The effect of sea-ice on the transient atmospheric eddies of the Southern Hemisphere

 Two 10 y simulations with a full seasonal cycle and 96×72×19 resolution were carried out with a version of the LMD GCM to diagnose the role of sea-ice on the extratropical climatology of the Southern Hemisphere. The control integration used the usual observed sea-ice distribution, while the anomaly simulation imposed a scenario in which all sea-ice was entirely replaced by open ocean. The simulated control climate was compared with available observational-based analyses. Relevant diagnostics of the time mean and indicators of the transient eddy activity have been evaluated for both integrations. The impact was shown throughout the troposphere and was larger and more organised in winter. We found reduced westerly flow and both falls and rises in sea level pressure in the region from which sea-ice was removed. The removal of ice in the Southern Ocean affects the baroclinic structure of the atmosphere. Changes in baroclinicity and eddy activity are consistent with changes in the mean climate. In general, the meridional wind variance, the poleward transient temperature flux and the eddy flux convergence of westerly momentum were weaker over the Southern Ocean. However, a strengthening of the variance downstream of the subtropical jet was found. The position of the main storm track tends to be slightly displaced equatorward in the anomaly case. Received: 24 February 1998 / Accepted: 13 March 1999     

Influences on surface energy fluxes in simulated present and doubled CO2 climates

The surface energy fluxes simulated by the CSIRO9 Mark 1 GCM for present and doubled CO₂ conditions are analyzed. On the global scale the climatological flux fields are similar to those from four GCMs studied previously. A diagnostic calculation is used to provide estimates of the radiative forcing by the GCM atmosphere. For 1 × CO₂, in the global and annual mean, cloud produces a net cooling at the surface of 31 W m^–2. The clear-sky longwave surface greenhouse effect is 311 W m^–2, while the corresponding shortwave term is –79 W m^–2. As for the other GCM results, the CSIRO9 CO₂ surface warming (global mean 4.8°C) is closely related to the increased downward longwave radiation (LW ). Global mean net cloud forcing changes little. The contrast in warming between land and ocean, largely due to the increase in evaporative cooling (E) over ocean, is highlighted. In order to further the understanding of influences on the fluxes, simple physically based linear models are developed using multiple regression. Applied to both 1 × CO₂ and CO₂ December–February mean tropical fields from CSIRO9, the linear models quite accurately (3–5 W m^–2 for 1 × CO₂ and 2–3 W m^–2 for CO₂) relate LW and net shortwave radiation to temperature, surface albedo, the water vapor column, and cloud. The linear models provide alternative estimates of radiative forcing terms to those from the diagnostic calculation. Tropical mean cloud forcings are compared. Over land, E is well correlated with soil moisture, and sensible heat with air-surface temperature difference. However an attempt to relate the spatial variation of LWt within the tropics to that of the nonflux fields had little success. Regional changes in surface temperature are not linearly related to, for instance, changes in cloud or soil moisture.     

The diurnal cycle of surface air temperature in simulated present and doubled CO2 climates

 The diurnal range of surface air temperature (rT _a ) simulated for present and doubled CO₂ climates by the CSIRO9 GCM is analysed. Based on mean diurnal cycles of temperature and surface heat fluxes, a theory for understanding the results is developed. The cycles are described as the response to a diurnal forcing which is represented well by the diurnal mean flux of net shortwave radiation at the surface (SW) minus the evaporative (E) and sensible (H) fluxes. The response is modified by heat absorbed by the ground, and by the cycle in downward longwave (LW) radiation, but these effects are nearly proportional to the range in surface temperature. Thus in seasonal means, rT _a is approximately given by SW–E–H divided by 6 W m^-2/^°C. A multiple regression model for (rT _a ) is developed, based on quantities known to influence SW, E and H, and applied to both spatial variation in seasonal means, and day-to-day variation at a range of locations. In both cases, rT _a is shown to be influenced by cloud cover, snow extent and wind speed. It is influenced by soil moisture, although this effect is closely tied to that of cloud. In seasonal means rT _a is also well correlated with precipitable water, apparently because of the latter’s influence on E+H. The regression model describes well the spatial variation in the doubled CO₂ change in rT _a . The annual mean change in rT _a over land on doubling CO₂ was −0.36 ^°C, partly because of a decrease in the mean diurnal forcing (as defined in the theory), but also apparently because of the effect of nonlinearity in T _s of the upward longwave emission. A diagnostic radiation calculation indicates that the CO₂ and water vapour provide a small increase in rT _a through the downward LW response, which partially counters a decrease due to a reduction of SW by the gases. Received: 8 November 1995 / Accepted: 3 January 1997     

Simulation of the effect of doubled atmospheric CO2 on the climate of northern and central California

A Local Climate Model (LCM) is described that can provide a high-resolution (10 km) simulation of climate resulting from a doubling of atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. A canonicalregression function is used to compute the monthly temperature (mean of daily-maximum-temperature) and precipitation for any point, given a set of predictor variables. Predictor variables represent the influence of terrain, sea-surface temperature (SST), windfields, CO₂ concentration, and solar radiation on climate. The canonical-regression function is calibrated and validated using empirical windfield, SST, and climate data from stations in the western U.S. To illustrate an application of the LCM, the climate of northern and central California is simulated for a doubled CO₂ (600 ppmv) and a control scenario (300 ppmv CO₂). Windfields and SSTs used to compute predictor variables are taken from general circulation model simulations for these two scenarios. LCM solutions indicate that doubling CO₂ will result in a 3 C° increase in January temperature, a 2 C° increase in July temperature, a 16 mm (37%) increase in January precipitation, and a 3 mm (46%) increase in July precipitation.     

中纬度瞬变涡旋活动对东亚夏季平均环流和降水的影响

首先利用CFSR再分析数据,分析了东亚夏季平均环流结构及瞬变涡旋活动特征,再通过WRF模式设计控制性试验和敏感性试验分别模拟受到/不受到来自北边界中纬度瞬变涡旋活动影响的东亚夏季环流和降水,通过两组试验对比揭示了瞬变涡旋活动对东亚夏季平均环流和降水的贡献.结果 表明,中纬度瞬变涡旋活动可以通过系统性的输送动量、热量、水...     

中高纬瞬变涡旋活动对我国东部夏季降水的影响

基于1981—2020年日本气象厅(Japanese Meteorological Agency,JMA)再分析资料JRA-55(Japanese 55-year Reanalysis)以及美国国家气候中心(Climate Prediction Center,CPC)卫星降水资料,分析了瞬变涡旋活动特征及其对我国东部夏季降水异常的影响,并对其可能机制展开讨论。研究表明,蒙古国至我国东北和华北地区既是瞬变涡旋活动的活跃区域,也是其输送的大值区域,其中瞬变涡旋对热量和水汽的经向输送占主导地位,是中高纬热量和水汽的重要来源。根据瞬变涡旋经向热量和水汽输送变率的强度确定了瞬变热量和水汽输送的关键区域,分别为(45°~60°N,100°~130°E)和(35°~50°N,100°~120°E),并定义了瞬变热量和水汽指数,其与我国东部夏季降水异常的回归结果表明,瞬变涡旋活动对我国东部夏季降水存在显著影响。中高纬天气尺度瞬变涡旋对热量、水汽和动量的输送异常,通过波流相互作用过程,对平均流形成了反馈,导致季节平均环流、水汽分布和水汽输送的异常,从而在热力、动力和水汽条件的共同作用下引起降水异常。     

平衡态和瞬变气候对人类活动强迫的响应

海陆气耦合模式,是用来定量描述过去气候变化的成因和预报未来气候变化的唯一数学工具。由于大气反馈过程的差异,特别是云辐射反馈的差异,这些模式对外强迫的平衡态响应有相当大的差异。然而,参加政府间气候变化专门委员会（Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change,IPCC）第4次评估报告（Assessment Report,AR4）的所有耦合模式,对20世纪气候的模拟结果均非常相似。本文研究了这种相似性的产生原因及启示。结果表明,若大气反馈越大,则气候对外强迫的响应时滞越长、与深海的热交换越多、模式中海洋涌升流的影响越大。这3种同样重要的物理机制共同作用,降低了瞬变气候变化对模式差异的敏感性;然而,在较长的时间尺度上,模式间大气反馈过程差异将在多个方面显现出来     

Impact of transient eddies on extratropical seasonal-mean predictability in DEMETER models

The impact of transient eddies on extratropical seasonal-mean prediction and predictability was examined using DEMETER seasonal prediction data. Two distinct groups were found among the seven DEMETER models based on the simulated properties of their climatological state: (1) models of a strong jet stream and strong transient activity (strong transient models), which is close to the observed intensity, and (2) models of a weak jet stream and weak transient activity (weak transient models). In addition to climatology, the strong transient models tend to predict strong Pacific North American (PNA) patterns, whereas the weak transient models predict weak PNA patterns. Here we demonstrate that these differences mainly result from differences in the eddy feedback intensity. Due to synoptic eddy feedback, the strong transient models exhibit not only strong signal variance but also strong noise variance compared with those of the weak transient models. Interestingly two groups of models show the potential predictability of deterministic forecast, measured by the signal to noise ratio, which is similar to each other. However, the strong transient models produce the error to spread ratio smaller than that of the weak transient models, implying that the former models produce a more reliable spread for the probabilistic forecast. This study implies that a better representation of transient statistics is needed to improve the extratropical predictability of the dynamical seasonal prediction.     

Impact of doubled CO2 on the interaction between the global and regional water cycles in four study regions

Results from a suite of 30-year simulations (after spin-up) of the fully coupled Community Climate System Model version 2.0.1 are analyzed to examine the impact of doubling CO₂ on interactions between the global water cycle and the regional water cycles of four similar-size, but hydrologically and thermally different study regions (the Yukon, Ob, St Lawrence, and Colorado river basins and their adjacent land). A heuristic evaluation based on published climatological data shows that the model generally produces acceptable results for the control 1× CO₂ concentration, except for mountainous regions where it performs like other modern climate models. After doubling CO₂, the Northern Hemisphere receives significantly (95% confidence level) more moisture from the Southern Hemisphere during the boreal summer than under 1× CO₂ conditions, and the phase of the annual cycle of net moisture transport to areas north of 60°N shifts to a month later than in the reference simulation. Precipitation and evapotranspiration in the doubled CO₂ simulation increase for the Yukon, Ob, and St Lawrence, but decrease, on average, for the Colorado region compared to the reference simulation. For all regions, interaction between global and regional water cycles increases under doubled CO₂, because the amount of moisture entering and leaving the regions increases in the warmer climate. The degree of change in this interaction depends on region and season, and is related to slight shifts in the position/strength of semi-permanent highs and lows for the Yukon, Ob, and St Lawrence; in the Colorado region, higher temperatures associated with doubling CO₂ and the anticyclone located over the region increase the persistence of dry conditions.     

Low-frequency variability and CO2 transient climate change

Results from a global coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation model (GCM) are used to perform the first in a series of studies of the various time and space scales of climate anomalies in an environment of gradually increasing carbon dioxide (CO₂) (a linear transient increase of 1% per year in the coupled model). Since observed climate anomaly patterns often are computed as time-averaged differences between two periods, climate-change signals in the coupled model are defined using differences of various averaging intervals between the transient and control integrations. Annual mean surface air temperature differences for several regions show that the Northern Hemisphere warms faster than the Southern Hemisphere and that land areas warm faster than ocean. The high northern latitudes outside the North Atlantic contribute most to global warming but also exhibit great variability, while the high southern latitudes contribute the least. The equatorial tropics warm more slowly than the subtropics due to strong upwelling and mixing in the ocean. The globally averaged surface air temperature trend computed from annual mean differences for years 23–60 is 0.03 C per year. Projecting this trend to the time of CO₂ doubling in year 100 produces a warming of 2.3° C. By chance, one particular northern winter five-year average geographical difference pattern in the Northern Hemisphere from the coupled model resembles the recent observed pattern of surface temperature and sea-level pressure anomalies. This pattern is not consistent from one five-year period to the next in any season in the model. However, multidecadal averages in the coupled model show that the North Atlantic warms less than the rest of the high northern latitudes, and recent observations may be a manifestation of this phenomenon. Consistent geographic patterns of climate anomalies forced by increased CO₂ in the model are more evident with a longer averaging interval. There is also the possibility that the CO₂ climate-change signal may itself be a function of time and space. The general pattern of zonal mean temperature anomalies for all periods in the model shows warming in the troposphere and cooling in the stratosphere. This pattern (or one similar to it taking into account the rest of the trace gases) could be looked for in observations to verify the enhanced greenhouse effect. A zonal mean pattern, however, could prove scientifically satisfactory but of little value to policymakers seeking regional climate-change forecasts. These results from the coupled model underscore the difficulty in identifying a time- and space-dependent fingerprint of greenhouse warming that has some practical use from short climatic records and point to the need to understand the mechanisms of decadal-scale variability.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

Regional hydrologic consequences of increases in atmospheric CO2 and other trace gases

Concern over changes in global climate caused by growing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other trace gases has increased in recent years as our understanding of atmospheric dynamics and global climate systems has improved. Yet despite a growing understanding of climatic processes, many of the effects of human-induced climatic changes are still poorly understood. Major alterations in regional hydrologic cycles and subsequent changes in regional water availability may be the most important effects of such climatic changes. Unfortunately, these are among the least well-understood impact. Water-balance modeling techniques - modified for assessing climatic impacts - were developed and tested for a major watershed in northern California using climate-change scenarios from both state-of-the-art general circulation models and from a series of hypothetical scenarios. Results of this research suggest strongly that plausible changes in temperature and precipitation caused by increases in atmospheric trace-gas concentrations could have major impacts on both the timing and magnitude of runoff and soil moisture in important agricultural areas. Of particular importance are predicted patterns of summer soil-moisture drying that are consistent across the entire range of tested scenarios. The decreases in summer soil moisture range from 8 to 44%. In addition, consistent changes were observed in the timing of runoff-specifically dramatic increases in winter runoff and decreases in summer runoff. These hydrologic results raise the possibility of major environmental and socioeconomic difficulties and they will have significant implications for future water-resource planning and management.     

Intercomparsion of regional biases and doubled CO2-sensitivity of coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model experiments

 We compared regional biases and transient doubled CO₂ sensitivities of nine coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation models (GCMs) from six international climate modeling groups. We evaluated biases and responses in winter and summer surface air temperatures and precipitation for seven subcontinental regions, including those in the 1990 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Scientific Assessment. Regional biases were large and exceeded the variance among four climatological datasets, indicating that model biases were not primarily due to uncertainty in observations. Model responses to altered greenhouse forcing were substantial (average temperature change=2.7±0.9 ^°C, range of precipitation change =−35 to +120% of control). While coupled models include more climate system feedbacks than earlier GCMs implemented with mixed-layer ocean models, inclusion of a dynamic ocean alone did not improve simulation of long-term mean climatology nor increase convergence among model responses to altered greenhouse gas forcing. On the other hand, features of some of the coupled models including flux adjustment (which may have simply masked simulation errors), high horizontal resolution, and estimation of screen height temperature contributed to improved simulation of long-term surface climate. The large range of model responses was partly accounted for by inconsistencies in forcing scenarios and transient-simulation averaging periods. Nonetheless, the models generally had greater agreement in their sensitivities than their controls did with observations. This suggests that consistent, large-scale response features from an ensemble of model sensitivity experiments may not depend on details of their representation of present-day climate. Received: 9 September 1996 / Revised: 31 July 1997     

Sensitivity of transient eddies to climate change in the CCC general circulation model

Abstract

We use eddy life‐cycle simulations to evaluate the response of atmospheric transient eddies to a global warming caused by CO₂ doubling in the CCC general circulation model. In simulations using Northern Hemisphere winter conditions, transient waves attain larger kinetic energy and encompass a wider range of latitudes in the warmer climate. This behaviour contrasts with a previous investigation that used output from the NCAR and GFDL models. Our analysis indicates two primary factors for the difference between model responses: (1) a smaller change in the mid‐latitude temperature gradient in the CCC model, which allows (2) increased atmospheric water vapour in mid‐latitudes to catalyze a more rapidly evolving life‐cycle.     

Equilibrium and transient climatic warming induced by increased atmospheric CO2

The change in the Earth's equilibrium global mean surface temperature induced by a doubling of the CO₂ concentration has been estimated as 0.2 to 10 K by surface energy balance models, 0.5 to 4.2 K by radiative-convective models, and 1.3 to 4.2 K by general circulation models. These wide ranges are interpreted and quantified here in terms of the direct radiative, forcing of the increased CO₂, the response of the climate system in the absence of feedback processes, and the feedbacks of the climate system. It is the range in the values of these feedbacks that leads to the ranges in the projections of the global mean surface warming. The time required for a CO₂-induced climate change to reach equilibrium has been characterized by an e-folding time _e with values estimated by a variety of climate/ocean models as 10 to 100 years. Analytical and numerical studies show that this wide range is due to the strong dependence of _e on the equilibrium sensitivity of the climate model and on the effective vertical thermal diffusivity of the ocean model. A coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model simulation for doubled CO₂ suggestes that, as a result of the transport of the CO₂-induced surface heating into the interior of the ocean, _e 50 to 100 years. Theoretical studies for a realistic CO₂ increase between 1850 and 1980 indicate that this sequestering of heat into the ocean's interior is responsible for the concomittant warming being only about half that which would have occurred in the absence of the ocean. These studies also indicate that the climate sytem will continue to warm towards its as yet unrealized equilibrium temperature change, even if there is no further increase in the CO₂ concentration.     

Influence of natural variability and the cold start problem on the simulated transient response to increasing CO2

 The Hadley Centre coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation model (AOGCM) has been used to study the effect of including the historical increase in greenhouse gases from 1860 to 1990 on the response to a subsequent 1% per year increase in CO₂. Results from an ensemble of four experiments which include the historical increase, warm start (WS) experiments, are compared with an ensemble of four experiments which do not include the historical increase, cold start (CS) experiments. In the WS experiments, oceanic thermal inertia prevents the model from reaching equilibrium with the historical change in forcing from 1860 to 1990. This implies an unrealised warming at 1990, defined here as the ‘warming commitment’, increasing the subsequent warming in WS relative to that in CS. The difference in response between a WS experiment and a CS experiment is defined as the cold start error. For surface temperature the ensemble-mean cold start error is 20% of the WS response after year 30 and 10% at the time of doubling CO₂ (year 70). For sea level the reduction in the CS response is more pronounced, amounting to 60% at year 30 and 40% at the time of doubling. The vertical transfer of heat in the ocean is found to correspond to an equivalent diffusion process. This result supports the use of simple ocean models with constant diffusivity to produce time-dependent scenarios of globally averaged climate change, subject to the caveat that the changes in ocean circulation simulated by the present AOGCM were smaller than in some previous cases. In the WS integrations the vertical temperature gradient is larger than in CS due to the historical forcing influence, leading to more efficient heat loss from the base of the mixed layer and hence a larger effective heat capacity. This explains why the cold start error for surface temperature is smaller than for sea level. By year 50 the global patterns of temperature change in individual integrations are highly correlated in both the WS and CS ensembles, indicating that natural variability is too small to conceal the climate change signal. The simulated regional changes are statistically significant almost everywhere after 30 y. Before year 30, when the signal-to-noise ratio is smaller, ensemble averaging the changes leads to a substantial increase in significance. In contrast to a previous study also based on an ensemble of integrations, significant changes in precipitation and soil moisture are found. For these quantities the area of significant change grows more slowly with time, however ensemble averaging increases the significant area throughout. The characteristic patterns of change in WS and CS are similar, and evident in the simulation of the past record. This suggests that the component of the historical patterns of change, driven by greenhouse gas forcing, is likely to bear significant similarities to the patterns expected in the future. However, significant regional differences do develop between the WS and CS ensembles. The cold start error has a non-uniform pattern which becomes established in the second half of the experiment, and is not a simple amplification or modulation of the CS or WS response pattern. In northern summer the warming and drying over parts of the Northern Hemisphere continents is larger in CS than in WS, due to a smaller net moisture flux from sea to land. The conclusions are: (1) climate predictions should be based on warm start experiments in order to obtain the best estimates of future changes; (2) ensemble means give predictions of regional changes which are statistically more robust than predictions from individual integrations. Note, however, that neither the removal of the cold start error nor the use of ensemble averaging can reduce uncertainties in the regional changes arising from model deficiencies, which remain considerable at the present stage of development. Received: 28 March 1997 / Accepted: 16 June 1997     

The impact of horizontal resolution on moist processes in the ECMWF model

Summer and winter climates simulated with the ECMWF (cycle 33) model at spectral scales T21, T42, T63 and T106 are analyzed to determine the impact of changes in horizontal resolution on atmospheric water vapor, clouds, convection, and precipitation. Qualitative changes in many moist processes occur in the transition from T21 to T42, especially in the tropics; at higher resolutions mostly incremental variations from patterns established at T42 result. Large-scale tropical moist processes are simulated more realistically at T21 than at finer resolutions, possibly reflecting a mismatch between the finer-scale dynamics and the scales at which the underlying assumptions of the physical parameterizations apply. Global precipitation increases monotonically with resolution, as a consequence of increasing convection. Global cloud cover, however, decreases in the transition from T21 to T42 due to drying of the tropics, but then increases slightly at finer resolutions. These small global increases are an outcome of compensating changes in different regions: decreases in cloud cover due to drying of the atmosphere at low latitudes are offset by high-latitude increases resulting from enhanced relative humidity associated with an intensifying atmospheric cold bias at finer resolutions.     

The Relative Impact of Regional Scale Land Cover Change and Increasing CO2 over China

A series of 17-yr equilibrium simulations using the NCAR CCM3 (T42 resolution) were performed to investigate the regional scale impacts of land cover change and increasing CO2 over China. Simulations with natural and current land cover at CO2 levels of 280,355, 430, and 505 ppmv were conducted. Results show statistically significant changes in major climate fields (e.g. temperature and surface wind speed) on a 15-yr average following land cover change. We also found increases in the maximum temperature and in the diurnal temperature range due to land cover change. Increases in CO2 affect both the maximum and minimum temperature so that changes in the diurnal range are small. Both land cover change and CO2 change also impact the frequency distribution of precipitation with increasing CO2 tending to lead to more intense precipitation and land cover change leading to less intense precipitation-indeed, the impact of land cover change typically had the opposite effect versus the impacts of CO2. Our results provide support for the inclusion of future land cover change scenarios in long-term transitory climate inodelling experiments of the 21st Century. Our results also support the inclusion of land surface models that can represent future land cover changes resulting from an ecological response to natural climate variability or increasing CO2. Overall, we show that land cover change can have a significant impact on the regional scale climate of China, and that regionally, this impact is of a similar magnitude to increases in CO2 of up to about 430 ppmv. This means that that the impact of land cover change must be accounted for in detection and attribution studies over China.     

On the transient adjustment of a mid-latitude abyssal ocean basin with realistic geometry: the constant depth limit

The early stages in the adjustment of a mid-latitude abyssal basin with realistic geometry are studied using an inverted one and one-half layer model of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea as a natural test basin. The model is forced with a localized sidewall mass source and a compensating distributed mass sink. A flat bottom basin is investigated for comparison with existing theories on abyssal gyral spin-up, and as a precursor to a study with realistic topography. As in existing theories, the early adjustment is dominated by sub-inertial Kelvin and Rossby waves. Obstacles and the varying coastal geometry do not impede the passage of the Kelvin wave, though the circuit time of the main Kelvin wave signal is reduced by an aggregate 6% for the abyssal Eastern Mediterranean basin. The scattering of the Kelvin wave due to small-scale variations in the coastline is also shown not to be significant to the adjustment. The relatively short period of time needed to reach a statistical steady state is attributed to western boundary current formation in response to local Kelvin wave dynamics. Upon cessation of the sidewall forcing, sub-inertial motion controls the spin-down adjustment with basin-scale Rossby waves becoming the most pronounced feature of the flow. Two dynamical issues of particular interest emerge in these simulations: the retardation of Kelvin wave propagation around the abyssal basin and the roles of detrainment and sidewall forcing in the interior vorticity balance. An idealized simulation using an elliptical basin is used to illustrate that the mechanism for Kelvin wave retardation is a geometrically induced dispersion due to large-scale variations in the coastline. A dynamical analysis of the interior circulation shows that detrainment alone does not develop a Sverdrup response. Both the localized sidewall injection and the detrainment are needed to describe the interior dynamics, with both poleward and equatorward flows developing during the adjustment.