A brief introduction to the issue of climate and marine fisheries

Climatic variability has profound effects on the distribution, abundance and catch of oceanic fish species around the world. The major modes of this climate variability include the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) also referred to as the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO), the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Other modes of climate variability include the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO), the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and the Arctic Oscillation (AO). ENSO events are the principle source of interannual global climate variability, centred in the ocean–atmosphere circulations of the tropical Pacific Ocean and operating on seasonal to interannual time scales. ENSO and the strength of its climate teleconnections are modulated on decadal timescales by the IPO. The time scale of the IOD is seasonal to interannual. The SAM in the mid to high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere operates in the range of 50–60 days. A prominent teleconnection pattern throughout the year in the Northern Hemisphere is the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) which modulates the strength of the westerlies across the North Atlantic in winter, has an impact on the catches of marine fisheries. ENSO events affect the distribution of tuna species in the equatorial Pacific, especially skipjack tuna as well as the abundance and distribution of fish along the western coasts of the Americas. The IOD modulates the distribution of tuna populations and catches in the Indian Ocean, whilst the NAO affects cod stocks heavily exploited in the Atlantic Ocean. The SAM, and its effects on sea surface temperatures influence krill biomass and fisheries catches in the Southern Ocean. The response of oceanic fish stocks to these sources of climatic variability can be used as a guide to the likely effects of climate change on these valuable resources.     

Coupled climate impacts of the Drake Passage and the Panama Seaway

Tectonically-active gateways between ocean basins have modified ocean circulation over Earth history. Today, the Atlantic and Pacific are directly connected via the Drake Passage, which forms a barrier to the time-mean geostrophic transport between the subtropics and Antarctica. In contrast, during the warm early Cenozoic era, when Antarctica was ice-free, the Drake Passage was closed. Instead, at that time, the separation of North and South America provided a tropical seaway between the Atlantic and Pacific that remained open until the Isthmus of Panama formed in the relatively recent geological past. Ocean circulation models have previously been used to explore the individual impacts of the Drake Passage and the Panama Seaway, but rarely have the two gateways been considered together, and most explorations have used very simple atmospheric models. Here we use a coupled ocean–ice–atmosphere model (GFDL’s CM2Mc), to simulate the impacts of a closed Drake Passage both with and without a Panama Seaway. We find that the climate response to a closed Drake Passage is relatively small when the Panama Seaway is absent, similar to prior studies, although the coupling to a dynamical atmosphere does increase the temperature change. However, with a Panama Seaway, closing Drake Passage has a much larger effect, due to the cessation of deep water formation in the northern hemisphere. Both gateways alter the transport of salt by ocean circulation, with the Panama Seaway allowing fresh Pacific water to be imported to the North Atlantic, and the Drake Passage preventing the flow of saline subtropical water to the circum-Antarctic, a flow that is particularly strong when the Panama Seaway is open. Thus, with a Panama Seaway and a closed Drake Passage, the Southern Ocean tends to be relatively salty, while the North Atlantic tends to be relatively fresh, such that the deep ocean is ventilated from the circum-Antarctic. Ensuing changes in the ocean heat transport drive a bi-polar shift of surface ocean temperatures, and the Intertropical Convergence Zone migrates toward the warmer southern hemisphere. The response of clouds to changes in surface ocean temperatures amplifies the climate response, resulting in temperature changes of up to 9 °C over Antarctica, even in the absence of land-ice feedbacks. These results emphasize the importance of tectonic gateways to the climate history of the Cenozoic, and support a role for ocean circulation changes in the glaciation of Antarctica.     

A DIAGNOSIS OF THE INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY OF SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE AND SURFACE WIND FIELD IN THE TROPICAL OCEANS AND ITS CORRELATIVE CHARACTERS WITH ENSO CYCLE*

Utilizing the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis monthly datasets,and based on the filter and standard deviation calculation,the interannual variability of sea surface temperature (SST) and 1000 hPa wind field for the tropical Pacific,Indian and Atlantic Oceans is investigated for the past 20 years (1979-1998).The characters of space-time evolution in SST anomalies (SSTA) for each ocean and corresponding wind anomaly field are acquired by using rotated principal component (RPC) and linear regression analysis methods.Using the method of correlation analysis.the characters of three tropical oceans correlated with ENSO are investigated.The contemporary correlation between the SSTA in the Indian Ocean and in the equatorial eastern Pacific is positive,and there is a weak negative correlation between the SSTA in the equatorial east Atlantic Ocean and in the equatorial eastern Pacific.The lead-lag correlation analysis indicates that the SSTA in the equatorial Indian Ocean lags the dominant Pacific ENSO mode by 3 months,and the SSTA in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean leads ENSO mode by 6 months.The ENSO-correlated components in tropical Indian Ocean and tropical Atlantic Ocean display much the same amount of total variance in each ocean,i.e..14% in the Indian Ocean and 12% in the Atlantic Ocean and the maximums are all above 40%.     

影响夏季西北太平洋副热带高压年际变率的关键海区及影响机制

西北太平洋副热带高压(西太副高)是影响东亚夏季气候的主要环流系统,其年际变率受热带多个海区的海-气相互作用过程的调控。为明确影响夏季西太副高的关键海区及其影响机制,在总结最近十余年来相关研究进展的基础上,归纳出影响夏季西太副高年际变率的5个关键海区,包括赤道中东太平洋、热带印度洋、副热带西北太平洋、海洋大陆附近海区以及热带大西洋。阐述了这5个关键海区的海温异常影响西太副高年际变率的机制,并探讨了5个关键海区海温异常的形成机制。围绕夏季西太副高的年际变率,回顾了当前气候模式的模拟和预测研究的现状。最后,提出了本领域亟待解决的关键科学问题,展望未来可能的研究热点。     

Remotely forced variability in the tropical Atlantic Ocean

An ensemble of eight hindcasts has been conducted using an ocean-atmosphere general circulation model fully coupled only within the Atlantic basin, with prescribed observational sea surface temperature (SST) for 1950–1998 in the global ocean outside the Atlantic basin. The purpose of these experiments is to understand the influence of the external SST anomalies on the interannual variability in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. Statistical methods, including empirical orthogonal function analysis with maximized signal-to-noise ratio, have been used to extract the remotely forced Atlantic signals from the ensemble of simulations. It is found that the leading external source on the interannual time scales is the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the Pacific Ocean. The ENSO signal in the tropical Atlantic shows a distinct progression from season to season. During the boreal winter of a maturing El Niño event, the model shows a major warm center in the southern subtropical Atlantic together with warm anomalies in the northern subtropical Atlantic. The southern subtropical SST anomalies is caused by a weakening of the southeast trade winds, which are partly associated with the influence of an atmospheric wave train generated in the western Pacific Ocean and propagating into the Atlantic basin in the Southern Hemisphere during boreal fall. In the boreal spring, the northern tropical Atlantic Ocean is warmed up by a weakening of the northeast trade winds, which is also associated with a wave train generated in the central tropical Pacific during the winter season of an El Niño event. Apart from the atmospheric planetary waves, these SST anomalies are also related to the sea level pressure (SLP) increase in the eastern tropical Atlantic due to the global adjustment to the maturing El Niño in the tropical Pacific. The tropical SLP anomalies are further enhanced in boreal spring, which induce anomalous easterlies on and to the south of the equator and lead to a dynamical oceanic response that causes cold SST anomalies in the eastern and equatorial Atlantic from boreal spring to summer. Most of these SST anomalies persist into the boreal fall season.

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热带海表温度和低层风场的年际变率及与ENSO循环的相关特征研究

采用 NCEP/NCAR的 1 979～ 1 998年逐月平均的海表温度及 1 0 0 0 h Pa风场资料 ,进行滤波和均方差计算 ,得到了热带太平洋、印度洋、大西洋海表温度 (SST)和风场的年际变化特征。用旋转主分量 (RPC)方法和投影法对热带三大洋海表温度距平 (SSTA)进行分析 ,得到了各大洋 SSTA演变的主要时空特征和相应的距平风场特征 ;并用相关分析研究热带三大洋与ENSO相关的特征 ,得到三大洋间的同期相关关系为 :印度洋 SSTA与赤道东太平洋 SSTA成正相关 ,而赤道东大西洋 SSTA与赤道东太平洋 SSTA成弱的负相关 ;赤道印度洋在落后于赤道东太平洋 3个月左右时正相关达到最大 ,赤道大西洋在超前于赤道东太平洋 6个月左右时负相关达到最大 ;热带印度洋和大西洋与 ENSO相关的分量对各自大洋海表温度年际变化的方差贡献数值相近 ,最大在 40 %以上 ,平均解释方差分别为 1 4%和 1 2 %。     

North African climate variability. Part 1: Tropical thermocline coupling

Summary Tropical ocean thermocline variability is studied using gridded data assimilated by an ocean model in the period 1950–2000. The dominant patterns and variability are identified using EOF analysis applied to E–W depth slices of sea temperatures averaged over the tropics. After removing the annual cycle, an east–west ‘see-saw’ with an interannual to decadal rhythm is the leading mode in each of the tropical basins. In the case of the leading mode in the Pacific, the thermocline oscillation forms a dipole structure, but in the (east) Atlantic and (southwest) Indian Ocean there is a single center of action. The interaction of the ocean thermocline and atmospheric Walker circulations is studied through cross-modulus analysis of wavelet-filtered EOF time scores. Our study demonstrates how tropical ocean thermocline variability contributes to zonal circulation anomalies in the atmosphere. The equatorial Pacific thermocline oscillation explains 62 and 53% of the variability of the Pacific and Atlantic zonal overturning circulations, the latter driving convective polarity between North Africa and South America. The Pacific sea-saw leads the Atlantic zonal circulation by a few months.     

IMPACTS OF THE TROPICAL PACIFIC COUPLED PROCESS ON THE INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY IN THE INDIAN OCEAN

The basic features of climatology and interannual variations of tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans were analyzed using a coupled general circulation model (CGCM), which was constituted with an intermediate 2.5-layer ocean model and atmosphere model ECHAM4. The CGCM well captures the spatial and temporal structure of the Pacific El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the variability features in the tropical Indian Ocean. The influence of Pacific air-sea coupled process on the Indian Ocean variability was investigated carefully by conducting numerical experiments. Results show that the occurrence frequency of positive/negative Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) event will decrease/increase with the presence/absence of the coupled process in the Pacific Ocean. Further analysis demonstrated that the air-sea coupled process in the Pacific Ocean affects the IOD variability mainly by influencing the zonal gradient of thermocline via modulating the background sea surface wind.     

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)。     

Mechanisms for projected future changes in south Asian monsoon precipitation

Results are first presented from an analysis of a global coupled climate model regarding changes in future mean and variability of south Asian monsoon precipitation due to increased atmospheric CO₂ for doubled (2 × CO₂) and quadrupled (4 × CO₂) present-day amounts. Results from the coupled model show that, in agreement with previous studies, mean area-averaged south Asian monsoon precipitation increases with greater CO₂ concentrations, as does the interannual variability. Mechanisms producing these changes are then examined in a series of AMIP2-style sensitivity experiments using the atmospheric model (taken from the coupled model) run with specified SSTs. Three sets of ensemble experiments are run with SST anomalies superimposed on the AMIP2 SSTs from 1979–97: (1) anomalously warm Indian Ocean SSTs, (2) anomalously warm Pacific Ocean SSTs, and (3) anomalously warm Indian and Pacific Ocean SSTs. Results from these experiments show that the greater mean monsoon precipitation is due to increased moisture source from the warmer Indian Ocean. Increased south Asian monsoon interannual variability is primarily due to warmer Pacific Ocean SSTs with enhanced evaporation variability, with the warmer Indian Ocean SSTs a contributing but secondary factor. That is, for a given interannual tropical Pacific SST fluctuation with warmer mean SSTs in the future climate, there is enhanced evaporation and precipitation variability that is communicated via the Walker Circulation in the atmosphere to the south Asian monsoon to increase interannual precipitation variability there. This enhanced monsoon variability occurs even with no change in interannual SST variability in the tropical Pacific.     

Interannual variability of CFC-11 absorption by the ocean: an offline model study

The global ocean Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC-11) was simulated in an offline model driven by re-analysis ocean currents in order to identify the mechanisms of interannual to interdecadal variability of air?Csea CFC fluxes. The model was forced with the observed anthropogenic perturbations of atmospheric CFC-11 from the post industrial period (1938) following the OCMIP-II flux protocols along with the observed winds from 1960 to 1999 in the formulation of surface gas exchanges. The model ocean CFC-11 inventories, at the end of 1990s, accounted approximately 1% of the total atmospheric CFC-11, which is consistent with the corresponding observations. The mid-to-high latitude oceans were venue for strong (weak) oceanic sinks (sources) of CFC-11 during the winter (summer) months. The Southern Ocean (south of 40°S) and the North Atlantic (north of 35°N) provided two largest sinks of CFC-11, through which 31.4 and 14.6% of the global ocean CFC-11 entered, respectively. The eastern tropical Pacific Ocean exhibited large interannual variability of CFC-11 flux with a strong (weak) sink during La Ni?a (El Ni?o) years and represented 36% of the global CFC-11 flux variability. The North Atlantic and Southern Ocean were found as regions of large sink efficiency: a capacity to sink more CFC than outsource, although it reduced by 80 and 70%, respectively, in the last 40?years compared to 1960. The sink to source ratio of global ocean CFC-11 fluxes were reduced from 90 to 50% in the last 40?years. This indicates a saturation of CFC in the above-thermocline subsurface that makes the upper ocean less efficient in absorbing CFC in recent decades. A positive trend in CFC sink is now limited to the Southern Ocean, central tropical Pacific and western boundary current regions which possess active upwelling of old water with long time since last atmospheric contact. However, a globally averaged trend was a reduced CFC-11 sink, by emitting 30% of the total ocean CFC-11 that was absorbed during last 40?years.     

Leading patterns of the tropical Atlantic variability in a coupled general circulation model

This paper examines the mean annual cycle, interannual variability, and leading patterns of the tropical Atlantic Ocean simulated in a long-term integration of the climate forecast system (CFS), a state-of-the-art coupled general circulation model presently used for operational climate prediction at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. By comparing the CFS simulation with corresponding observation-based analyses or reanalyses, it is shown that the CFS captures the seasonal mean climate, including the zonal gradients of sea surface temperature (SST) in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean, even though the CFS produces warm mean biases and underestimates the variability over the southeastern ocean. The seasonal transition from warm to cold phase along the equator is delayed 1 month in the CFS compared with the observations. This delay might be related to the failure of the model to simulate the cross-equatorial meridional wind associated with the African monsoon. The CFS also realistically simulates both the spatial structure and spectral distributions of the three major leading patterns of the SST anomalies in the tropical Atlantic Ocean: the south tropical Atlantic pattern (STA), the North tropical Atlantic pattern (NTA), and the southern subtropical Atlantic pattern (SSA). The CFS simulates the seasonal dependence of these patterns and partially reproduces their association with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. The dynamical and thermodynamical processes associated with these patterns in the simulation and the observations are similar. The air-sea interaction processes associated with the STA pattern are well simulated in the CFS. The primary feature of the anomalous circulation in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) associated with the NTA pattern resembles that in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) linked with the SSA pattern, implying a similarity of the mechanisms in the evolution of these patterns and their connection with the tropical and extratropical anomalies in their respective hemispheres. The anomalies associated with both the SSA and NTA patterns are dominated by atmospheric fluctuations of equivalent-barotropic structure in the extratropics including zonally symmetric and asymmetric components. The zonally symmetric variability is associated with the annular modes, the Arctic Oscillation in the NH and the Antarctic Oscillation in the SH. The zonally asymmetric part of the anomalies in the Atlantic is teleconnected with the anomalies over the tropical Pacific. The misplaced teleconnection center over the southern subtropical ocean may be one of the reasons for the deformation of the SSA pattern in the CFS.     

北大西洋年际变率的海气耦合模式模拟II：热带太平洋强迫

利用一个全球海气耦合模式(BCM),结合观测资料,讨论了热带太平洋强迫对北大西洋年际气候变率的影响。研究表明,BCM能够相对合理地模拟赤道太平洋的年际变率模态及相应的海温距平型和大气遥相关型,尽管其准3年的振荡周期过于规则。来自数值模式和观测上的证据都表明,北大西洋冬季海温的主导性变率模态,即自北而南出现的“- -”的海温距平型,受到来自热带太平洋强迫的显著影响,其正位相与赤道中东太平洋冷事件相对应。换言之,赤道太平洋暖事件的发生,在太平洋-北美沿岸激发出PNA遥相关型,进而通过在北大西洋产生类似NAO负位相的气压距平型,削弱本来与NAO正位相直接联系的三核型海温距平。北大西洋三核型海温距平对热带太平洋强迫的响应,要滞后2—3个月的时间。     

Modulation of El Nino-Southern Oscillation by Freshwater Flux and Salinity Variability in the Tropical Pacific

The El Nin o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is modulated by many factors; most previous studies have emphasized the roles of wind stress and heat flux in the tropical Pacific. Freshwater flux (FWF) is another environmental forcing to the ocean; its effect and the related ocean salinity variability in the ENSO region have been of increased interest recently. Currently, accurate quantifications of the FWF roles in the climate remain challenging; the related observations and coupled ocean-atmosphere modeling involve large elements of uncertainty. In this study, we utilized satellite-based data to represent FWF-induced feedback in the tropical Pacific climate system; we then incorporated these data into a hybrid coupled ocean-atmosphere model (HCM) to quantify its effects on ENSO. A new mechanism was revealed by which interannual FWF forcing modulates ENSO in a significant way. As a direct forcing, FWF exerts a significant influence on the ocean through sea surface salinity (SSS) and buoyancy flux (Q B ) in the western-central tropical Pacific. The SSS perturbations directly induced by ENSO-related interannual FWF variability affect the stability and mixing in the upper ocean. At the same time, the ENSO-induced FWF has a compensating effect on heat flux, acting to reduce interannual Q B variability during ENSO cycles. These FWF-induced processes in the ocean tend to modulate the vertical mixing and entrainment in the upper ocean, enhancing cooling during La Nin a and enhancing warming during El Nin o, respectively. The interannual FWF forcing-induced positive feedback acts to enhance ENSO amplitude and lengthen its time scales in the tropical Pacific coupled climate system.     

A look at the ocean in the EC-Earth climate model

EC-Earth is a newly developed global climate system model. Its core components are the Integrated Forecast System (IFS) of the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) as the atmosphere component and the Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean (NEMO) developed by Institute Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL) as the ocean component. Both components are used with a horizontal resolution of roughly one degree. In this paper we describe the performance of NEMO in the coupled system by comparing model output with ocean observations. We concentrate on the surface ocean and mass transports. It appears that in general the model has a cold and fresh bias, but a much too warm Southern Ocean. While sea ice concentration and extent have realistic values, the ice tends to be too thick along the Siberian coast. Transports through important straits have realistic values, but generally are at the lower end of the range of observational estimates. Exceptions are very narrow straits (Gibraltar, Bering) which are too wide due to the limited resolution. Consequently the modelled transports through them are too high. The strength of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation is also at the lower end of observational estimates. The interannual variability of key variables and correlations between them are realistic in size and pattern. This is especially true for the variability of surface temperature in the tropical Pacific (El Ni?o). Overall the ocean component of EC-Earth performs well and helps making EC-Earth a reliable climate model.     

A recipe for simulating the interannual variability of the Asian summer monsoon and its relation with ENSO

This study investigates how accurately the interannual variability over the Indian Ocean basin and the relationship between the Indian summer monsoon and the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) can be simulated by different modelling strategies. With a hierarchy of models, from an atmospherical general circulation model (AGCM) forced by observed SST, to a coupled model with the ocean component limited to the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans, the role of heat fluxes and of interactive coupling is analyzed. Whenever sea surface temperature anomalies in the Indian basin are created by the coupled model, the inverse relationship between the ENSO index and the Indian summer monsoon rainfall is recovered, and it is preserved if the atmospherical model is forced by the SSTs created by the coupled model. If the ocean model domain is limited to the Indian Ocean, changes in the Walker circulation over the Pacific during El-Niño years induce a decrease of rainfall over the Indian subcontinent. However, the observed correlation between ENSO and the Indian Ocean zonal mode (IOZM) is not properly modelled and the two indices are not significantly correlated, independently on season. Whenever the ocean domain extends to the Pacific, and ENSO can impact both the atmospheric circulation and the ocean subsurface in the equatorial Eastern Indian Ocean, modelled precipitation patterns associated both to ENSO and to the IOZM closely resemble the observations.     

热带印度洋偶极子模态的不对称性及其成因的数值研究

热带印度洋偶极子 (Indian Ocean Dipole) 是印度洋海域内海洋和大气环流年际变化的主要特征模态之一, 在热带海气耦合系统中起到非常重要的作用。同热带太平洋的ENSO现象类似, 热带印度洋偶极子也呈现出显著的不对称性。本文利用中国科学院大气物理研究所发展的全球海洋环流模式, 在观测风应力距平的强迫下, 评估了模式对热带印度洋季节变化、 热带印度洋偶极子 (IOD) 模态及其不对称性的模拟能力, 并且通过数值试验分析了IOD模态不对称性特征及其对气候平均态的影响。对照观测资料, 模式较好地再现了热带印度洋SST在季风驱动下的季节变化特征。在年际时间尺度上, 模式不仅能够再现IOD指数的变化趋势, 而且可以成功模拟出IOD模态的空间分布特征, 即表层和次表层海温在西印度洋表现为正异常, 在东印度洋表现为负异常。可见, 对于热带印度洋而言, IOD模态主要是对风应力异常的响应。热带印度洋海温与Niño3.4指数的相关性分析表明, 模式能够模拟出超前热带太平洋ENSO现象2～4个月时海温的偶极子型分布, 但是不能模拟出滞后ENSO现象2个月左右的全海盆增暖模态, 可能是因为模式试验中没有考虑热通量年际异常的强迫。同时, 模式模拟的IOD模态具有同观测结果相类似的不对称性, 进一步的敏感性试验表明风应力的不对称性对偶极子指数的不对称性贡献较小, 次表层及以下海温的不对称性可能主要受到海洋内部非线性动力过程的影响。通过数值试验, 本文还发现热带印度洋海温的不对称性对气候平均态会有影响, 而这种不对称性长期积累后, 会导致上层热带印度洋温度层结趋于稳定状态。     

Pacific decadal oscillation and variability of the Indian summer monsoon rainfall

Recent studies have furnished evidence for interdecadal variability in the tropical Pacific Ocean. The importance of this phenomenon in causing persistent anomalies over different regions of the globe has drawn considerable attention in view of its relevance in climate assessment. Here, we examine multi-source climate records in order to identify possible signatures of this longer time scale variability on the Indian summer monsoon. The findings indicate a coherent inverse relationship between the inter-decadal fluctuations of Pacific Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) and the Indian monsoon rainfall during the last century. A warm (cold) phase of the Pacific interdecadal variability is characterized by a decrease (increase) in the monsoon rainfall and a corresponding increase (decrease) in the surface air temperature over the Indian subcontinent. This interdecadal relationship can also be confirmed from the teleconnection patterns evident from long-period sea level pressure (SLP) dataset. The SLP anomalies over South and Southeast Asia and the equatorial west Pacific are dynamically consistent in showing an out-of-phase pattern with the SLP anomalies over the tropical central-eastern Pacific. The remote influence of the Pacific interdecadal variability on the monsoon is shown to be associated with prominent signals in the tropical and southern Indian Ocean indicative of coherent inter-basin variability on decadal time scales. If indeed, the atmosphere–ocean coupling associated with the Pacific interdecadal variability is independent from that of the interannual El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), then the climate response should depend on the evolutionary characteristics of both the time scales. It is seen from our analysis that the Indian monsoon is more vulnerable to drought situations, when El Niño events occur during warm phases of the Pacific interdecadal variability. Conversely, wet monsoons are more likely to prevail, when La Niña events coincide during cold phases of the Pacific interdecadal variability.     

热带太平洋海气耦合过程对印度洋年际变化的影响

利用中等复杂程度的2.5层海洋模式和大气环流模式ECHAM4组成的海气耦合模式,模拟分析了热带太平洋和印度洋的气候变化以及年际变化特征。该模式较好地模拟了ENSO现象的空间分布及其不规则的周期变化特征,以及热带印度洋的主要变化特征。通过数值试验,初步研究了太平洋耦合过程对印度洋年际变化的影响。结果显示,当存在太平洋耦合过程时,模拟的印度洋偶极子(IOD)正(负)事件的发生频率比无太平洋耦合情形时有所减少(增加)。该变化是太平洋耦合变量通过海气耦合过程对印度洋海表面平均风场进行调整,进而引起热带印度洋温跃层深度东西梯度改变的结果。     

海洋环流对全球增暖趋势的调制：基于FGOALS-s2的数值模拟研究

在工业革命以来全球长期增暖趋势背景下,全球平均表面气温还同时表现出年代际变化特征,二者叠加在一起使得全球平均气温在某些年份增暖相对停滞(如1999～2008年)或者增暖相对较快(如1980～1998年).利用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)发展的耦合气候模式FGOALS-s2历史气候和典型路径浓度(RCPs)模拟试验结果研究了可能造成全球增暖的年代际停滞及加速现象的原因,特别是海洋环流对全球变暖趋势的调制作用.该模式模拟的全球平均气温与观测类似,即在长期增暖趋势之上,还叠加了显著的年代际变化.对全球平均能量收支分析表明,模拟的气温年代际变化与大气顶净辐射通量无关,意味着年代际表面气温变化可能与能量在气候系统内部的重新分配有关.通过对全球增暖加速和停滞时期大气和海洋环流变化的合成分析及回归分析,发现全球表面气温与大部分海区海表温度(SST)均表现出几乎一致的变化特征.在增暖停滞时期,SST降低,更多热量进入海洋次表层和深层,使其温度增加;而在增暖加速时期,更多热量停留在表层,使得大部分海区SST显著增加,次表层海水和深海相对冷却.进一步分析表明,热带太平洋表层和次表层海温年代际变化主要是由于副热带—热带经圈环流(STC)的年代际变化所致,然后热带太平洋海温异常可以通过风应力和热通量强迫作用引起印度洋、大西洋海温的年代际变化.在此过程中,海洋环流变化起到了重要作用,例如印度尼西亚贯穿流(ITF)年代际异常对南印度洋次表层海温变化起到关键作用,而大西洋经圈翻转环流(AMOC)则能直接影响到北大西洋深层海温变化.