Bjerknes Compensation and the Decadal Variability of the Energy Transports in a Coupled Climate Model

2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 1167-1181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Len Shaffrey ◽  
Rowan Sutton
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Ocean ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Energy Transport ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Decadal Variability ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Surface Fluxes ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Ocean Energy ◽  
Pole Surface

Abstract In the 1960s, Jacob Bjerknes suggested that if the top-of-the-atmosphere (TOA) fluxes and the oceanic heat storage did not vary too much, then the total energy transport by the climate system would not vary too much either. This implies that any large anomalies of oceanic and atmospheric energy transport should be equal and opposite. This simple scenario has become known as Bjerknes compensation. A long control run of the Third Hadley Centre Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere General Circulation Model (HadCM3) has been investigated. It was found that northern extratropical decadal anomalies of atmospheric and oceanic energy transports are significantly anticorrelated and have similar magnitudes, which is consistent with the predictions of Bjerknes compensation. The degree of compensation in the northern extratropics was found to increase with increasing time scale. Bjerknes compensation did not occur in the Tropics, primarily as large changes in the surface fluxes were associated with large changes in the TOA fluxes. In the ocean, the decadal variability of the energy transport is associated with fluctuations in the meridional overturning circulation in the Atlantic Ocean. A stronger Atlantic Ocean energy transport leads to strong warming of surface temperatures in the Greenland–Iceland–Norwegian (GIN) Seas, which results in a reduced equator-to-pole surface temperature gradient and reduced atmospheric baroclinicity. It is argued that a stronger Atlantic Ocean energy transport leads to a weakened atmospheric transient energy transport.

scholarly journals Relations between Northward Ocean and Atmosphere Energy Transports in a Coupled Climate Model

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 561-575 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Vellinga ◽  
Peili Wu
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transport ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Energy Transport ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Atmospheric Transport ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Ocean Heat Transport ◽  
Poleward Heat Transport ◽  
Low Latitudes

Abstract The Third Hadley Centre Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere General Circulation Model (HadCM3) is used to analyze the relation between northward energy transports in the ocean and atmosphere at centennial time scales. In a transient water-hosing experiment, where suppressing the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) causes a reduction in northward ocean heat transport of up to 0.75 PW (i.e., 75%), the atmosphere compensates by increasing its northward transport of moist static energy. This compensation is very efficient at low latitudes and near complete at the equator throughout the experiment, but is incomplete farther north across the northern midlatitude storm tracks. The change in atmosphere energy transport enables the model to find a new global-mean radiative equilibrium after 240 yr. In a perturbed physics ensemble of HadCM3 it was found that time-averaged meridional energy transports in ocean and atmosphere can act opposingly. Where model formulation causes an unbalanced mean climate state, for example, an excessive top-of-the-atmosphere radiative surplus at low latitudes, the atmosphere increases its poleward energy transport to disperse this excess. MOC and ocean poleward heat transport tend to be reduced in such model versions, and this offsets the increased poleward atmospheric transport of the low-latitude energy surplus. Model versions that are close to net radiative equilibrium also have ocean heat transport and MOC close to observed values.

scholarly journals Meridional Energy Transport in the Coupled Atmosphere–Ocean System: Compensation and Partitioning

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (18) ◽  
pp. 7151-7166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riccardo Farneti ◽  
Geoffrey K. Vallis
Keyword(s):  
Time Scales ◽  
Energy Transport ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Decadal Variability ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Radiation Budget ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Coupled Models

Abstract The variability and compensation of the meridional energy transport in the atmosphere and ocean are examined with the state-of-the-art GFDL Climate Model, version 2.1 (CM2.1), and the GFDL Intermediate Complexity Coupled Model (ICCM). On decadal time scales, a high degree of compensation between the energy transport in the atmosphere (AHT) and ocean (OHT) is found in the North Atlantic. The variability of the total or planetary heat transport (PHT) is much smaller than the variability in either AHT or OHT alone, a feature referred to as “Bjerknes compensation.” Natural decadal variability stems from the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), which leads OHT variability. The PHT is positively correlated with the OHT, implying that the atmosphere is compensating, but imperfectly, for variations in ocean transport. Because of the fundamental role of the AMOC in generating the decadal OHT anomalies, Bjerknes compensation is expected to be active only in coupled models with a low-frequency AMOC spectral peak. The AHT and the transport in the oceanic gyres are positively correlated because the gyre transport responds to the atmospheric winds, thereby militating against long-term variability involving the wind-driven flow. Moisture and sensible heat transports in the atmosphere are also positively correlated at decadal time scales. The authors further explore the mechanisms and degree of compensation with a simple, diffusive, two-layer energy balance model. Taken together, these results suggest that compensation can be interpreted as arising from the highly efficient nature of the meridional energy transport in the atmosphere responding to ocean variability rather than any a priori need for the top-of-atmosphere radiation budget to be fixed.

scholarly journals PlioMIP2 simulations using the MIROC4m climate model

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wing-Le Chan ◽  
Ayako Abe-Ouchi
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Climate Modelling ◽  
Model Intercomparison ◽  
Model Data

Abstract. The second phase of the Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project (PlioMIP2) has attracted many climate modelling groups in its continuing efforts to better understand the climate of the mid-Piacenzian warm period (mPWP) when atmospheric CO2 was last closest to present day levels. Like the first phase, PlioMIP1, it is an internationally coordinated initiative that allows for a systematic comparison of various models in a similar manner to PMIP. Model intercomparison and model-data comparison now focus specifically on the interglacial at marine isotope stage KM5c (3.205 Ma) and experimental design is not only based on new boundary conditions but includes various sensitivity experiments. In this study, we present results from long-term model integrations using the MIROC4m atmosphere-ocean coupled general circulation model, developed at the institutes CCSR/NIES/FRCGC in Japan. The core experiment, with CO2 levels set to 400 ppm, shows a warming of 3.1 °C compared to the Pre-Industrial, with two-thirds of the warming being contributed by the increase in CO2. Although this level of warming is less than that in the equivalent PlioMIP1 experiment, there is a slightly better agreement with proxy sea surface temperature (SST) data at PRISM3 locations, especially in the northern North Atlantic where there were large model-data discrepancies in PlioMIP1. Similar changes in precipitation and sea ice are seen and the Arctic remains ice-free in the summer. However, unlike PlioMIP1, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is now stronger than that of the Pre-Industrial, even though increasing CO2 tends to weaken it. This stronger AMOC is a consequence of a closed Bering Strait in the PlioMIP2 paleogeography. Also, when present day boundary conditions are replaced by those of the Pliocene, the dependency of the AMOC strength on CO2 is significantly weakened. Sensitivity tests show that lower values of CO2 give a global SST which is overall more consistent with the PRISM3 SST field presented in PlioMIP1. Inclusion of dynamical vegetation and the effects of all realistic orbital configurations should be considered in future experiments using MIROC4m for the mPWP.

scholarly journals New parameterization of dust emissions in the global atmospheric chemistry-climate model EMAC

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 13237-13298
Author(s):  
M. Astitha ◽  
J. Lelieveld ◽  
M. Abdel Kader ◽  
A. Pozzer ◽  
A. de Meij
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Atmospheric Chemistry ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
African Region ◽  
Dust Emissions ◽  
Desert Dust ◽  
Benchmark Database

Abstract. Airborne desert dust influences radiative transfer, atmospheric chemistry and dynamics, as well as nutrient transport and deposition. It directly and indirectly affects climate on regional and global scales. We present two versions of a parameterization scheme to compute desert dust emissions, incorporated into the atmospheric chemistry general circulation model EMAC (ECHAM5/MESSy2.41 Atmospheric Chemistry). One uses a globally uniform soil particle size distribution, whereas the other explicitly accounts for different soil textures worldwide. We have tested these schemes and investigated the sensitivity to input parameters, using remote sensing data from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) and dust concentrations and deposition measurements from the AeroCom dust benchmark database (and others). The two schemes are shown to produce similar atmospheric dust loads in the N-African region, while they deviate in the Asian, Middle Eastern and S-American regions. The dust outflow from Africa over the Atlantic Ocean is accurately simulated by both schemes, in magnitude, location and seasonality. The modelled dust concentrations and deposition fluxes compare well with observations at (island) stations in the Atlantic Ocean and Asia, and are underestimated in the Pacific Ocean where annual means are relatively low (<1 μg m−3). The two schemes perform similarly well, even though the total annual source differs by ~50%, indicating the importance of transport and deposition processes (being the same for the two schemes). Our results emphasize the need to represent arid regions individually and explicitly in global models according to their unique land characteristics and meteorological conditions.

scholarly journals Decadal variability in high northern latitudes as simulated by an intermediate-complexity climate model

2001 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 525-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Goosse ◽  
F. M. Selten ◽  
R. J. Haarsma ◽  
J. D. Opsteegh
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Model Comparison ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Decadal Variability ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Intermediate Complexity ◽  
Northern Latitudes

AbstractA 2500 year integration has been performed with a global coupled atmospheric-sea-ice-ocean model of intermediate complexity with the main objective of studying the climate variability in polar regions on decadal time-scales and longer. The atmospheric component is the ECBILT model, a spectral T21 three-level quasi-geostrophic model that includes a representation of horizontal and vertical heat transfers as well as of the hydrological cycle. ECBILT is coupled to the CLIO model, which consists of a primitive-equation free-surface ocean general circulation model and a dynamic-thermodynamic sea-ice model. Comparison of model results with observations shows that the ECBILT-CLIO model is able to reproduce reasonably well the climate of the high northern latitudes. The dominant mode of coupled variability between the atmospheric circulation and sea-ice cover in the simulation consists of an annular mode for geopotential height at 800 hPa and of a dipole between the Barents and Labrador Seas for the sea-ice concentration which are similar to observed patterns of variability. In addition, the simulation displays strong decadal variability in the sea-ice volume, with a significant peak at about 18 years. Positive volume anomalies are caused by (1) a decrease in ice export through Fram Strait associated with more anticyclonic winds at high latitudes, (2) modifications in the freezing/melting rates in the Arctic due to lower air temperature and higher surface albedo, and (3) a weaker heat flux at the ice base in the Barents and Kara seas caused by a lower inflow of warm Atlantic water. Opposite anomalies occur during the volume-decrease phase of the oscillation.

scholarly journals A Toy Model for the Response of the Residual Overturning Circulation to Surface Warming

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 1249-1268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malte F. Jansen ◽  
Louis-Philippe Nadeau
Keyword(s):  
General Circulation ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
Surface Fluxes ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Partial Recovery ◽  
Surface Mixed Layer ◽  
Overturning Circulation ◽  
Surface Warming ◽  
Meridional Overturning

A simple model for the deep-ocean overturning circulation is presented and applied to study the ocean’s response to a sudden surface warming. The model combines one-dimensional predictive residual advection–diffusion equations for the buoyancy in the basin and Southern Ocean surface mixed layer with diagnostic relationships for the residual overturning circulation between these regions. Despite its simplicity, the model reproduces the results from idealized general circulation model simulations and provides theoretical insights into the mechanisms that govern the response of the overturning circulation to an abrupt surface warming. Specifically, the model reproduces a rapid shoaling and weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) in response to surface warming, followed by a partial recovery over the following decades to centuries, and a full recovery after multiple millennia. The rapid partial recovery is associated with adjustment of the lower thermocline, which itself is shown to be accelerated by the weakened AMOC. Full equilibration instead requires adjustment of the abyssal buoyancy, which is shown to be governed by diapycnal diffusion and surface fluxes around Antarctica.

scholarly journals The Global Zonally Integrated Ocean Circulation, 1992–2006: Seasonal and Decadal Variability

2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl Wunsch ◽  
Patrick Heimbach
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Decadal Variability ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Oceanic Circulation ◽  
Meridional Transport

Abstract The zonally integrated meridional and vertical velocities as well as the enthalpy transports and fluxes in a least squares adjusted general circulation model are used to estimate the top-to-bottom oceanic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) and its variability from 1992 to 2006. A variety of simple theories all produce time scales suggesting that the mid- and high-latitude oceans should respond to atmospheric driving only over several decades. In practice, little change is seen in the MOC and associated heat transport except very close to the sea surface, at depth near the equator, and in parts of the Southern Ocean. Variability in meridional transports in both volume and enthalpy is dominated by the annual cycle and secondarily by the semiannual cycle, particularly in the Southern Ocean. On time scales longer than a year, the solution exhibits small trends with complicated global spatial patterns. Apart from a net uptake of heat from the atmosphere (forced by the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis, which produces net ocean heating), the origins of the meridional transport trends are not distinguishable and are likely a combination of model disequilibrium, shifts in the observing system, other trends (real or artificial) in the meteorological fields, and/or true oceanic secularities. None of the results, however, supports an inference of oceanic circulation shifts taking the system out of the range in which changes are more than small perturbations. That the oceanic observations do not conflict with an apparent excess heat uptake from the atmosphere implies a continued undersampling of the global ocean, even in the upper layers.

scholarly journals The HAMMONIA Chemistry Climate Model: Sensitivity of the Mesopause Region to the 11-Year Solar Cycle and CO2 Doubling

2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (16) ◽  
pp. 3903-3931 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Schmidt ◽  
G. P. Brasseur ◽  
M. Charron ◽  
E. Manzini ◽  
M. A. Giorgetta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Solar Cycle ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Temperature Response ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Max Planck ◽  
Dynamical Processes ◽  
Mesopause Region ◽  
Height Range

Abstract This paper introduces the three-dimensional Hamburg Model of the Neutral and Ionized Atmosphere (HAMMONIA), which treats atmospheric dynamics, radiation, and chemistry interactively for the height range from the earth’s surface to the thermosphere (approximately 250 km). It is based on the latest version of the ECHAM atmospheric general circulation model of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, which is extended to include important radiative and dynamical processes of the upper atmosphere and is coupled to a chemistry module containing 48 compounds. The model is applied to study the effects of natural and anthropogenic climate forcing on the atmosphere, represented, on the one hand, by the 11-yr solar cycle and, on the other hand, by a doubling of the present-day concentration of carbon dioxide. The numerical experiments are analyzed with the focus on the effects on temperature and chemical composition in the mesopause region. Results include a temperature response to the solar cycle by 2 to 10 K in the mesopause region with the largest values occurring slightly above the summer mesopause. Ozone in the secondary maximum increases by up to 20% for solar maximum conditions. Changes in winds are in general small. In the case of a doubling of carbon dioxide the simulation indicates a cooling of the atmosphere everywhere above the tropopause but by the smallest values around the mesopause. It is shown that the temperature response up to the mesopause is strongly influenced by changes in dynamics. During Northern Hemisphere summer, dynamical processes alone would lead to an almost global warming of up to 3 K in the uppermost mesosphere.

scholarly journals Simulation of the isotopic composition of stratospheric water vapour – Part 1: Description and evaluation of the EMAC model

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. 5537-5555 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Eichinger ◽  
P. Jöckel ◽  
S. Brinkop ◽  
M. Werner ◽  
S. Lossow
Keyword(s):  
Isotopic Composition ◽  
Water Vapour ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Isotope Ratios ◽  
Physical Fractionation ◽  
Water Isotopologues ◽  
Stratospheric Water Vapour

Abstract. This modelling study aims at an improved understanding of the processes that determine the water vapour budget in the stratosphere by means of the investigation of water isotope ratios. An additional (and separate from the actual) hydrological cycle has been introduced into the chemistry–climate model EMAC, including the water isotopologues HDO and H218O and their physical fractionation processes. Additionally an explicit computation of the contribution of methane oxidation to H2O and HDO has been incorporated. The model expansions allow detailed analyses of water vapour and its isotope ratio with respect to deuterium throughout the stratosphere and in the transition region to the troposphere. In order to assure the correct representation of the water isotopologues in the model's hydrological cycle, the expanded system has been evaluated in several steps. The physical fractionation effects have been evaluated by comparison of the simulated isotopic composition of precipitation with measurements from a ground-based network (GNIP) and with the results from the isotopologue-enabled general circulation model ECHAM5-wiso. The model's representation of the chemical HDO precursor CH3D in the stratosphere has been confirmed by a comparison with chemical transport models (1-D, CHEM2D) and measurements from radiosonde flights. Finally, the simulated stratospheric HDO and the isotopic composition of water vapour have been evaluated, with respect to retrievals from three different satellite instruments (MIPAS, ACE-FTS, SMR). Discrepancies in stratospheric water vapour isotope ratios between two of the three satellite retrievals can now partly be explained.

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