scholarly journals Expansion of the Southern Hemisphere Hadley Cell in Response to Greenhouse Gas Forcing

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (20) ◽  
pp. 8067-8077 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Nguyen ◽  
C. Lucas ◽  
A. Evans ◽  
B. Timbal ◽  
L. Hanson
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Hadley Cell ◽  
Coupled Models ◽  
Dry Zone ◽  
Poleward Shift ◽  
Intercomparison Project ◽  
Increasing Trends

Abstract Changes of the Southern Hemisphere Hadley cell over the twentieth century are investigated using the Twentieth Century Reanalysis (20CR) and coupled model simulations from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). Trends computed on a 30-yr sliding window on the 20CR dataset reveal a statistically significant expansion of the Hadley cell from 1968 forced by an increasing surface global warming. This expansion is strongly associated with the intensification and poleward shift of the subtropical dry zone, which potentially explain the increasing trends of droughts in the subtropical regions such as southern Australia, South America, and Africa. Coupled models from the CMIP5 do not adequately simulate the observed amount of the Hadley expansion, only showing an average of one-fourth of the expansion as determined from the 20CR and only when simulations include greenhouse gas forcing as opposed to simulations including natural forcing only.

scholarly journals SST Forcings and Sahel Rainfall Variability in Simulations of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (14) ◽  
pp. 3471-3486 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Biasutti ◽  
I. M. Held ◽  
A. H. Sobel ◽  
A. Giannini
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Rainfall Variability ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
First Century ◽  
Coupled Models ◽  
Sahel Rainfall ◽  
Intercomparison Project ◽  
Rainfall Anomalies ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Tropical Sea

Abstract The outlook for Sahel precipitation in coupled simulations of the twenty-first century is very uncertain, with different models disagreeing even on the sign of the trends. Such disagreement is especially surprising in light of the robust response of the same coupled models to the twentieth-century forcings. This study presents a statistical analysis of the preindustrial, twentieth-century and twenty-first-century A1B scenario simulations in the latest Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 3 (CMIP3) dataset; it shows that the relationship that links Sahel rainfall anomalies to tropical sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies at interannual time scales in observations is reproduced by most models, independently of the change in the basic state as the world warms. The same SST–Sahel relationship can be used to predict the simulated twentieth-century changes in Sahel rainfall from each model’s simulation of changes in Indo-Pacific SST and Atlantic SST meridional gradient, although the prediction overestimates the simulated trends. Conversely, such a relationship does not explain the rainfall trend in the twenty-first century in a majority of models. These results are consistent with there being, in most models, a substantial direct positive effect of atmospheric greenhouse gases on Sahel rainfall, not mediated through SST.

Greenhouse-gas contribution to Arctic sea-ice loss

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeon-Hee Kim ◽  
Seung-Ki Min
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Arctic Sea Ice ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Detection Analysis ◽  
External Forcings ◽  
Arctic Sea ◽  
Intercomparison Project ◽  
Arctic Sea Ice Loss

<p>Arctic sea-ice area (ASIA) has been declining rapidly throughout the year during recent decades, but a formal quantification of greenhouse gas (GHG) contribution remains limited. This study conducts an attribution analysis of the observed ASIA changes from 1979 to 2017 by comparing three satellite observations with the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) multi-model simulations using an optimal fingerprint method. The observed ASIA exhibits overall decreasing trends across all months with stronger trends in warm seasons. CMIP6 anthropogenic plus natural forcing (ALL) simulations and GHG-only forcing simulations successfully capture the observed temporal trend patterns. Results from detection analysis show that ALL signals are detected robustly for all calendar months for three observations. It is found that GHG signals are detectable in the observed ASIA decrease throughout the year, explaining most of the ASIA reduction, with a much weaker contribution by other external forcings. We additionally find that the Arctic Ocean will occur ice-free in September around the 2040s regardless of the emission scenario.</p>

scholarly journals Intermodel Variability and Mechanism Attribution of Central and Southeastern U.S. Anomalous Cooling in the Twentieth Century as Simulated by CMIP5 Models

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (17) ◽  
pp. 6215-6237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zaitao Pan ◽  
Xiaodong Liu ◽  
Sanjiv Kumar ◽  
Zhiqiu Gao ◽  
James Kinter
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cmip5 Models ◽  
Model Intercomparison ◽  
Central United States ◽  
Intercomparison Project

Abstract Some parts of the United States, especially the southeastern and central portion, cooled by up to 2°C during the twentieth century, while the global mean temperature rose by 0.6°C (0.76°C from 1901 to 2006). Studies have suggested that the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) and the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) may be responsible for this cooling, termed the “warming hole” (WH), while other works reported that regional-scale processes such as the low-level jet and evapotranspiration contribute to the abnormity. In phase 3 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3), only a few of the 53 simulations could reproduce the cooling. This study analyzes newly available simulations in experiments from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) from 28 models, totaling 175 ensemble members. It was found that 1) only 19 out of 100 all-forcing historical ensemble members simulated negative temperature trend (cooling) over the southeast United States, with 99 members underpredicting the cooling rate in the region; 2) the missing of cooling in the models is likely due to the poor performance in simulating the spatial pattern of the cooling rather than the temporal variation, as indicated by a larger temporal correlation coefficient than spatial one between the observation and simulations; 3) the simulations with greenhouse gas (GHG) forcing only produced strong warming in the central United States that may have compensated the cooling; and 4) the all-forcing historical experiment compared with the natural-forcing-only experiment showed a well-defined WH in the central United States, suggesting that land surface processes, among others, could have contributed to the cooling in the twentieth century.

scholarly journals Expansion of the Hadley Cell under Global Warming: Winter versus Summer

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (24) ◽  
pp. 8387-8393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah M. Kang ◽  
Jian Lu
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Outer Boundary ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Static Stability ◽  
Hadley Cell ◽  
Scaling Analysis ◽  
Zonal Winds ◽  
Scaling Relationship ◽  
Intercomparison Project ◽  
Upper Level

Abstract A scaling relationship is introduced to explain the seasonality in the outer boundary of the Hadley cell in both climatology and trend in the simulations of phase 3 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3). In the climatological state, the summer cell reaches higher latitudes than the winter cell since the Hadley cell in summer deviates more from the angular momentum conserving state, resulting in weaker upper-level zonal winds, which enables the Hadley cell to extend farther poleward before becoming baroclinically unstable. The Hadley cell can also reach farther poleward as the ITCZ gets farther away from the equator; hence, the Hadley cell extends farther poleward in solstices than in equinoxes. In terms of trend, a robust poleward expansion of the Hadley cell is diagnosed in all seasons with global warming. The scaling analysis indicates this is mostly due to an increase in the subtropical static stability, which pushes poleward the baroclinically unstable zone and hence the poleward edge of the Hadley cell. The relation between the trends in the Hadley cell edge and the ITCZ is also discussed.

scholarly journals Simulated Tropical Precipitation Assessed across Three Major Phases of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP)

2020 ◽  
Vol 148 (9) ◽  
pp. 3653-3680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Fiedler ◽  
Traute Crueger ◽  
Roberta D’Agostino ◽  
Karsten Peters ◽  
Tobias Becker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Climate Change Signal ◽  
Positive Trend ◽  
Model Intercomparison ◽  
Tropical Precipitation ◽  
Intercomparison Project

Abstract The representation of tropical precipitation is evaluated across three generations of models participating in phases 3, 5, and 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP). Compared to state-of-the-art observations, improvements in tropical precipitation in the CMIP6 models are identified for some metrics, but we find no general improvement in tropical precipitation on different temporal and spatial scales. Our results indicate overall little changes across the CMIP phases for the summer monsoons, the double-ITCZ bias, and the diurnal cycle of tropical precipitation. We find a reduced amount of drizzle events in CMIP6, but tropical precipitation occurs still too frequently. Continuous improvements across the CMIP phases are identified for the number of consecutive dry days, for the representation of modes of variability, namely, the Madden–Julian oscillation and El Niño–Southern Oscillation, and for the trends in dry months in the twentieth century. The observed positive trend in extreme wet months is, however, not captured by any of the CMIP phases, which simulate negative trends for extremely wet months in the twentieth century. The regional biases are larger than a climate change signal one hopes to use the models to identify. Given the pace of climate change as compared to the pace of model improvements to simulate tropical precipitation, we question the past strategy of the development of the present class of global climate models as the mainstay of the scientific response to climate change. We suggest the exploration of alternative approaches such as high-resolution storm-resolving models that can offer better prospects to inform us about how tropical precipitation might change with anthropogenic warming.

scholarly journals The Hadley and Walker Circulation Changes in Global Warming Conditions Described by Idealized Atmospheric Simulations

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (14) ◽  
pp. 3993-4013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume Gastineau ◽  
Laurent Li ◽  
Hervé Le Treut
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Hadley Circulation ◽  
Hadley Cell ◽  
Coupled Models ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Sst Anomalies ◽  
Atmospheric Simulations

Abstract Sea surface temperature (SST) changes constitute a major indicator and driver of climate changes induced by greenhouse gas increases. The objective of the present study is to investigate the role played by the detailed structure of the SST change on the large-scale atmospheric circulation and the distribution of precipitation. For that purpose, simulations from the Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace Coupled Model, version 4 (IPSL-CM4) are used where the carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration is doubled. The response of IPSL-CM4 is characterized by the same robust mechanisms affecting the other coupled models in global warming simulations, that is, an increase of the hydrological cycle accompanied by a global weakening of the large-scale circulation. First, purely atmospheric simulations are performed to mimic the results of the coupled model. Then, specific simulations are set up to further study the underlying atmospheric mechanisms. These simulations use different prescribed SST anomalies, which correspond to a linear decomposition of the IPSL-CM4 SST changes in global, longitudinal, and latitudinal components. The simulation using a globally uniform increase of the SST is able to reproduce the modifications in the intensity of the hydrological cycle or in the mean upward mass flux, which also characterize the double CO2 simulation with the coupled model. But it is necessary (and largely sufficient) to also take into account the zonal-mean meridional structure of the SST changes to represent correctly the changes in the Hadley circulation strength or the zonal-mean precipitation changes simulated by the coupled model, even if these meridional changes by themselves do not change the mean thermodynamical state of the tropical atmosphere. The longitudinal SST anomalies of IPSL-CM4 also have an impact on the precipitation and large-scale tropical circulation and tend to introduce different changes over the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The longitudinal SST changes are demonstrated to have a smaller but opposite effect from that of the meridional anomalies on the Hadley cell circulations. Results indicate that the uncertainties in the simulated meridional patterns of the SST warming may have major consequences on the assessment of the changes of the Hadley circulation and zonal-mean precipitation in future climate projections.

scholarly journals An Assessment of Future Southern Hemisphere Blocking Using CMIP5 Projections from Four GCMs

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (21) ◽  
pp. 7599-7611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Parsons ◽  
James A. Renwick ◽  
Adrian J. McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
General Circulation Models ◽  
Southern Annular Mode ◽  
Model Intercomparison ◽  
Future Projections ◽  
South Pacific Ocean ◽  
Blocking Activity ◽  
Intercomparison Project

AbstractThis study is concerned with blocking events (BEs) in the Southern Hemisphere (SH), their past variability, and future projections. ERA-Interim (ERA-I) is used to compare the historical output from four general circulation models (GCMs) from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5); the output of the representative concentration pathway 4.5 and 8.5 (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) projections are also examined. ERA-I shows that the higher latitudes of the South Pacific Ocean (SPO) are the main blocking region, with blocking occurring predominantly in winter. The CMIP5 historical simulations also agree well with ERA-I for annual and seasonal BE locations and frequencies. A reduction in BEs is observed in the SPO in the 2071–2100 period in the RCP4.5 projections, and this is more pronounced for the RCP8.5 projections and occurs predominantly during the spring and summer seasons. Preliminary investigations imply that the southern annular mode (SAM) is negatively correlated with blocking activity in the SPO in all seasons in the reanalysis. This negative correlation is also observed in the GCM historical output. However, in the RCP projections this correlation is reduced in three of the four models during summer, suggesting that SAM may be less influential in summertime blocking in the future.

scholarly journals Breakdown of the Linear Relationship between the Southern Hemisphere Hadley Cell Edge and Jet Latitude Changes in the Last Glacial Maximum

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (13) ◽  
pp. 5713-5725
Author(s):  
Seo-Yeon Kim ◽  
Seok-Woo Son
Keyword(s):  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Glacial Maximum ◽  
Cold Climate ◽  
Hadley Cell ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Intercomparison Project ◽  
Mean Circulation ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
The Last Glacial

AbstractA poleward displacement of the Hadley cell (HC) edge and the eddy-driven jet latitude has been observed in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) during the last few decades. This change is further projected to continue in the future, indicating coherent tropical and extratropical zonal-mean circulation changes from the present climate to a warm climate. Here we show that such a systematic change in the zonal-mean circulation change does not hold in a cold climate. By examining the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), preindustrial (PI), and extended concentration pathway 4.5 (ECP4.5) scenarios archived for phase 3 of the Paleoclimate Modeling Intercomparison Project (PMIP3) and phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5), it is shown that while the annual-mean SH HC edge systematically shifts poleward from the LGM scenario to the PI scenario and then to the ECP4.5 scenario the annual-mean SH eddy-driven jet latitude does not. All models show a poleward jet shift from the PI scenario to the ECP4.5 scenario, but over one-half of the models exhibit no trend or even an equatorward jet shift from the LGM scenario to the PI scenario. This decoupling between the HC edge and jet latitude changes is most pronounced in SH winter when the Antarctic surface cooling in the LGM scenario is comparable to or larger than the tropical upper-tropospheric cooling. This result indicates that polar amplification could play a crucial role in driving the decoupling of the tropical and midlatitude zonal-mean circulation in the SH in a cold climate.

scholarly journals Widening of the Hadley Cell from Last Glacial Maximum to Future Climate

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 267-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seok-Woo Son ◽  
Seo-Yeon Kim ◽  
Seung-Ki Min
Keyword(s):  
Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Glacial Maximum ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Hadley Cell ◽  
Zero Crossing ◽  
Model Simulations ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Intercomparison Project

Abstract The Hadley cell (HC) change from paleoclimate to future climate is examined by comparing coupled model simulations archived for the Paleoclimate Modeling Intercomparison Project phase 3 (PMIP3) and phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). Specifically, HC width and strength are evaluated using 100-yr equilibrium simulations for the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), preindustrial (PI), and extended concentration pathway 4.5 (ECP4.5) conditions. Where available, ECP8.5 simulations are also examined to increase the sample size. All models show a systematic widening of the HC from the LGM to the PI and to the ECP4.5 and ECP8.5 simulations. Such widening, which is found in both hemispheres with more robust change in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) than in the Northern Hemisphere (NH), is significantly correlated with global-mean surface air temperature change and the associated static stability change in the subtropics. Based on the zero-crossing latitude of 500-hPa mass streamfunction, about 4.5° latitude widening of the HC results from global warming of 10°C. HC strength also exhibits a systematic weakening in the NH. However, in the SH, HC strength shows a rather minor change from LGM to ECP4.5 conditions because of the cancellation between HC weakening during the austral summer–fall and its strengthening during the spring. This result, which suggests no systematic relationship between HC width and strength changes, is discussed in the context of quasigeostrophic zonal-mean dynamics. Overall findings are also compared with recent studies that are based on transient climate model simulations.

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