scholarly journals The impacts of cloud-radiative changes on poleward atmospheric and oceanic energy transport in a warmer climate

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-63
Author(s):  
Yong-Jhih Chen ◽  
Yen-Ting Hwang ◽  
Paulo Ceppi
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Outgoing Longwave Radiation ◽  
Energy Transport ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Longwave Radiation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Oceanic Circulation ◽  
Coupled Climate Model ◽  
Radiative Impacts ◽  
Fully Coupled

AbstractBased on theory and climate model experiments, previous studies suggest most of the uncertainties in projected future changes in meridional energy transport and zonal mean surface temperature can be attributed to cloud feedback. To investigate how radiative and dynamical adjustments modify the influence of cloud-radiative changes on energy transport, this study applies a cloud-locking technique in a fully-coupled climate model, CESM. Under global warming, the impacts of cloud-radiative changes on the meridional energy transport are asymmetric in the two hemispheres. In the Northern Hemisphere, the cloud-radiative changes have little impact on energy transport, because 89% of the cloud-induced heating is balanced locally by increasing outgoing longwave radiation. In the Southern Hemisphere, on the other hand, cloud-induced dynamical changes in the atmosphere and the ocean cause enhanced poleward energy transport, accounting for most of the increase in energy transport under warming. Our experiments highlight that the local longwave radiation adjustment induced by temperature variation can partially offset the impacts of cloud-radiative changes on energy transport, making the estimated impacts smaller than those obtained from directly integrating cloud-radiative changes in previous studies. It is also demonstrated that the cloud-radiative impacts on temperature and energy transport can be significantly modulated by the oceanic circulation, suggesting the necessity of considering atmospheric-oceanic coupling when estimating the impacts of cloud-radiative changes on the climate system.

scholarly journals Evaluation of ACCMIP outgoing longwave radiation from tropospheric ozone using TES satellite observations

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4057-4072 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. W. Bowman ◽  
D. T. Shindell ◽  
H. M. Worden ◽  
J.F. Lamarque ◽  
P. J. Young ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Chemistry ◽  
Tropospheric Ozone ◽  
Outgoing Longwave Radiation ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Longwave Radiation ◽  
Satellite Observations ◽  
Ensemble Mean ◽  
High Bias

Abstract. We use simultaneous observations of tropospheric ozone and outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) sensitivity to tropospheric ozone from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) to evaluate model tropospheric ozone and its effect on OLR simulated by a suite of chemistry-climate models that participated in the Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Model Intercomparison Project (ACCMIP). The ensemble mean of ACCMIP models show a persistent but modest tropospheric ozone low bias (5–20 ppb) in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) and modest high bias (5–10 ppb) in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) relative to TES ozone for 2005–2010. These ozone biases have a significant impact on the OLR. Using TES instantaneous radiative kernels (IRK), we show that the ACCMIP ensemble mean tropospheric ozone low bias leads up to 120 mW m−2 OLR high bias locally but zonally compensating errors reduce the global OLR high bias to 39 ± 41 m Wm−2 relative to TES data. We show that there is a correlation (R2 = 0.59) between the magnitude of the ACCMIP OLR bias and the deviation of the ACCMIP preindustrial to present day (1750–2010) ozone radiative forcing (RF) from the ensemble ozone RF mean. However, this correlation is driven primarily by models whose absolute OLR bias from tropospheric ozone exceeds 100 m Wm−2. Removing these models leads to a mean ozone radiative forcing of 394 ± 42 m Wm−2. The mean is about the same and the standard deviation is about 30% lower than an ensemble ozone RF of 384 ± 60 m Wm−2 derived from 14 of the 16 ACCMIP models reported in a companion ACCMIP study. These results point towards a profitable direction of combining satellite observations and chemistry-climate model simulations to reduce uncertainty in ozone radiative forcing.

Acceleration of global warming due to carbon-cycle feedbacks in a coupled climate model

Nature ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 408 (6809) ◽  
pp. 184-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. Cox ◽  
Richard A. Betts ◽  
Chris D. Jones ◽  
Steven A. Spall ◽  
Ian J. Totterdell
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Carbon Cycle ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Coupled Climate Model

scholarly journals Variability of Upper Pacific Ocean Overturning in a Coupled Climate Model

2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 666-683 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Merryfield ◽  
George J. Boer
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Heat Content ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Tropical Pacific Ocean ◽  
Coupled Climate Model ◽  
Subtropical Cell

Abstract Variability of subtropical cell (STC) overturning in the upper Pacific Ocean is examined in a coupled climate model in light of large observed changes in STC transport. In a 1000-yr control run, modeled STC variations are smaller than observed, but correlate in a similar way with low-frequency ENSO-like variability. In model runs that include anthropogenically forced climate change, STC pycnocline transports decrease progressively under the influence of global warming, attaining reductions of 8% by 2000 and 46% by 2100. Although the former reduction is insufficient to fully account for the apparent observed decline in STC transport over recent decades, it does suggest that global warming may have contributed to the observed changes. Analysis of coupled model results shows that STC transports play a significant role in modulating tropical Pacific Ocean heat content, and that such changes are dominated by anomalous currents advecting mean temperature, rather than by advection of temperature anomalies by mean currents.

scholarly journals The Global Climate Response to Lowering Surface Orography of Antarctica and the Importance of Atmosphere–Ocean Coupling

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 4137-4153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hansi K. A. Singh ◽  
Cecilia M. Bitz ◽  
Dargan M. W. Frierson
Keyword(s):  
Energy Transport ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Climate Model ◽  
Longwave Radiation ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Ocean Dynamics ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
System Response ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract A global climate model is used to study the effect of flattening the orography of the Antarctic Ice Sheet on climate. A general result is that the Antarctic continent and the atmosphere aloft warm, while there is modest cooling globally. The large local warming over Antarctica leads to increased outgoing longwave radiation, which drives anomalous southward energy transport toward the continent and cooling elsewhere. Atmosphere and ocean both anomalously transport energy southward in the Southern Hemisphere. Near Antarctica, poleward energy and momentum transport by baroclinic eddies strengthens. Anomalous southward cross-equatorial energy transport is associated with a northward shift in the intertropical convergence zone. In the ocean, anomalous southward energy transport arises from a slowdown of the upper cell of the oceanic meridional overturning circulation and a weakening of the horizontal ocean gyres, causing sea ice in the Northern Hemisphere to expand and the Arctic to cool. Comparison with a slab-ocean simulation confirms the importance of ocean dynamics in determining the climate system response to Antarctic orography. This paper concludes by briefly presenting a discussion of the relevance of these results to climates of the past and to future climate scenarios.

scholarly journals Mechanisms of Global Warming Impacts on Robustness of Tropical Precipitation Asymmetry

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (21) ◽  
pp. 5585-5602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei-Hua Tan ◽  
Chia Chou ◽  
Jien-Yi Tu
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Water Vapor ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Hadley Circulation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Multimodel Ensemble ◽  
Model Simulations ◽  
Tropical Precipitation ◽  
Precipitation Anomalies ◽  
Climate Model Simulations

Abstract Hemispherically and temporally asymmetric tropical precipitation responses to global warming are evaluated in 13 different coupled atmosphere–ocean climate model simulations. In the late boreal summer, hemispherical averages of the tropical precipitation anomalies from the multimodel ensemble show a strong positive trend in the Northern Hemisphere and a weak negative trend in the Southern Hemisphere. In the late austral summer, on the other hand, the trends are reversed. This implies that the summer hemisphere becomes wetter and the winter hemisphere becomes a little drier in the tropics. Thus, the seasonal range of tropical precipitation, differences between wet and dry seasons, is increased. Zonal averages of the precipitation anomalies from the multimodel ensemble also reveal a meridional movement, which basically follows the seasonal migration of the main convection zone. Similar asymmetric features can be found in all 13 climate model simulations used in this study. Based on the moisture budget analysis, the vertical moisture advection associated with mean circulation is the main contribution for the robustness of the asymmetric distribution of the tropical precipitation anomalies. Under global warming, tropospheric water vapor increases as the temperature rises and most enhanced water vapor is in the lower troposphere. The ascending motion of the Hadley circulation then transports more water vapor upward, that is, anomalous moisture convergence, and enhances precipitation over the main convection zones. On the other hand, the thermodynamic effect associated with the descending motion of the Hadley circulation, that is, anomalous moisture divergence, reduces the precipitation over the descending regions.

Differences in Annual Cycle and 30–60-Day Oscillations between the Summers of Strong and Weak Convection over the Tropical Western North Pacific

2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (22) ◽  
pp. 4649-4659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riyu Lu ◽  
Baohua Ren ◽  
Hyo-Sang Chung
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Change ◽  
Annual Cycle ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Outgoing Longwave Radiation ◽  
Western North Pacific ◽  
Interannual Variation ◽  
Longwave Radiation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Seasonal Evolution ◽  
Tropical Western North Pacific

Abstract In this study, based on the cases of strong and weak June–August (JJA) mean convection over the tropical western North Pacific, composite analyses are performed by using the satellite-observed outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) data for the 23-yr period from 1979 to 2001, and the contrast features of the composite seasonal evolution of the convection between the strong and weak cases are examined. Anomalous annual cycle and 30–60-day oscillations, that is, two components of the seasonal evolution, and their relative contributions to the anomalous seasonal evolution is analyzed. The authors find that in the composite sense, convection exhibits a larger (smaller) seasonal change during the strong (weak) JJA mean convection summers. The strong (weak) JJA mean convection corresponds to enhanced (suppressed) convection of the annual cycle from the beginning of the year to September, and such a difference in the annual cycle between strong and weak cases is most significant from May to August. On the other hand, the composite 30–60-day oscillations for the strong cases have greater amplitudes than the weak cases, and the phases of the 30–60-day oscillations tend to be more consistent for the strong cases than for the weak cases. Both annual cycle and 30–60-day oscillations contribute to the interannual variation of the seasonal evolution.

scholarly journals Attribution of Chemistry-Climate Model Initiative (CCMI) ozone radiative flux bias from satellites

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 281-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Le Kuai ◽  
Kevin W. Bowman ◽  
Kazuyuki Miyazaki ◽  
Makoto Deushi ◽  
Laura Revell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Chemistry ◽  
Tropospheric Ozone ◽  
Outgoing Longwave Radiation ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Middle Atmosphere ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Longwave Radiation ◽  
Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory

Abstract. The top-of-atmosphere (TOA) outgoing longwave flux over the 9.6 µm ozone band is a fundamental quantity for understanding chemistry–climate coupling. However, observed TOA fluxes are hard to estimate as they exhibit considerable variability in space and time that depend on the distributions of clouds, ozone (O3), water vapor (H2O), air temperature (Ta), and surface temperature (Ts). Benchmarking present-day fluxes and quantifying the relative influence of their drivers is the first step for estimating climate feedbacks from ozone radiative forcing and predicting radiative forcing evolution. To that end, we constructed observational instantaneous radiative kernels (IRKs) under clear-sky conditions, representing the sensitivities of the TOA flux in the 9.6 µm ozone band to the vertical distribution of geophysical variables, including O3, H2O, Ta, and Ts based upon the Aura Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) measurements. Applying these kernels to present-day simulations from the Chemistry-Climate Model Initiative (CCMI) project as compared to a 2006 reanalysis assimilating satellite observations, we show that the models have large differences in TOA flux, attributable to different geophysical variables. In particular, model simulations continue to diverge from observations in the tropics, as reported in previous studies of the Atmospheric Chemistry Climate Model Intercomparison Project (ACCMIP) simulations. The principal culprits are tropical middle and upper tropospheric ozone followed by tropical lower tropospheric H2O. Five models out of the eight studied here have TOA flux biases exceeding 100 mW m−2 attributable to tropospheric ozone bias. Another set of five models have flux biases over 50 mW m−2 due to H2O. On the other hand, Ta radiative bias is negligible in all models (no more than 30 mW m−2). We found that the atmospheric component (AM3) of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) general circulation model and Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model (CMAM) have the lowest TOA flux biases globally but are a result of cancellation of opposite biases due to different processes. Overall, the multi-model ensemble mean bias is -133±98 mW m−2, indicating that they are too atmospherically opaque due to trapping too much radiation in the atmosphere by overestimated tropical tropospheric O3 and H2O. Having too much O3 and H2O in the troposphere would have different impacts on the sensitivity of TOA flux to O3 and these competing effects add more uncertainties on the ozone radiative forcing. We find that the inter-model TOA outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) difference is well anti-correlated with their ozone band flux bias. This suggests that there is significant radiative compensation in the calculation of model outgoing longwave radiation.

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