participated in phases 3 and 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3 and CMIP5), are presented in this paper. The seasonal cycle of SST in the tropical Pacific is realistically reproduced by FGOALS-g2 and FGOALSs2, while it is poorly simulated in FGOALS-g1.0. Three feedback mechanisms responsible for the SST annual cycle in the eastern Pacific are evaluated. The ocean-atmosphere dynamic feedback, which is successfully reproduced by both FGOALS-g2 and FGOALS-s2, plays a key role in determining the SST annual cycle, while the overestimated stratus cloud-SST feedback amplifies the annual cycle in FGOALS-s2. Because of the serious warm bias existing in FGOALS-g1.0, the ocean-atmosphere dynamic feedback is greatly underestimated in FGOALS-g1.0, in which the SST annual cycle is mainly driven by surface solar radiation. FGOALS-g1.0 simulates much stronger ENSO events than observed, whereas FGOALS-g2 and FGOALSs2 successfully simulate the observed ENSO amplitude and period and positive asymmetry, but with less strength. Further ENSO feedback analyses suggest that surface solar radiation feedback is principally responsible for the overestimated ENSO amplitude in FGOALS-g1.0. Both FGOALS-g1.0 and FGOALS-s2 can simulate two different types of El Ni-no events — with maximum SST anomalies in the eastern Pacific (EP) or in the central Pacific (CP) — but FGOALS-g2 is only able to simulate EP El Ni-no, because the negative cloud shortwave forcing feedback by FGOALS-g2 is much stronger than observed in the central Pacific.     

Blunt ocean dynamical thermostat in response of tropical eastern Pacific SST to global warming

Using an intermediate ocean–atmosphere coupled model (ICM) for the tropical Pacific, we investigated the role of the ocean dynamical thermostat (ODT) in regulating the tropical eastern Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) under global warming conditions. The external, uniformly distributed surface heating results in the cooling of the tropical eastern Pacific “cold tongue,” and the amplitude of the cooling increases as more heat is added but not simply linearly. Furthermore, an upper bound for the influence of the equatorially symmetric surface heating on the cold tongue cooling exists. The additional heating beyond the upper bound does not cool the cold tongue in a systematic manner. The heat budget analysis suggests that the zonal advection is the primary factor that contributes to such nonlinear SST response. The radiative heating due to the greenhouse effect (hereafter, RHG) that is obtained from the multi-model ensemble of the Climate Model Intercomparison Project Phase III (CMIP3) was externally given to ICM. The RHG obtained from the twentieth century simulation intensified the cold tongue cooling and the subtropical warming, which were further intensified by the RHG from the doubled CO₂ concentration simulation. However, the cold tongue cooling was significantly reduced and the negative SST response region was shrunken toward the equator by the RHG from the quadrupled CO₂ concentration simulation, while the subtropical warming increased further. A systematic RHG forced experiment having the same spatial pattern of RHG from doubled CO₂ concentration simulation with different amplitude of forcing revealed that the ocean dynamical response to global warming tended to enhance the cooling in the tropical eastern Pacific by virtue of meridional advection and upwelling; however, these cooling effects could not fully compensate a given RHG warming as the external forcing becomes larger. Moreover, the feedback by the zonal thermal advection actually exerted the warming over the equatorial region. Therefore, as the global warming is intensified, the cooling over the eastern tropical Pacific by ODT and the negative SST response area are reduced.     

ENERGY BUDGET BIAS IN GLOBAL COUPLED OCEAN-ATMOSPHERE-LAND MODEL*

The energy budget of the two versions of the GOALS model (GOALS-1.1 and GOALS-2) is described and compared to observational estimates.The results illustrate that the simulated surface net shortwave radiation flux is underestimated in the high-latitude regions while the surface net longwave radiation flux is substantially overestimated in that region,which results in the lower surface air temperature (SAT) of the polar region and the stronger negative sensible heat flux in high latitudes.The overestimated sensible heat flux from surface to atmosphere in the continents causes the much warmer SAT centers,which may be the reason for the bias of the model SAT. The bias that the simulated precipitation is less than observation in most regions is closely related to the underestimated latent heat flux over most of the Eurasian Continent and the oceans, especially over the subtropical oceans.It can be seen that the bias in the OLR of the two models lies in low and middle latitudes,where the absorbed solar shortwave radiation flux at the top of the atmosphere is comparable to the NCEP reanalysis,but much less than ERBE data.This indicates that the improvement of cloud-radiation parameterization scheme in low and middle latitudes is of critical importance to the simulation of global energy budget.The simulated cloud cover from the GOALS-2 model with diagnosed cloud scheme is generally less except at equatorial areas, especially in the mid-latitude areas,which causes the large bias of energy budget there.It is suggested that the refinement of cloud parameterization is one of the most important tasks in the model's future development.     

Simulation of salinity variability and the related freshwater flux forcing in the tropical Pacific: An evaluation using the Beijing normal university earth system model (BNU-ESM)

The climatology and interannual variability of sea surface salinity(SSS) and freshwater flux(FWF) in the equatorial Pacific are analyzed and evaluated using simulations from the Beijing Normal University Earth System Model(BNU-ESM).The simulated annual climatology and interannual variations of SSS, FWF, mixed layer depth(MLD), and buoyancy flux agree with those observed in the equatorial Pacific. The relationships among the interannual anomaly fields simulated by BNU-ESM are analyzed to illustrate the climate feedbacks induced by FWF in the tropical Pacific. The largest interannual variations of SSS and FWF are located in the western-central equatorial Pacific. A positive FWF feedback effect on sea surface temperature(SST) in the equatorial Pacific is identified. As a response to El Ni ?no–Southern Oscillation(ENSO),the interannual variation of FWF induces ocean processes which, in turn, enhance ENSO. During El Ni ?no, a positive FWF anomaly in the western-central Pacific(an indication of increased precipitation rates) acts to enhance a negative salinity anomaly and a negative surface ocean density anomaly, leading to stable stratification in the upper ocean. Hence, the vertical mixing and entrainment of subsurface water into the mixed layer are reduced, and the associated El Ni ?no is enhanced. Related to this positive feedback, the simulated FWF bias is clearly reflected in SSS and SST simulations, with a positive FWF perturbation into the ocean corresponding to a low SSS and a small surface ocean density in the western-central equatorial Pacific warm pool.     

气候系统模式FGOALS_gl模拟的赤道太平洋年际变率

本文分析了中国科学院大气物理研究所大气科学和地球流体力学数值模拟国家重点实验室 (LASG/IAP) 发展的气候系统模式FGOALS_gl对赤道太平洋年际变率的模拟能力。结果表明, FGOALS_gl可以较好地模拟出赤道太平洋SST异常年际变率的主要特征, 但模拟的ENSO事件振幅偏大, 且变率周期过于规则。耦合模式模拟的气候平均风应力在热带地区比ERA40再分析资料的风应力强度偏弱30%左右, 由此引起的海洋平均态的变化, 是造成模拟的ENSO振幅偏强的主要原因。FGOALS_gl模拟的ENSO峰值多出现在春季或夏季, 原因可归之于模式模拟的SST季节循环偏差。耦合模式可以合理再现ENSO演变过程, 但观测中SST异常的东传特征在模式中没有得到再现, 这与模拟的ENSO发展模态表现为单一的 “SST模态” 有关。模拟的ENSO位相转换机制与 “充电—放电” 概念模型相符合, 赤道太平洋热含量的变化是维持ENSO振荡的机制。在ENSO暖位相时期, 赤道中东太平洋与印度洋—西太平洋暖池区的海平面气压距平型表现为南方涛动型 (SO型), 200 hPa位势高度分布表现为太平洋—北美遥相关型 (PNA型)。     

An overview of the performance of CMIP6 models in the tropical Atlantic: mean state,variability, and remote impacts

General circulation models of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) are examined with respect to their ability to simulate the mean state and variability of the tropical Atlantic and its linkage to the tropical Pacific. While, on average, mean state biases have improved little, relative to the previous intercomparison (CMIP5), there are now a few models with very small biases. In particular the equatorial Atlantic warm SST and westerly wind biases are mostly eliminated in these models. Furthermore, interannual variability in the equatorial and subtropical Atlantic is quite realistic in a number of CMIP6 models, which suggests that they should be useful tools for understanding and predicting variability patterns. The evolution of equatorial Atlantic biases follows the same pattern as in previous model generations, with westerly wind biases during boreal spring preceding warm sea-surface temperature (SST) biases in the east during boreal summer. A substantial portion of the westerly wind bias exists already in atmosphere-only simulations forced with observed SST, suggesting an atmospheric origin. While variability is relatively realistic in many models, SSTs seem less responsive to wind forcing than observed, both on the equator and in the subtropics, possibly due to an excessively deep mixed layer originating in the oceanic component. Thus models with realistic SST amplitude tend to have excessive wind amplitude. The models with the smallest mean state biases all have relatively high resolution but there are also a few low-resolution models that perform similarly well, indicating that resolution is not the only way toward reducing tropical Atlantic biases. The results also show a relatively weak link between mean state biases and the quality of the simulated variability. The linkage to the tropical Pacific shows a wide range of behaviors across models, indicating the need for further model improvement.