Ocean heat transport into the Arctic in the twentieth and twenty-first century in EC-Earth

The ocean heat transport into the Arctic and the heat budget of the Barents Sea are analyzed in an ensemble of historical and future climate simulations performed with the global coupled climate model EC-Earth. The zonally integrated northward heat flux in the ocean at 70°N is strongly enhanced and compensates for a reduction of its atmospheric counterpart in the twenty first century. Although an increase in the northward heat transport occurs through all of Fram Strait, Canadian Archipelago, Bering Strait and Barents Sea Opening, it is the latter which dominates the increase in ocean heat transport into the Arctic. Increased temperature of the northward transported Atlantic water masses are the main reason for the enhancement of the ocean heat transport. The natural variability in the heat transport into the Barents Sea is caused to the same extent by variations in temperature and volume transport. Large ocean heat transports lead to reduced ice and higher atmospheric temperature in the Barents Sea area and are related to the positive phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation. The net ocean heat transport into the Barents Sea grows until about year 2050. Thereafter, both heat and volume fluxes out of the Barents Sea through the section between Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya are strongly enhanced and compensate for all further increase in the inflow through the Barents Sea Opening. Most of the heat transported by the ocean into the Barents Sea is passed to the atmosphere and contributes to warming of the atmosphere and Arctic temperature amplification. Latent and sensible heat fluxes are enhanced. Net surface long-wave and solar radiation are enhanced upward and downward, respectively and are almost compensating each other. We find that the changes in the surface heat fluxes are mainly caused by the vanishing sea ice in the twenty first century. The increasing ocean heat transport leads to enhanced bottom ice melt and to an extension of the area with bottom ice melt further northward. However, no indication for a substantial impact of the increased heat transport on ice melt in the Central Arctic is found. Most of the heat that is not passed to the atmosphere in the Barents Sea is stored in the Arctic intermediate layer of Atlantic water, which is increasingly pronounced in the twenty first century.     

Effects of tropical cyclones on large-scale circulation and ocean heat transport in the South China Sea

In this study, we investigate the influence of tropical cyclones (TCs) on large-scale circulation and ocean heat transport in the South China Sea (SCS) by using an ocean general circulation model at a 1/8° resolution during 2000–2008. The model uses a data assimilation system to assimilate observations in order to improve the representation of SCS circulation. The results reveal an unexpected deep SCS circulation anomaly induced by TCs, which suggests that effects of TC can penetrate deeper into the ocean. This deep effect may result from the near inertial oscillations excited by TCs. The inertial oscillations can propagate downward to the oceanic interior. The analyses confirm that TCs have two effects on ocean heat transport of the SCS. Firstly, the wind stress curl induced by TCs affects the structure of SCS circulation, and then changes heat transport. Secondly, TCs pump surface heat downward to the thermocline, increasing the heat injection from the atmosphere to the ocean. Two effects together amplify the outflow of the surface heat southward away the SCS through the Mindoro and Karimata Straits. The TC-induced heat transports through the Mindoro, Balabac and Karimata Straits account for 20 % of the total heat transport through three straits. An implication of this study is that ocean models need to simulate the TC effect on heat transport in order to correctly evaluate the role of the SCS through flow in regulating upper ocean circulation and climate in the Indonesian maritime continent and its adjacent regions.     

基于集合预报产品的降尺度降水预报试验

利用降水距平百分率的降尺度预报方法和1951-2008 NCEP资料及我国降水资料,建立了降水距平百分率的预报模型,基于T106L19模式的月动力延伸集合预报结果,进行了2007-2009年3 a的预报试验和效果检验.结果表明,基于集合预报产品的统计降尺度方法对降水距平百分率的预报技巧高于模式降水的预报技巧;500 hPa月平均高度场的预报技巧直接影响到降水距平百分率的预报技巧,平均环流的预报技巧越高,降水距平百分率的预报技巧越高;无论集合成员数为多少,集合预报的结果都明显优于控制预报,随着集合成员数的增多,预报技巧呈增大的趋势;我国降水具有显著的季节性和区域性,以江淮地区的降水距平百分率预报技巧最高,华南地区的预报技巧其次.     

Performances of seven datasets in presenting the upper ocean heat content in the South China Sea

In this study, the upper ocean heat content (OHC) variations in the South China Sea (SCS) during 1993- 2006 were investigated by examining ocean temperatures in seven datasets, including World Ocean Atlas 2009 (WOA09) (climatology), Ishii datasets, Ocean General Circulation Model for the Earth Simulator (OFES), Simple Ocean Data Assimilation system (SODA), Global Ocean Data Assimilation System (GODAS), China Oceanic ReAnalysis system (CORA), and an ocean reanalysis dataset for the joining area of Asia and Indian-Pacific Ocean (AIPO1.0). Among these datasets, two were independent of any numerical model, four relied on data assimilation, and one was generated without any data assimilation. The annual cycles revealed by the seven datasets were similar, but the interannual variations were different. Vertical structures of temperatures along the 18°N, 12.75°N, and 120°E sections were compared with data collected during open cruises in 1998 and 2005-08. The results indicated that Ishii, OFES, CORA, and AIPO1.0 were more consistent with the observations. Through systematic comparisons, we found that each dataset had its own shortcomings and advantages in presenting the upper OHC in the SCS.     

The global heat balance: heat transports in the atmosphere and ocean

The heat budget has been computed locally over the entire globe for each month of 1988 using compatible top-of-the-atmosphere radiation from the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment combined with European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts atmospheric data. The effective heat sources and sinks (diabatic heating) and effective moisture sources and sinks for the atmosphere are computed and combined to produce overall estimates of the atmospheric energy divergence and the net flux through the Earth's surface. On an annual mean basis, this is directly related to the divergence of the ocean heat transport, and new computations of the ocean heat transport are made for the ocean basins. Results are presented for January and July, and the annual mean for 1988, along with a comprehensive discussion of errors. While the current results are believed to be the best available at present, there are substantial shortcomings remaining in the estimates of the atmospheric heat and moisture budgets. The issues, which are also present in all previous studies, arise from the diurnal cycle, problems with atmospheric divergence, vertical resolution, spurious mass imbalances, initialized versus uninitialized atmospheric analyses, and postprocessing to produce the atmospheric archive on pressure surfaces. Over land, additional problems arise from the complex surface topography, so that computed surface fluxes are more reliable over the oceans. The use of zonal means to compute ocean transports is shown to produce misleading results because a considerable part of the implied ocean transports is through the land. The need to compute the heat budget locally is demonstrated and results indicate lower ocean transports than in previous residual calculations which are therefore more compatible with direct ocean estimates. A Poisson equation is solved with appropriate boundary conditions of zero normal heat flux through the continental boundaries to obtain the ocean heat transport. Because of the poor observational data base, adjustments to the surface fluxes are necessary over the southern oceans. Error bars are estimated based on the large-scale spurious residuals over land of 30 W m^–2 over 1000 km scales (10¹² m²). In the Atlantic Ocean, a northward transport emerges at all latitudes with peak values of 1.1±0.2 PW (1 standard error) at 20 to 30°N. Comparable values are achieved in the Pacific at 20°N, so that the total is 2.1±0.3 PW. The peak southward transport is at 15 to 20°S of 1.9±0.3 PW made up of strong components from both the Pacific and Indian Oceans and with a heat flux from the Pacific into the Indian Ocean in the Indonesian throughflow. The pattern of poleward heat fluxes is suggestive of a strong role for Ekman transports in the tropical regions.     

A global ocean mesh to overcome the North Pole singularity

A semi-analytical method is presented for constructing a global orthogonal curvilinear ocean mesh which has no singularity point inside the computational domain since the mesh poles are moved to land points. The method involves defining an analytical set of mesh parallels in the stereographic polar plan, computing the associated set of mesh meridians, and projecting the resulting mesh onto the sphere. The set of mesh parallels proposed here is defined as a series of embedded circles. The resulting mesh presents no loss of continuity in either the mesh lines or the scale factors over the whole ocean domain, as the mesh is not a composite mesh. Thus, the Bering Strait can be opened without specific treatment. The equator is a mesh line, which provides a better numerical solution for equatorial dynamics. The resolution can be easily controlled through the definition of three analytical functions which can increase resolution and/or maintain a low ratio of anisotropy. The mesh has been implemented in the LODYC general circulation ocean model. Results of a semi-diagnostic simulation are shown.     

SROCC:海洋热含量变化评估

工业革命以来,大气中温室气体不断增加,驱动了全球变暖。IPCC第五次评估报告(AR5)指出,人类排放的温室气体导致的地球系统能量增加中90%以上都被海洋吸收,使得海洋增暖,海洋热含量增加。IPCC最新发布的《气候变化中的海洋和冰冻圈特别报告》(SROCC)发现：自1970年以来,几乎确定海洋上层2000 m在持续增暖。1993—2017年间的增暖速率至少为1969—1993年的2倍,体现出显著的变暖增强趋势。此外,在20世纪90年代以后,2000 m以下的深海也已观测到了变暖信号,尤其是在南大洋(30°S以南)。在1970—2017年间,南大洋上层2000 m储存了全球海洋约35%~43%的热量,在2005—2017年期间增加到45%~62%。基于耦合气候模型预估,几乎可确定海洋将在21世纪持续增暖,2018—2100年间海洋热含量上升幅度可能是1970—2017年间的5~7倍(RCP8.5情景)或2~4倍(RCP2.6情景)。变暖导致的热膨胀效应贡献了1993年以来全球海平面上升的约43%。     

Statistical downscaling in the arid central Andes: uncertainty analysis of multi-model simulated temperature and precipitation

Statistical downscaling is a technique widely used to overcome the spatial resolution problem of General Circulation Models (GCMs). Nevertheless, the evaluation of uncertainties linked with downscaled temperature and precipitation variables is essential to climate impact studies. This paper shows the potential of a statistical downscaling technique (in this case SDSM) using predictors from three different GCMs (GCGM3, GFDL and MRI) over a highly heterogeneous area in the central Andes. Biases in median and variance are estimated for downscaled temperature and precipitation using robust statistical tests, respectively Mann?CWhitney and Brown?CForsythe's tests. In addition, the ability of the downscaled variables to reproduce extreme events is tested using a frequency analysis. Results show that uncertainties in downscaled precipitations are high and that simulated precipitation variables failed to reproduce extreme events accurately. Nevertheless, a greater confidence remains in downscaled temperatures variables for the area. GCMs performed differently for temperature and precipitation as well as for the different test. In general, this study shows that statistical downscaling is able to simulate with accuracy temperature variables. More inhomogeneities are detected for precipitation variables. This first attempt to test uncertainties of statistical downscaling techniques in the heterogeneous arid central Andes contributes therefore to an improvement of the quality of predictions of climate impact studies in this area.     

Using Statistical Downscaling to Quantify the GCM-Related Uncertainty in Regional Climate Change Scenarios： A Case Study of Swedish Precipitation

There are a number of sources of uncertainty in regional climate change scenarios. When statistical downscaling is used to obtain regional climate change scenarios, the uncertainty may originate from the uncertainties in the global climate models used, the skill of the statistical model, and the forcing scenarios applied to the global climate model. The uncertainty associated with global climate models can be evaluated by examining the differences in the predictors and in the downscaled climate change scenarios based on a set of different global climate models. When standardized global climate model simulations such as the second phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project （CMIP2） are used, the difference in the downscaled variables mainly reflects differences in the climate models and the natural variability in the simulated climates. It is proposed that the spread of the estimates can be taken as a measure of the uncertainty associated with global climate models. The proposed method is applied to the estimation of global-climate-model-related uncertainty in regional precipitation change scenarios in Sweden. Results from statistical downscaling based on 17 global climate models show that there is an overall increase in annual precipitation all over Sweden although a considerable spread of the changes in the precipitation exists. The general increase can be attributed to the increased large-scale precipitation and the enhanced westerly wind. The estimated uncertainty is nearly independent of region. However, there is a seasonal dependence. The estimates for winter show the highest level of confidence, while the estimates for summer show the least.     

Grid‐size dependency of the meridional heat transport in a numerical model of an ocean

Abstract

The meridional heat transport across a latitude circle in a model ocean is calculated by using a general circulation model with a coarse grid, a medium grid and a fine grid capable of resolving the mesoscale eddies in order to show to what extent this transport depends on grid size. Although the grid size strikingly affects the current velocities, it has almost no effect upon the meridional heat transport.     

Upper-ocean heat budget and ocean eddy transport in the south-east Pacific in a high-resolution coupled model

We present an analysis of the oceanic heat advection and its variability in the upper 500 m in the southeastern tropical Pacific (100W–75W, 25S–10S) as simulated by the global coupled model HiGEM, which has one of the highest resolutions currently used in long-term integrations. The simulated climatology represents a temperature advection field arising from transient small-scale (<450 km) features, with structures and transport that appear consistent with estimates based on available observational data for the mooring at 20S, 85W. The transient structures are very persistent (>4 months), and in specific locations they generate an important contribution to the local upper-ocean heat budget, characterised by scales of a few hundred kilometres, and periods of over a year. The contribution from such structures to the local, long-term oceanic heat budget however can be of either sign, or vanishing, depending on the location; and, although there appears some organisation in preferential areas of activity, the average over the entire region is small. While several different mechanisms may be responsible for the temperature advection by transients, we find that a significant, and possibly dominant, component is associated with vortices embedded in the large-scale, climatological salinity gradient associated with the fresh intrusion of mid-latitude intermediate water which penetrates north-westward beneath the tropical thermocline.     

The relation of meridional pressure gradients to North Atlantic deep water volume transport in an ocean general circulation model

We use a coarse resolution ocean general circulation model to study the relation between meridional pressure and density gradients in the Southern Ocean and North Atlantic and the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. In several experiments, we artificially modify the meridional density gradients by applying different magnitudes of the Gent–McWilliams isopycnal eddy diffusion coefficients in the Southern Ocean and in the North Atlantic and investigate the response of the simulated Atlantic meridional overturning to such changes. The simulations are carried out close to the limit of no diapycnal mixing, with a very small explicit vertical diffusivity and a tracer advection scheme with very low implicit diffusivities. Our results reveal that changes in eddy diffusivities in the North Atlantic affect the maximum of the Atlantic meridional overturning, but not the outflow of North Atlantic Deep Water into the Southern Ocean. In contrast, changes in eddy diffusivities in the Southern Ocean affect both the South Atlantic outflow of North Atlantic Deep Water and the maximum of the Atlantic meridional overturning. Results from these experiments are used to investigate the relation between meridional pressure gradients and the components of the Atlantic meridional overturning. Pressure gradients and overturning are found to be linearly related. We show that, in our simulations, zonally averaged deep pressure gradients are very weak between 20°S and about 30°N and that between 30°N and 60°N the zonally averaged pressure grows approximately linearly with latitude. This pressure difference balances a westward geostrophic flow at 30–40°N that feeds the southbound deep Atlantic western boundary current. We extend our analysis to a large variety of experiments in which surface freshwater forcing, vertical mixing and winds are modified. In all experiments, the pycnocline depth, assumed to be the relevant vertical scale for the northward volume transport in the Atlantic, is found to be approximately constant, at least within the coarse vertical resolution of the model. The model behaviour hence cannot directly be related to conceptual models in which changes in the pycnocline depth determine the strength of Atlantic meridional flow, and seems conceptually closer to Stommel’s box model. In all our simulations, the Atlantic overturning seems to be mainly driven by Southern Ocean westerlies. However, the actual strength of the Atlantic meridional overturning is not determined solely by the Southern Ocean wind stress but as well by the density/pressure gradients created between the deep water formation regions in the North Atlantic and the inflow/outflow region in the South Atlantic.     

Variation of the monsoon trough intensity in the South China Sea and western North Pacific ocean and its relationship to tropical cyclone activities

Using the daily average of the NCEP/DOE AMIP-II reanalysis data from 1979 to 2005 and the characteristics of monsoon troughs in the western North Pacific,we established an intensity index and a location index to describe the activity of the monsoon troughs in three different regions and their impacts on tropical cyclones generated therein(MTTCs).The behavior of the monsoon troughs was analyzed.The following conclusions are obtained:(1)The established monsoon trough intensity index has a positive correlation to the location index,indicating that stronger monsoon trough intensity corresponds to more northward location.(2)Monsoon trough intensity exhibits significant interannual variation,with obvious periods of 4–5 years prior to 1994 and 2–3 years afterwards.(3)The affecting factors on monsoon trough intensity are different with areas.The preceding SST anomaly results in anomalous atmospheric circulation, leading to the anomaly of monsoon trough intensity in different areas.(4)The frequency of cyclogenesis and location anomalies of the MTTC are closely related to the intensity and location of the monsoon trough. Most of the anomalously less MTTC years coincide with the years with a weak general monsoon trough and weak regional monsoon troughs.The anomalously more MTTC years are associated with both a strong general monsoon trough and a weak general monsoon trough combined with a strong one over the South China Sea,though with a larger probability for the latter.(5)The interseasonal variation of the intensity of monsoon troughs provides favorable conditions for TC generation and development.The monsoon trough is in the active periods of both quasi-biweekly 10 to 20 day and 30 to 60 day oscillations,which is favorable for MTTC occurrence.