Climate change simulated by full and mixed-layer ocean versions of CSIRO Mk3.5 and Mk3.0: The Asia-Pacific region

The patterns of climate change in the Asia-Pacific region simulated by versions of the CSIRO Mk3.5 and Mk3.0 climate models are examined and compared with those from 23 CMIP3 models. Using fields standardized by global warming, it is seen that both CSIRO coupled models simulate larger surface warming in the tropical western Pacific Ocean, and smaller warming in the eastern Indian Ocean, than the CMIP3 average, and also model versions with a mixed-layer ocean. Corresponding differences in the changes in the pressure, winds, rainfall and other quantities were simulated. Introducing the coupled Mk3.5’s sea surface temperature field for the present climate, which has a warm bias, as the base climate for the MLO version had only a minor effect on the MLO version’s pattern of climate change. A Pacific-Indian Dipole index quantifying the amplitude of the warming pattern explains much of the variation in rainfall change simulated by the CMIP3 models over Australia and the Indonesian and Melanesian regions. It relates more strongly to Australian average rainfall than several other indices representing southern hemispheric circulation changes. The decline in Australian rainfall produced by the full ocean coupling is largest in summer, but occurs in each season, and extends across the continent. Further assessment of the importance of the dipole change pattern in new simulations is warranted. Analyses aimed at reducing the uncertainty in its potential amplitude could help narrow the range of projections for change in the Australasian region.     

On the sensitivity of global warming experiments to the parametrisation of sub-grid scale ocean mixing

An ocean general circulation model coupled to an energy-moisture balance atmosphere model is used to investigate the sensitivity of global warming experiments to the parametrisation of sub-grid scale ocean mixing. The climate sensitivity of the coupled model using three different parametrisations of sub-grid scale mixing is 3°C for a doubling of CO₂ (6°C for a quadrupling of CO₂). This suggests that the ocean has only a weak feedback on global mean surface air temperature although significant regional differences, notably at high latitudes, exist with different sub-grid scale parametrisations. In the experiment using the Gent and McWilliams parametrisation for mixing associated with mesoscale eddies, an enhancement of the surface response in the Southern Ocean is found. This enhancement is largely due to the existence of more realistic sea-ice in the climatological control integration and the subsequent enhanced ice-albedo feedback upon warming. In accordance with earlier analyses, the Gent and McWilliams scheme decreases the global efficiency of ocean heat uptake. During the transient phase of all experiments, the North Atlantic overturning initially weakened but ultimately recovered, surpassing its former strength. This suggests that in the region around the North Atlantic the ocean acts as a negative feedback on local warming during the transient phase but a positive feedback at equilibrium. During the transient phase of the experiments with a more sophisticated and realistic parametrisation of sub-grid scale mixing, warmed Atlantic water was found to penetrate at depth into the Arctic, consistent with recent observations in the region. Received: 14 October 1998 / Accepted: 27 April 1999     

Effects of a dynamic ocean on simulated climate sensitivity to greenhouse gases

The potential effects of a dynamic ocean on climate change are assessed by comparison of a simulation from 1880 into the future by the CSIRO (Mark 2) coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation model with equilibrium results from a mixed-layer ocean (MLO) version of the model. At 2082, when the effective CO ₂ is tripled, the global warming in the coupled model is barely half the 3×CO ₂ MLO result, largely because of oceanic heat uptake, as diagnosed using an effective heat capacity. The effective ocean depth continues to increase during a further 1700 years with stabilized tripled CO ₂, by which time the mean ocean warming reaches the upper ocean value. Some reduction of the coupled model warming is due to the effective sensitivity (for 2×CO ₂), determined from the radiative response to the forcing, being persistently 0.2 K lower than the MLO model value. A regional energy and feedback analysis shows that this is largely due to an overall equatorward oceanic heat transport anomaly, which reduces the high-latitude warming in the coupled model. The global warming at 3800 is around 95% of the anticipated equilibrium value, which is matched by the result of a simple energy balance model for the approach to equilibrium. The geographical effect of the oceanic heat transport is confirmed using a mixed-layer model with perturbed oceanic heat convergence. The eastern equatorial Pacific warming is enhanced by over 1 K, and rainfall is perturbed in an ENSO-like pattern.     

Atmospheric Warming Slowdown during 1998?2013 Associated with Increasing Ocean Heat Content

Although atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations continuously increased, there was relatively little change in global-averaged surface temperatures from 1998 to 2013, which is known as atmospheric warming slowdown. For further understanding the mechanism involved, we explored the energy redistribution between the atmosphere and ocean in different latitudes and depths by using data analysis as well as simulations of a coupled atmosphere–ocean box model. The results revealed that, compared with observational changes of ocean heat content (OHC) associated with rapid warming, the OHC changes related to warming slowdown are relatively larger in multiple ocean basins, particularly in the deeper layer of the Atlantic. The coupled box model also showed that there is a larger increasing trend of OHC under the warming slowdown scenario than the rapid warming scenario. Particularly, during the warming slowdown period, the heat storage in the deeper ocean increases faster than the ocean heat uptake in the surface ocean. The simulations indicated that the warming patterns under the two scenarios are accompanied by distinct outgoing longwave radiation and atmospheric meridional heat transport, as well as other related processes, thus leading to different characteristics of ocean heat uptake. Due to the global energy balance, we suggest this slowdown has a tight relationship with the accelerated heat transport into the global ocean.     

Why is Indian Ocean warming consistently?

Observations have shown that the Indian Ocean is consistently warming and its warm pool is expanding, particularly in the recent decades. This paper attempts to investigate the reason behind these observations. Under global warming scenario, it is expected that the greenhouse gas induced changes in air–sea fluxes will enhance the warming. Surprisingly, it is found that the net surface heat fluxes over Indian Ocean warm pool (IOWP) region alone cannot explain the consistent warming. The warm pool area anomaly of IOWP is strongly correlated with the sea surface height anomaly, suggesting an important role played by the ocean advection processes in warming and expansion of IOWP. The structure of lead/lag correlations further suggests that Oceanic Rossby waves might be involved in the warming. Using heat budget analysis of several Ocean data assimilation products, it is shown that the net surface heat flux (advection) alone tends to cool (warm) the Ocean. Based on above observations, we propose an ocean-atmosphere coupled positive feedback mechanism for explaining the consistent warming and expansion of IOWP. Warming over IOWP induces an enhancement of convection in central equatorial Indian ocean, which causes anomalous easterlies along the equator. Anomalous easterlies in turn excite frequent Indian ocean Dipole events and cause anti-cyclonic wind stress curl in south-east and north-east equatorial Indian ocean. The anomalous wind stress curl triggers anomalous downwelling oceanic Rossby waves, thereby deepening the thermocline and resulting in advection of warm waters towards western Indian ocean. This acts as a positive feedback and results in more warming and westward expansion of IOWP.     

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.     

Atmospheric radiative feedbacks associated with transient climate change and climate variability

This study examines in detail the ‘atmospheric’ radiative feedbacks operating in a coupled General Circulation Model (GCM). These feedbacks (defined as the change in top of atmosphere radiation per degree of global surface temperature change) are due to responses in water vapour, lapse rate, clouds and surface albedo. Two types of radiative feedback in particular are considered: those arising from century scale ‘transient’ warming (from a 1% per annum compounded CO₂ increase), and those operating under the model’s own unforced ‘natural’ variability. The time evolution of the transient (or ‘secular’) feedbacks is first examined. It is found that both the global strength and the latitudinal distributions of these feedbacks are established within the first two or three decades of warming, and thereafter change relatively little out to 100 years. They also closely approximate those found under equilibrium warming from a ‘mixed layer’ ocean version of the same model forced by a doubling of CO₂. These secular feedbacks are then compared with those operating under unforced (interannual) variability. For water vapour, the interannual feedback is only around two-thirds the strength of the secular feedback. The pattern reveals widespread regions of negative feedback in the interannual case, in turn resulting from patterns of circulation change and regions of decreasing as well as increasing surface temperature. Considering the vertical structure of the two, it is found that although positive net mid to upper tropospheric contributions dominate both, they are weaker (and occur lower) under interannual variability than under secular change and are more narrowly confined to the tropics. Lapse rate feedback from variability shows weak negative feedback over low latitudes combined with strong positive feedback in mid-to-high latitudes resulting in no net global feedback—in contrast to the dominant negative low to mid-latitude response seen under secular climate change. Surface albedo feedback is, however, slightly stronger under interannual variability—partly due to regions of extremely weak, or even negative, feedback over Antarctic sea ice in the transient experiment. Both long and shortwave global cloud feedbacks are essentially zero on interannual timescales, with the shortwave term also being very weak under climate change, although cloud fraction and optical property components show correlation with global temperature both under interannual variability and transient climate change. The results of this modelling study, although for a single model only, suggest that the analogues provided by interannual variability may provide some useful pointers to some aspects of climate change feedback strength, particularly for water vapour and surface albedo, but that structural differences will need to be heeded in such an analysis.     

FGOALS耦合模式两个版本的海洋热吸收与气候敏感度的关系研究

海洋在气候变暖过程中的重要性通常用海洋热吸收来衡量,热吸收的大小影响全球变暖的幅度。本文利用FGOALS-g2、FGOALS-s2（以下分别缩写为g2、s2）两个耦合模式的CO₂浓度以每年1%速率增长（1pctCO₂）试验,评估和分析海洋热吸收与气候敏感度的关系。结果表明:进入海洋净热通量（s2模式大于g2模式）会使得s2模式的海洋热吸收总体比g2模式大;更为重要的是,由于s2模式中的海洋热吸收主要集中在上层,使得耦合模式s2中的瞬态气候响应（TCR,或称气候敏感度）比g2大。当CO₂浓度加倍时,在两个耦合模式中,海洋热吸收的空间分布呈现显著性的差异,s2模式中上层热吸收明显比深层大,上层热吸收主要位于太平洋和印度洋,而g2模式中上层和深层热吸收差别较小,深层主要位于大西洋和北冰洋。进一步研究表明,海洋热吸收分布特征与两个耦合模式海洋环流变化有关。在g2模式中北大西洋经圈翻转环流（AMOC）强度强且深度大,在CO₂浓度加倍时,AMOC减弱小,这样AMOC可将热量带到海洋的深层,增加海洋深层热吸收。而在s2模式中,平均AMOC弱且浅,在CO₂浓度加倍时,AMOC减弱明显,热量不易到达深层,主要集中在海洋上层,对气候敏感度影响更快且更强。海洋环流导致热吸收及其空间差异同时影响到气候敏感度的差异。因此,探讨海洋热吸收与气候敏感度之间的关系,利于明确气候敏感度不确定性的来源。     

Changes in polar amplification in response to increasing warming in CMIP6

由于全球变暖,极地地区的气候经历了明显的变暖放大.在本项研究中,我们根据CMIP6模式的三种变暖情景(SSP1-2,6,SSP2-4.5和SSP5-8.5)下,极地放大变化对各个反馈机制(包括普朗克,温度递减率,云,水蒸气,反照率反馈,CO2强迫,海洋热吸收和大气热传输)的响应进行了分析.结果表明,通过用“辐射核”方法...     

Dynamic Linkage between the North Pacific and the Tropical Pacific: Atmosphere-Ocean Coupling

In this study, dynamic linkage of atmosphere-ocean coupling between the North Pacific and the tropical Pacific was demonstrated using a large number of ensemble perturbed initial condition experiments in a fully coupled fast ocean-atmosphere model (FOAM). In the FOAM model, an idealized mixed layer warming was initiated in the Kuroshio-Oyashio extension region, while the ocean and atmosphere remained fully coupled both locally and elsewhere. The modeling results show that the warm anomalies are associated with anomalous cyclonic winds, which induce initial warming anomalies extending downstream in the following winter. Then, the downstream warming spreads southwestward and induces SST warming in the equatorial Pacific via surface wind-evaporation-SST feedback. Warming in the tropical Pacific is further reinforced by Bjerknes’ feedback.     

地表温度对太阳常数变化响应的数值试验研究

通过改变太阳常数，利用NCAR气候系统模式CSM1．4就地表温度对强外辐射强迫变化的响应及性质进行了研究。结果表明：虽然局地的增温幅度变化很大，但各试验的全球增温分布特征非常相似，并从一定程度上反映了全球增暖典型试验中的增温分布特点，即陆地比海洋增暖幅度更强，高纬度地区比低纬度地区增暖幅度更强，这一特点在太阳常数增加较大的试验中表现尤为明显。气候系统响应的性质在太阳常数分别增加2，5％、10％和15％与增加25％之间其响应方式有所改变，即气候系统对较小太阳常数变化的响应是线性的，而对较大太阳常数变化的响应则很可能是非线性的。     

Quantifying contributions of climate feedbacks to tropospheric warming in the NCAR CCSM3.0

In this study, a coupled atmosphere-surface “climate feedback-response analysis method” (CFRAM) was applied to the slab ocean model version of the NCAR CCSM3.0 to understand the tropospheric warming due to a doubling of CO₂ concentration through quantifying the contributions of each climate feedback process. It is shown that the tropospheric warming displays distinct meridional and vertical patterns that are in a good agreement with the multi-model mean projection from the IPCC AR4. In the tropics, the warming in the upper troposphere is stronger than in the lower troposphere, leading to a decrease in temperature lapse rate, whereas in high latitudes the opposite it true. In terms of meridional contrast, the lower tropospheric warming in the tropics is weaker than that in high latitudes, resulting in a weakened meridional temperature gradient. In the upper troposphere the meridional temperature gradient is enhanced due to much stronger warming in the tropics than in high latitudes. Using the CFRAM method, we analyzed both radiative feedbacks, which have been emphasized in previous climate feedback analysis, and non-radiative feedbacks. It is shown that non-radiative (radiative) feedbacks are the major contributors to the temperature lapse rate decrease (increase) in the tropical (polar) region. Atmospheric convection is the leading contributor to temperature lapse rate decrease in the tropics. The cloud feedback also has non-negligible contributions. In the polar region, water vapor feedback is the main contributor to the temperature lapse rate increase, followed by albedo feedback and CO₂ forcing. The decrease of meridional temperature gradient in the lower troposphere is mainly due to strong cooling from convection and cloud feedback in the tropics and the strong warming from albedo feedback in the polar region. The strengthening of meridional temperature gradient in the upper troposphere can be attributed to the warming associated with convection and cloud feedback in the tropics. Since convection is the leading contributor to the warming differences between tropical lower and upper troposphere, and between the tropical and polar regions, this study indicates that tropical convection plays a critical role in determining the climate sensitivity. In addition, the CFRAM analysis shows that convective process and water vapor feedback are the two major contributors to the tropical upper troposphere temperature change, indicating that the excessive upper tropospheric warming in the IPCC AR4 models may be due to overestimated warming from convective process or underestimated cooling due to water vapor feedback.     

Impact of ocean model resolution on CCSM climate simulations

The current literature provides compelling evidence suggesting that an eddy-resolving (as opposed to eddy-permitting or eddy-parameterized) ocean component model will significantly impact the simulation of the large-scale climate, although this has not been fully tested to date in multi-decadal global coupled climate simulations. The purpose of this paper is to examine how resolved ocean fronts and eddies impact the simulation of large-scale climate. The model used for this study is the NCAR Community Climate System Model version 3.5 (CCSM3.5)—the forerunner to CCSM4. Two experiments are reported here. The control experiment is a 155-year present-day climate simulation using a 0.5° atmosphere component (zonal resolution 0.625 meridional resolution 0.5°; land surface component at the same resolution) coupled to ocean and sea-ice components with zonal resolution of 1.2° and meridional resolution varying from 0.27° at the equator to 0.54° in the mid-latitudes. The second simulation uses the same atmospheric and land-surface models coupled to eddy-resolving 0.1° ocean and sea-ice component models. The simulations are compared in terms of how the representation of smaller scale features in the time mean ocean circulation and ocean eddies impact the mean and variable climate. In terms of the global mean surface temperature, the enhanced ocean resolution leads to a ubiquitous surface warming with a global mean surface temperature increase of about 0.2?°C relative to the control. The warming is largest in the Arctic and regions of strong ocean fronts and ocean eddy activity (i.e., Southern Ocean, western boundary currents). The Arctic warming is associated with significant losses of sea-ice in the high-resolution simulation. The sea surface temperature gradients in the North Atlantic, in particular, are better resolved in the high-resolution model leading to significantly sharper temperature gradients and associated large-scale shifts in the rainfall. In the extra-tropics, the interannual temperature variability is increased with the resolved eddies, and a notable increases in the amplitude of the El Ni?o and the Southern Oscillation is also detected. Changes in global temperature anomaly teleconnections and local air-sea feedbacks are also documented and show large changes in ocean–atmosphere coupling. In particular, local air-sea feedbacks are significantly modified by the increased ocean resolution. In the high-resolution simulation in the extra-tropics there is compelling evidence of stronger forcing of the atmosphere by SST variability arising from ocean dynamics. This coupling is very weak or absent in the low-resolution model.     

Transient responses of the CSIRO climate model to two different rates of CO2 increase

 The responses of the CSIRO coupled atmosphere-ocean-sea ice model to two greenhouse gas induced warming scenarios are described and compared to a control run with the current CO₂ level. In one scenario, denoted IS92a, the atmospheric CO₂ increases such that it reaches doubling after 128 years. In the other, the CO₂ increases at 1% per year compounding (doubling after 70 y). As the CO₂ increases in both scenarios, the top-of-atmosphere outgoing longwave radiation increases giving enhanced cooling of the coupled system, while the outgoing short wave radiation decreases contributing to a warming of the system. The latter overcompensates the former leading to a global mean net radiative heat gain. The distribution of this heat gain produces the well-known interhemispheric asymmetry in warming, despite a decrease in the sea ice around Antarctica in this model. It is found that the volume mean temperature response over the southern ocean is greater than that over the northern hemispheric oceans, and a maximum warming takes place at the subsurface rather at the surface of the ocean in the southern mid-to-high latitude region. The enhanced high-latitude freshening associated with the strengthened hydrological cycle significantly affects the latitudinal distribution of warming and other responses. It enhances the warming immediately equatorward of the deep water formation regions while produces a reduced warming, even a cooling, in these regions. In both runs, there is a decrease in the large-scale oceanic currents which have a significant thermohaline-driven component. The reduction in these currents reduces the poleward transport of salt out of the tropical and subtropical regions of these oceans. This and the enhanced evaporation contribute to considerable increases in surface salinity in the tropical and subtropical regions. In IS92a, the warming rate before doubling is smaller than that in 1% scenario, but the cumulative effects of the two experiments at the time of doubling are similar. Nevertheless, significant contrasts exist. For example, at the time of doubling in IS92a, the warming of the upper ocean is greater because a more developed temperature-albedo feedback occurs. In addition, a longer time is allowed for heat anomalies to spread downward, and so the effective heat penetration depth is greater than that in the 1% scenario. Thus the oceanic response is influenced by the CO₂ increase scenario used. Received: 2 September 1997 / Accepted: 21 January 1998     

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     

Relative contribution of feedback processes to Arctic amplification of temperature change in MIROC GCM

The finding that surface warming over the Arctic exceeds that over the rest of the world under global warming is a robust feature among general circulation models (GCMs). While various mechanisms have been proposed, quantifying their relative contributions is an important task in order to understand model behavior. Here we apply a recently proposed feedback analysis technique to an atmosphere–ocean GCM under two and four times CO₂ concentrations which approximately lead to seasonally and annually sea ice-free climates. The contribution of feedbacks to Arctic temperature change is investigated. The surface warming in the Arctic is contributed by albedo, water vapour and large-scale condensation feedbacks and reduced by the evaporative cooling feedback. The surface warming contrast between the Arctic and the global averages (AA) is maintained by albedo and evaporative cooling feedbacks. The latter contributes to AA predominantly by cooling the low latitudes more than the Arctic. Latent heat transport into the Arctic increases and hence evaporative cooling plus large-scale condensation feedback contributes positively to AA. On the other hand, dry-static energy transport into the Arctic decreases and hence dynamical heating feedback contributes negatively to AA. An important contribution is thus made via changes in hydrological cycle and not via the ‘dry’ heat transport process. A larger response near the surface than aloft in the Arctic is maintained by the albedo, water vapour, and dynamical heating feedbacks, in which the albedo and water vapour feedbacks contribute through warming the surface more than aloft, and the dynamical heating feedback contributes by cooling aloft more than the surface. In our experiments, ocean and sea ice dynamics play a secondary role. It is shown that a different level of CO₂ increase introduces a latitudinal and seasonal difference into the feedbacks.     

Impact of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet interactions on climate sensitivity

We use the Earth system model of intermediate complexity LOVECLIM to show the effect of coupling interactive ice sheets on the climate sensitivity of the model on a millennial time scale. We compare the response to a 2×CO₂ warming scenario between fully coupled model versions including interactive Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet models and model versions with fixed ice sheets. For this purpose an ensemble of different parameter sets have been defined for LOVECLIM, covering a wide range of the model??s sensitivity to greenhouse warming, while still simulating the present-day climate and the climate evolution over the last millennium within observational uncertainties. Additional freshwater fluxes from the melting ice sheets have a mitigating effect on the model??s temperature response, leading to generally lower climate sensitivities of the fully coupled model versions. The mitigation is effectuated by changes in heat exchange within the ocean and at the sea?Cair interface, driven by freshening of the surface ocean and amplified by sea?Cice-related feedbacks. The strength of the effect depends on the response of the ice sheets to the warming and on the model??s climate sensitivity itself. The effect is relatively strong in model versions with higher climate sensitivity due to the relatively large polar amplification of LOVECLIM. With the ensemble approach in this study we cover a wide range of possible model responses.     

A new one-dimensional simple energy balance and carbon cycle coupled model for global warming simulation

Global warming and accompanying climate change may be caused by an increase in atmospheric greenhouse gasses generated by anthropogenic activities. In order to supply such a mechanism of global warming with a quantitative underpinning, we need to understand the multifaceted roles of the Earth's energy balance and material cycles. In this study, we propose a new one-dimensional simple Earth system model. The model consists of carbon and energy balance submodels with a north–south zonal structure. The two submodels are coupled by interactive feedback processes such as CO₂ fertilization of net primary production (NPP) and temperature dependencies of NPP, soil respiration, and ocean surface chemistry. The most important characteristics of the model are not only that the model requires a relatively short calculation time for carbon and energy simulation compared with a General Circulation Model (GCM) and an Earth system Model of Intermediate Complexity (EMIC), but also that the model can simulate average latitudinal variations. In order to analyze the response of the Earth system due to increasing greenhouse gasses, several simulations were conducted in one dimension from the years 1750 to 2000. Evaluating terrestrial and oceanic carbon uptake output of the model in the meridional direction through comparison with observations and satellite data, we analyzed the time variation patterns of air temperature in low- and middle-latitude belts. The model successfully reproduced the temporal variation in each latitude belt and the latitudinal distribution pattern of carbon uptake. Therefore, this model could more accurately demonstrate a difference in the latitudinal response of air temperature than existing models. As a result of the model evaluations, we concluded that this new one-dimensional simple Earth system model is a good tool for conducting global warming simulations. From future projections using various emission scenarios, we showed that the spatial distribution of terrestrial carbon uptake may vary greatly, not only among models used for climate change simulations, but also amongst emission scenarios.     

On the subarctic North Atlantic cooling due to global warming

Various ocean reanalysis data reveal that the subarctic Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) has been cooling during the twentieth century. A similar cooling pattern is found in the doubling CO₂ experiment obtained from the CMIP3 (coupled model intercomparison project third phase) compared to the pre-industrial experiment. Here, in order to investigate the main driver of this cooling, we perform the heat budget analysis on the subarctic Atlantic upper ocean temperature. The net surface heat flux associated with the increased concentration of greenhouse gases heats the subarctic ocean surface. In the most of models, the longwave radiation, latent heat flux, and sensible heat flux exert a warming effect, and the shortwave radiation exerts a cooling effect. On the other hand, the thermal advection by the meridional current reduces the subarctic upper ocean temperature in all models. This cold advection is attributed to the weakening of the meridional overturning circulation, which is related to the reduction in the ocean surface density. In particular, greater warming of the surface air than of the sea surface results in the reduction of surface evaporation and thereby enhanced freshening of the ocean surface water, while precipitation change was smaller than evaporation change. The thermal advections by both the wind-driven Ekman current and the density-driven geostrophic current contribute to cooling in most of the models, where the heat transport by the geostrophic current tends to be larger than that by the Ekman current.     

The UVic earth system climate model: Model description,climatology, and applications to past,present and future climates

Abstract

A new earth system climate model of intermediate complexity has been developed and its climatology compared to observations. The UVic Earth System Climate Model consists of a three‐dimensional ocean general circulation model coupled to a thermodynamic/dynamic sea‐ice model, an energy‐moisture balance atmospheric model with dynamical feedbacks, and a thermomechanical land‐ice model. In order to keep the model computationally efficient a reduced complexity atmosphere model is used. Atmospheric heat and freshwater transports are parametrized through Fickian diffusion, and precipitation is assumed to occur when the relative humidity is greater than 85%. Moisture transport can also be accomplished through advection if desired. Precipitation over land is assumed to return instantaneously to the ocean via one of 33 observed river drainage basins. Ice and snow albedo feedbacks are included in the coupled model by locally increasing the prescribed latitudinal profile of the planetary albedo. The atmospheric model includes a parametrization of water vapour/planetary longwave feedbacks, although the radiative forcing associated with changes in atmospheric CO₂ is prescribed as a modification of the planetary longwave radiative flux. A specified lapse rate is used to reduce the surface temperature over land where there is topography. The model uses prescribed present‐day winds in its climatology, although a dynamical wind feedback is included which exploits a latitudinally‐varying empirical relationship between atmospheric surface temperature and density. The ocean component of the coupled model is based on the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) Modular Ocean Model 2.2, with a global resolution of 3.6° (zonal) by 1.8° (meridional) and 19 vertical levels, and includes an option for brine‐rejection parametrization. The sea‐ice component incorporates an elastic‐viscous‐plastic rheology to represent sea‐ice dynamics and various options for the representation of sea‐ice thermodynamics and thickness distribution. The systematic comparison of the coupled model with observations reveals good agreement, especially when moisture transport is accomplished through advection.

Global warming simulations conducted using the model to explore the role of moisture advection reveal a climate sensitivity of 3.0°C for a doubling of CO₂, in line with other more comprehensive coupled models. Moisture advection, together with the wind feedback, leads to a transient simulation in which the meridional overturning in the North Atlantic initially weakens, but is eventually re‐established to its initial strength once the radiative forcing is held fixed, as found in many coupled atmosphere General Circulation Models (GCMs). This is in contrast to experiments in which moisture transport is accomplished through diffusion whereby the overturning is reestablished to a strength that is greater than its initial condition.

When applied to the climate of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the model obtains tropical cooling (30°N‐30°S), relative to the present, of about 2.1°C over the ocean and 3.6°C over the land. These are generally cooler than CLIMAP estimates, but not as cool as some other reconstructions. This moderate cooling is consistent with alkenone reconstructions and a low to medium climate sensitivity to perturbations in radiative forcing. An amplification of the cooling occurs in the North Atlantic due to the weakening of North Atlantic Deep Water formation. Concurrent with this weakening is a shallowing of, and a more northward penetration of, Antarctic Bottom Water.

Climate models are usually evaluated by spinning them up under perpetual present‐day forcing and comparing the model results with present‐day observations. Implicit in this approach is the assumption that the present‐day observations are in equilibrium with the present‐day radiative forcing. The comparison of a long transient integration (starting at 6 KBP), forced by changing radiative forcing (solar, CO₂, orbital), with an equilibrium integration reveals substantial differences. Relative to the climatology from the present‐day equilibrium integration, the global mean surface air and sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are 0.74°C and 0.55°C colder, respectively. Deep ocean temperatures are substantially cooler and southern hemisphere sea‐ice cover is 22% greater, although the North Atlantic conveyor remains remarkably stable in all cases. The differences are due to the long timescale memory of the deep ocean to climatic conditions which prevailed throughout the late Holocene. It is also demonstrated that a global warming simulation that starts from an equilibrium present‐day climate (cold start) underestimates the global temperature increase at 2100 by 13% when compared to a transient simulation, under historical solar, CO₂ and orbital forcing, that is also extended out to 2100. This is larger (13% compared to 9.8%) than the difference from an analogous transient experiment which does not include historical changes in solar forcing. These results suggest that those groups that do not account for solar forcing changes over the twentieth century may slightly underestimate (～3% in our model) the projected warming by the year 2100.