Revisiting the relationship between dynamical sensitivity and climate sensitivity in the Southern hemisphere

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Wood ◽  
Amanda Maycock ◽  
Christine McKenna ◽  
Andreas Chrysanthou ◽  
John Fyfe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Climate Sensitivity ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Storm Track ◽  
Temperature Gradients ◽  
Cmip5 Models ◽  
Positive Trend ◽  
Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity ◽  
The Relationship

<p>The Southern Annular Mode (SAM) is the dominant mode of midlatitude atmospheric circulation variability in the Southern hemisphere. In the future, the SAM trend is expected to be the net result of opposing effects from increasing greenhouse gases (GHG) and ozone recovery. Different greenhouse gas scenarios, which induce different rates of surface and atmospheric temperature change, are therefore associated with different future SAM trends (Barnes et al., 2014). Since the magnitude of warming due to GHGs is an important component of this response, one might expect to find a relationship between equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS) and future Southern hemisphere circulation trends. In CMIP5, the relationship between the SAM and the level of tropospheric warming across models was found to be strongest in the summer and autumn and could explain around 20% of the intermodel spread (Grise and Polvani, 2014). The spread is more strongly correlated with differences in meridional temperature gradients (Harvey et al., 2014).</p><p>Many of the latest CMIP6 models show a larger equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS) of up to ~5.5 K (Forster et al., 2019) compared to a maximum of ~4.7 K in CMIP5. This raises the important question of how a higher level of warming affects projections of the SH midlatitude circulation. In this study, we examine the response of the SAM in CMIP6 models and quantify its relationship to ECS and temperature gradients. Our starting hypothesis is that stronger surface warming will induce a larger increase in tropical free tropospheric temperatures, and hence all being equal, a larger tropics-to-pole temperature gradient and a more positive SAM trend. However, results show that despite the higher level of warming in the CMIP6 models, there is a smaller positive trend in SAM index than in CMIP5 indicating a different relationship between warming and midlatitude circulation trends in CMIP6. We attempt to explain potential reasons for these differences.</p><p><strong>References:</strong></p><p>Barnes, E.A., N.W. Barnes, and L.M. Polvani, 2014: Delayed Southern Hemisphere Climate Change Induced by Stratospheric Ozone Recovery, as Projected by the CMIP5 Models. J. Climate, 27, 852–867, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00246.1</p><p>Forster, P.M., Maycock, A.C., McKenna, C.M. et al. (2019), Latest climate models confirm need for urgent mitigation. Nat. Clim. Chang. (2019) doi:10.1038/s41558-019-0660-0</p><p>Grise, K. M., and Polvani, L. M. (2014), Is climate sensitivity related to dynamical sensitivity? A Southern Hemisphere perspective, Geophys. Res. Lett., 41, 534– 540, doi:10.1002/2013GL058466.</p><p>Harvey, B.J., Shaffrey, L.C. & Woollings, T.J. (2014) Equator­-to-­pole temperature differences and the extra­tropical storm track responses of the CMIP5 climate models, Clim Dyn, 43: 1171. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-013-1883-9</p>

The response of the ozone layer under abrupt 4xCO2 in CMIP6

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Chiodo ◽  
William T. Ball ◽  
Peer Nowack ◽  
Clara Orbe ◽  
James Keeble ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Ozone Layer ◽  
Cmip5 Models ◽  
Radiative Efficiency ◽  
Tropospheric Circulation ◽  
Column Ozone ◽  
The Relationship

<p>Previous studies indicate a possible role of stratospheric ozone chemistry feedbacks in the climate response to 4xCO2, either via a reduction in equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS) or via changes in the tropospheric circulation (Nowack et al., 2015; Chiodo and Polvani, 2017). However, these effects are subject to uncertainty. Part of the uncertainty may stem from the dependency of the feedback on the pattern of the ozone response, as the radiative efficiency of ozone largely depends on its vertical distribution (Lacis et al., 1990). Here, an analysis is presented of the ozone layer response to 4xCO2 in chemistry–climate models (CCMs) which participated to CMIP inter-comparisons. In a previous study using CMIP5 models, it has been shown that under 4xCO2, ozone decreases in the tropical lower stratosphere, and increases over the high latitudes and throughout the upper stratosphere (Chiodo et al., 2018). It was also found that a substantial portion of the spread in the tropical column ozone is tied to inter-model spread in tropical upwelling, which is in turn tied to ECS. Here, we revisit this connection using 4xCO2 data from CMIP6, thereby exploiting the larger number of CCMs available than in CMIP5. In addition, we explore the linearity of the ozone response, by complementing the analysis with simulations using lower CO2 forcing levels (2xCO2). We show that the pattern of the ozone response is similar to CMIP5. In some models (e.g. WACCM), we find larger ozone responses in CMIP6 than in CMIP5, partly because of the larger ECS and thus larger upwelling response in the tropical pipe. In this presentation, we will discuss the relationship between radiative forcing, transport and ozone, as well as further implications for CMIP6 models.</p>

Reexamining the Relationship between Climate Sensitivity and the Southern Hemisphere Radiation Budget in CMIP Models

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (23) ◽  
pp. 9298-9312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin M. Grise ◽  
Lorenzo M. Polvani ◽  
John T. Fasullo
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Climate Sensitivity ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
Radiation Budget ◽  
Cmip5 Models ◽  
Net Radiation ◽  
Subtropical Clouds

Abstract Recent efforts to narrow the spread in equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS) across global climate models have focused on identifying observationally based constraints, which are rooted in empirical correlations between ECS and biases in the models’ present-day climate. This study reexamines one such constraint identified from CMIP3 models: the linkage between ECS and net top-of-the-atmosphere radiation biases in the Southern Hemisphere (SH). As previously documented, the intermodel spread in the ECS of CMIP3 models is linked to present-day cloud and net radiation biases over the midlatitude Southern Ocean, where higher cloud fraction in the present-day climate is associated with larger values of ECS. However, in this study, no physical explanation is found to support this relationship. Furthermore, it is shown here that this relationship disappears in CMIP5 models and is unique to a subset of CMIP models characterized by unrealistically bright present-day clouds in the SH subtropics. In view of this evidence, Southern Ocean cloud and net radiation biases appear inappropriate for providing observationally based constraints on ECS. Instead of the Southern Ocean, this study points to the stratocumulus-to-cumulus transition regions of the SH subtropical oceans as key to explaining the intermodel spread in the ECS of both CMIP3 and CMIP5 models. In these regions, ECS is linked to present-day cloud and net radiation biases with a plausible physical mechanism: models with brighter subtropical clouds in the present-day climate show greater ECS because 1) subtropical clouds dissipate with increasing CO2 concentrations in many models and 2) the dissipation of brighter clouds contributes to greater solar warming of the surface.

Midlatitude Cloud Radiative Effect Sensitivity to Cloud Controlling Factors in Observations and Models: Relationship with Southern Hemisphere Jet Shifts and Climate Sensitivity

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-59
Author(s):  
Kevin M. Grise ◽  
Mitchell K. Kelleher
Keyword(s):  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Climate Sensitivity ◽  
Vertical Velocity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Controlling Factors ◽  
Cmip5 Models ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Temperature Advection

AbstractAn effective method to understand cloud processes and to assess the fidelity with which they are represented in climate models is the cloud controlling factor framework, in which cloud properties are linked with variations in large-scale dynamical and thermodynamical variables. This study examines how midlatitude cloud radiative effects (CRE) over oceans co-vary with four cloud controlling factors: mid-tropospheric vertical velocity, estimated inversion strength (EIS), near-surface temperature advection, and sea surface temperature (SST), and assesses their representation in CMIP6 models with respect to observations and CMIP5 models.CMIP5 and CMIP6 models overestimate the sensitivity of midlatitude CRE to perturbations in vertical velocity, and underestimate the sensitivity of midlatitude shortwave CRE to perturbations in EIS and temperature advection. The largest improvement in CMIP6 models is a reduced sensitivity of CRE to vertical velocity perturbations. As in CMIP5 models, many CMIP6 models simulate a shortwave cloud radiative warming effect associated with a poleward shift in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) midlatitude jet stream, an effect not present in observations. This bias arises because most models’ shortwave CRE are too sensitive to vertical velocity perturbations and not sensitive enough to EIS perturbations, and because most models overestimate the SST anomalies associated with SH jet shifts. The presence of this bias directly impacts the transient surface temperature response to increasing greenhouse gases over the Southern Ocean, but not the global-mean surface temperature. Instead, the models’ climate sensitivity is correlated with their shortwave CRE sensitivity to surface temperature advection perturbations near 40°S, with models with more realistic values of temperature advection sensitivity generally having higher climate sensitivity.

scholarly journals The Antarctic Sea Ice Response to the Ozone Hole in Climate Models

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 1336-1342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Sigmond ◽  
John C. Fyfe
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Ozone Depletion ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Ozone Hole ◽  
Cmip5 Models ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Sea Ice Extent

Abstract It has been suggested that the increase of Southern Hemisphere sea ice extent since the 1970s can be explained by ozone depletion in the Southern Hemisphere stratosphere. In a previous study, the authors have shown that in a coupled atmosphere–ocean–sea ice model the ozone hole does not lead to an increase but to a decrease in sea ice extent. Here, the robustness of this result is established through the analysis of models from phases 3 and 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3 and CMIP5). Comparison of the mean sea ice trends in CMIP3 models with and without time-varying stratospheric ozone suggests that ozone depletion is associated with decreased sea ice extent, and ozone recovery acts to mitigate the future sea ice decrease associated with increasing greenhouse gases. All available historical simulations with CMIP5 models that were designed to isolate the effect of time-varying ozone concentrations show decreased sea ice extent in response to historical ozone trends. In most models, the historical sea ice extent trends are mainly driven by historical greenhouse gas forcing, with ozone forcing playing a secondary role.

Effective forcing in CMIP5 assuming nonconstant feedback parameter and linear response

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hege-Beate Fredriksen
Keyword(s):  
Time Scales ◽  
Climate Sensitivity ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Temperature Response ◽  
Previous Method ◽  
Cmip5 Models ◽  
Nonlinear Feedback ◽  
Geophysical Research ◽  
Linear Temperature ◽  
Feedback Parameter

<p>We investigate a new algorithm for estimating time-evolving global forcing in climate models. The method is an extension of a previous method by Forster et al. (2013), but here we also allow for a globally nonlinear feedback. We assume the nonlinearity of this global feedback can be explained as a time-scale dependence, associated with linear temperature responses to the forcing on different time scales, as in Proistosescu and Huybers (2017). With this method we obtain stronger forcing estimates than previously believed for the representative concentration pathway experiments in CMIP5 models. The reason for the higher future forcing is that the global feedback has a higher magnitude at the smaller time scales than at the longer time scales – this is closely related to provided arguments for the equilibrium climate sensitivity showing changes with time.</p><p>We find also that the linear temperature response to our new forcing predicts the modelled response quite well, although the response is a little overestimated for some CMIP5 models. Finally, we discuss the assumptions made in our study, and consistency of our assumptions with other leading hypotheses for why the global feedback is nonlinear.</p><p> </p><p>References:</p><p>Forster, P. M., T. Andrews, P. Good, J. M. Gregory, L. S. Jackson, and M. Zelinka (2013), Evaluating adjusted forcing and model spread for historical and future scenarios in the cmip5 generation of climate models, Journal of Geophysical Research, 118, 1139–1150, doi:10.1002/jgrd.50174.</p><p>Proistosescu, C., and P. J. Huybers (2017), Slow climate mode reconciles historical and model-based estimates of climate sensitivity, Sci. Adv., 3, e1602, 821, doi:10.1126/sciadv.1602821</p>

scholarly journals Effects of Convective Gravity Wave Drag in the Southern Hemisphere Winter Stratosphere

2013 ◽  
Vol 70 (7) ◽  
pp. 2120-2136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyun-Joo Choi ◽  
Hye-Yeong Chun
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Wave ◽  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Storm Track ◽  
Wave Drag ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
Systematic Biases ◽  
Hemisphere Winter

Abstract The excessively strong polar jet and cold pole in the Southern Hemisphere winter stratosphere are systematic biases in most global climate models and are related to underestimated wave drag in the winter extratropical stratosphere—namely, missing gravity wave drag (GWD). Cumulus convection is strong in the winter extratropics in association with storm-track regions; thus, convective GWD could be one of the missing GWDs in models that do not adopt source-based nonorographic GWD parameterizations. In this study, the authors use the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM) and show that the zonal-mean wind and temperature biases in the Southern Hemisphere winter stratosphere of the model are significantly alleviated by including convective GWD (GWDC) parameterizations. The reduction in the wind biases is due to enhanced wave drag in the winter extratropical stratosphere, which is caused directly by the additional GWDC and indirectly by the increased existing nonorographic GWD and resolved wave drag in response to the GWDC. The cold temperature biases are alleviated by increased downwelling in the winter polar stratosphere, which stems from an increased poleward motion due to enhanced wave drag in the winter extratropical stratosphere. A comparison between two simulations separately using the ray-based and columnar GWDC parameterizations shows that the polar night jet with a ray-based GWDC parameterization is much more realistic than that with a columnar GWDC parameterization.

Simulation and Projection of the Southern Hemisphere Annular Mode in CMIP5 Models

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (24) ◽  
pp. 9860-9879 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fei Zheng ◽  
Jianping Li ◽  
Robin T. Clark ◽  
Hyacinth C. Nnamchi
Keyword(s):  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Austral Summer ◽  
Cmip5 Models ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Variability ◽  
Positive Trend ◽  
Annular Mode ◽  
Future Evolution ◽  
Asymmetric Component ◽  
The Future

Abstract Climate variability in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) extratropical regions is dominated by the SH annular mode (SAM). Future changes in the SAM could have a large influence on the climate over broad regions. In this paper, the authors utilized model simulations from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) to examine projected future changes in the SAM during the austral summer [December–February (DJF)]. To start off, first, the ability of the models in reproducing the recently observed spatial and temporal variability was assessed. The 12 CMIP5 models examined were found to reproduce the SAM's spatial pattern reasonably well in terms of both the symmetrical and the asymmetric component. The CMIP5 models show an improvement over phase 3 of CMIP (CMIP3) in simulating the seesaw structure of the SAM and also give improvements in the recently observed positive SAM trend. However, only half the models appeared to be able to capture two major recent decadal SAM phases. Then, the future SAM trends and its sensitivity to greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations using simulations based on the representative concentration pathways 4.5 (RCP4.5) and 8.5 (RCP8.5) were explored. With RCP4.5, a very weak negative trend for this century is found. Conversely, with RCP8.5, a significant positive trend was projected, with a magnitude similar to the recently observed trend. Finally, model uncertainty in the future SAM projections was quantified by comparing projections from the individual CMIP5 models. The results imply the response of SH polar region stratospheric temperature to GHGs could be a significant controlling factor on the future evolution of the SAM.

scholarly journals An Evaluation of Northern Australian Wet Season Rainfall Bursts in CMIP5 Models

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (19) ◽  
pp. 7789-7802 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sugata Narsey ◽  
Michael J. Reeder ◽  
Christian Jakob ◽  
Duncan Ackerley
Keyword(s):  
Outgoing Longwave Radiation ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Longwave Radiation ◽  
Cmip5 Models ◽  
Madden Julian Oscillation ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
The North ◽  
Coupled Climate Models ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
The Relationship

The simulation of northern Australian wet season rainfall bursts by coupled climate models is evaluated. Individual models produce vastly different amounts of precipitation over the north of Australia during the wet season, and this is found to be related to the number of bursts they produce. The seasonal cycle of bursts is found to be poor in most of the models evaluated. It is known that northern Australian wet season bursts are often associated with midlatitude Rossby wave packets and their surface signature as they are refracted toward the tropics. The relationship between midlatitude waves and the initiation of wet season bursts is simulated well by the models evaluated. Another well-documented influence on the initiation of northern Australian wet season bursts is the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO). No model adequately simulated the tropical outgoing longwave radiation temporal–spatial patterns seen in the reanalysis-derived OLR. This result suggests that the connection between the MJO and the initiation of northern Australian wet season bursts in models is poor.

scholarly journals On the Climate Sensitivity and Historical Warming Evolution in Recent Coupled Model Ensembles

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Marie Flynn ◽  
Thorsten Mauritsen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Sensitivity ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Cmip5 Models ◽  
Antarctic Sea Ice ◽  
Intercomparison Project ◽  
Future Warming ◽  
Model Treatment ◽  
Systematic Shift ◽  
Model Ensembles

Abstract. The Earth's equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS) to a doubling of atmospheric CO2, along with the transient 35 climate response (TCR) and greenhouse gas emissions pathways, determines the amount of future warming. Coupled climate models have in the past been important tools to estimate and understand ECS. ECS estimated from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) models lies between 2.0 and 4.7 K (mean of 3.2 K), whereas in the latest CMIP6 the spread has increased: 1.8–5.5 K (mean of 3.7 K), with 5 out of 25 models exceeding 5 K. It is thus pertinent to understand the causes underlying this shift. Here we compare the CMIP5 and CMIP6 model ensembles, and find a systematic shift between CMIP eras to be unexplained as a process of random sampling from modeled forcing and feedback distributions. Instead, shortwave feedbacks shift towards more positive values, in particular over the Southern Ocean, driving the shift towards larger ECS values in many of the models. These results suggest that changes in model treatment of mixed-phase cloud processes and changes to Antarctic sea ice representation are likely causes of the shift towards larger ECS. Somewhat surprisingly, CMIP6 models exhibit less historical warming than CMIP5 models; the evolution of the warming suggests, however, that several of the models apply too strong aerosol cooling resulting in too weak mid 20th Century warming compared to the instrumental record.

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