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.     

Patterns of decadal-scale Arctic warming events in simulated climate

Pronounced positive decadal-scale temperature anomalies occurred in the Arctic region in the first half of the twentieth century, an episode known as the early twentieth century warming (ETCW). Analyzing a 3,000-year unperturbed climate simulation performed with the Max Planck Institute Earth System Model, we demonstrate that internal variability of the Northern Hemisphere climate system is sufficient to reproduce warm events matching the observed ETCW. We perform a superposed epoch analysis on simulated data and identify 26 Arctic warming episodes compatible with the ETCW. The simulated events reproduce, in their ensemble average, magnitude as well as spatial and temporal extent of the observed ETCW. In individual realizations, the ETCW-like events indicate that different patterns of internally generated decadal Arctic warming are possible, including pan-Arctic warming events. We investigate the dynamics that typically lead to the simulated warming events: positive oceanic heat transport anomalies that form in the North Atlantic initialize the warming events and trigger an ocean-ice-albedo feedback in the Barents Sea region. The consequent reduction in sea-ice extent leads to enhanced multi-year surface warming through strengthened ocean heat release to the atmosphere. The oceanic heat transport anomalies reduce to pre-event levels around the year of the maximum warming. However, the warming events typically lasts for another 5–7 years until the sea-ice extent recovers to pre-event conditions.     

Simulation of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation in an atmosphere-ocean global coupled model. Part II: weakening in a climate change experiment: a feedback mechanism

Most state-of-the art global coupled models simulate a weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) in climate change scenarios but the mechanisms leading to this weakening are still being debated. The third version of the CNRM (Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques) global atmosphere-ocean-sea ice coupled model (CNRM-CM3) was used to conduct climate change experiments for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report (IPCC AR4). The analysis of the A1B scenario experiment shows that global warming leads to a slowdown of North Atlantic deep ocean convection and thermohaline circulation south of Iceland. This slowdown is triggered by a freshening of the Arctic Ocean and an increase in freshwater outflow through Fram Strait. Sea ice melting in the Barents Sea induces a local amplification of the surface warming, which enhances the cyclonic atmospheric circulation around Spitzberg. This anti-clockwise circulation forces an increase in Fram Strait outflow and a simultaneous increase in ocean transport of warm waters toward the Barents Sea, favouring further sea ice melting and surface warming in the Barents Sea. Additionally, the retreat of sea ice allows more deep water formation north of Iceland and the thermohaline circulation strengthens there. The transport of warm and saline waters toward the Barents Sea is further enhanced, which constitutes a second positive feedback.     

Causes and impacts of changes in the Arctic freshwater budget during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in an AOGCM

The fourth version of the atmosphere-ocean general circulation (AOGCM) model developed at the Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace (IPSL-CM4) is used to investigate the mechanisms influencing the Arctic freshwater balance in response to anthropogenic greenhouse gas forcing. The freshwater influence on the interannual variability of deep winter oceanic convection in the Nordic Seas is also studied on the basis of correlation and regression analyses of detrended variables. The model shows that the Fram Strait outflow, which is an important source of freshwater for the northern North Atlantic, experiences a rapid and strong transition from a weak state toward a relatively strong state during 1990–2010. The authors propose that this climate shift is triggered by the retreat of sea ice in the Barents Sea during the late twentieth century. This sea ice reduction initiates a positive feedback in the atmosphere-sea ice-ocean system that alters both the atmospheric and oceanic circulations in the Greenland-Iceland-Norwegian (GIN)-Barents Seas sector. Around year 2080, the model predicts a second transition threshold beyond which the Fram Strait outflow is restored toward its original weak value. The long-term freshening of the GIN Seas is invoked to explain this rapid transition. It is further found that the mechanism of interannual changes in deep mixing differ fundamentally between the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This difference is caused by the dominant influence of freshwater over the twenty-first century. In the GIN Seas, the interannual changes in the liquid freshwater export out of the Arctic Ocean through Fram Strait combined with the interannual changes in the liquid freshwater import from the North Atlantic are shown to have a major influence in driving the interannual variability of the deep convection during the twenty-first century. South of Iceland, the other region of deep water renewal in the model, changes in freshwater import from the North Atlantic constitute the dominant forcing of deep convection on interannual time scales over the twenty-first century.     

Sea ice in the Barents Sea: seasonal to interannual variability and climate feedbacks in a global coupled model

Sea ice variability in the Barents Sea and its impact on climate are analyzed using a 465-year control integration of a global coupled atmosphere–ocean–sea ice model. Sensitivity simulations are performed to investigate the response to an isolated sea ice anomaly in the Barents Sea. The interannual variability of sea ice volume in the Barents Sea is mainly determined by variations in sea ice import into Barents Sea from the Central Arctic. This import is primarily driven by the local wind field. Horizontal oceanic heat transport into the Barents Sea is of minor importance for interannual sea ice variations but is important on longer time scales. Events with strong positive sea ice anomalies in the Barents Sea are due to accumulation of sea ice by enhanced sea ice imports and related NAO-like pressure conditions in the years before the event. Sea ice volume and concentration stay above normal in the Barents Sea for about 2 years after an event. This strongly increases the albedo and reduces the ocean heat release to the atmosphere. Consequently, air temperature is much colder than usual in the Barents Sea and surrounding areas. Precipitation is decreased and sea level pressure in the Barents Sea is anomalously high. The large-scale atmospheric response is limited with the main impact being a reduced pressure over Scandinavia in the year after a large ice volume occurs in the Barents Sea. Furthermore, high sea ice volume in the Barents Sea leads to increased sea ice melting and hence reduced surface salinity. Generally, the climate response is smallest in summer and largest in winter and spring.     

Tropical cyclones in enhanced resolution CMIP5 experiments

This study investigates the possible effects of global warming on tropical cyclone (TC) activity. The study is conducted using the coupled ocean–atmosphere global climate model EC-Earth configured at a relatively high resolution (T159 with 62 vertical levels), which is integrated following the CMIP5 protocol. By considering the late twentieth century (1979–2009) in the historical simulation and the twenty-first century end (2070–2100) in the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios, significant future annual mean frequency decreases are found globally and in both hemispheres, accompanied by significant mean lifetime decreases and significant intensity increases, the latter being found through several different measures (but with caveats). In addition, the relatively novel aspect of simulating TCs of the past (1900–1930) is studied to further assess the robustness of the climate change results. These results suggest that TCs in the early twentieth century were more frequent in the southern hemisphere and dissipated more energy in the southern hemisphere and the South Indian Ocean. Although some model biases are present and the coarse model resolution prevents intense TCs in being simulated, reasonable TC simulation skill for other metrics (e.g., TC genesis, frequency of occurrence) is found when validated against present day observations. Thus the model displays an acceptable ability to connect TC climatology with the larger scale circulation.     

Climate change in the 21st century simulated by HadGEM2-AO under representative concentration pathways

We present climate responses of Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) using the coupled climate model HadGEM2-AO for the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5). The RCPs are selected as standard scenarios for the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report and these scenarios include time paths for emissions and concentrations of greenhouse gas and aerosols and land-use/land cover. The global average warming and precipitation increases for the last 20 years of the 21st century relative to the period 1986-2005 are +1.1°C/+2.1% for RCP2.6, +2.4°C/+4.0% for RCP4.5, +2.5°C/+3.3% for RCP6.0 and +4.1°C/+4.6% for RCP8.5, respectively. The climate response on RCP 2.6 scenario meets the UN Copenhagen Accord to limit global warming within two degrees at the end of 21st century, the mitigation effect is about 3°C between RCP2.6 and RCP8.5. The projected precipitation changes over the 21st century are expected to increase in tropical regions and at high latitudes, and decrease in subtropical regions associated with projected poleward expansions of the Hadley cell. Total soil moisture change is projected to decrease in northern hemisphere high latitudes and increase in central Africa and Asia whereas near-surface soil moisture tends to decrease in most areas according to the warming and evaporation increase. The trend and magnitude of future climate extremes are also projected to increase in proportion to radiative forcing of RCPs. For RCP 8.5, at the end of the summer season the Arctic is projected to be free of sea ice.     

Numerical Simulation of Atmosphere-Ocean-Sea Ice Interaction During Interannual Cycle in High Northern Latitudes

The interannual atmosphere-ocean-sea ice interaction （AOSI） in high northern latitudes is studied with a global atmosphere-ocean-sea ice coupled model system, in which the model components of atmosphere and land surface are from China National Climate Center and that of ocean and sea ice are from LASG, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. A daily flux anomaly correction scheme is employed to couple the atmosphere model and the ocean model with the effect of inhomogenity of sea ice in high latitudes is considered. The coupled model system has been run for 50 yr and the results of the last 30 years are analyzed. After the sea level pressure （SLP）, surface air temperature （SAT）, sea surface temperature （SST）, sea ice concentration （SIC）, and sea surface sensible heat flux （SHF） are filtered with a digital filter firstly, their normalized anomalies are used to perform the decomposition of combined complex empirical orthogonal function （CCEOF） and then they are reconstructed with the leading mode. The atmosphere-ocean-sea ice interactions in high northern latitudes during a periodical cycle （approximately 4 yr） are analyzed. It is shown that： （1） When the North Atlantic Oscillation （NAO） is in its positive phase, the southerly anomaly appears in the Greenland Sea, SAT increases, the sea loses less SHF, SST increases and SIC decreases accordingly; when the NAO is in its negative phase, the northerly anomaly appears in the Greenland Sea, SAT decreases, the sea loses more SHF, SST decreases and SIC increases accordingly. There are similar features in the Barents Sea, but the phase of evolution in the Barents Sea is different from that in the Greenland Sea. （2） For an average of multi-years, there is a cold center in the inner part of the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole. When there is an anomaly of low pressure, which is closer to the Pacific Ocean, in the inner part of the Arctic Ocean, anomalies of warm advection appear in the region near the Pacif     

北极海冰的气候变化与20世纪90年代的突变

应用英国Had ley气候研究中心1968~2000年的1°×1°的北半球逐月海冰密集度资料,使用EOF分解等统计方法,探讨北极海冰的气候变化趋势、海冰的突变、海冰的季节持续性和各季的特色。结果表明:(1)自1968年以来,北极海冰的减小是北半球海冰变化的总趋势;海冰的趋势变化在海冰的年际总变化中占有相当重要的地位,可达50%左右。冬春季主要减少区域在格陵兰海、巴伦支海和白令海;夏秋季海冰减少是唯一趋势,中心在北冰洋边缘的喀拉海、拉普捷夫海、东西伯利亚海、楚科奇海、波弗特海。(2)20世纪80年代中后期北极海冰已出现减小趋势,在20世纪90年代,海冰又出现范围和面积的突然减少,中心在格陵兰海和巴伦支海;即海冰减少是加速的,其变化程度已远远超过一般的自然变化。(3)海冰有很好的季节持续性,有很强的隔季相关,也有较好的隔年相关;各季节海冰分布型之间有很好的联系,表现为海冰分布型的总体变化趋势是一致的,在海冰的减少中也体现了分布型的特征。     

Mean climatic characteristics in high northern latitudes in an ocean-sea ice-atmosphere coupled model

Emphasizing the model‘s ability in mean climate reproduction in high northern latitudes, resultsfrom an ocean-sea ice-atmosphere coupled model are analyzed. It is shown that the coupled model cansimulate the main characteristics of annual mean global sea surface temperature and sea level pressurewell, but the extent of ice coverage produced in the Southern Hemisphere is not large enough. The maindistribution characteristics of simulated sea level pressure and temperature at 850 hPa in high northernlatitudes agree well with their counterparts in the NCEP reanalysis dataset, and the model can reproducethe Arctic Oscillation (AO) mode successfully. The simulated seasonal variation of sea ice in the NorthernHemisphere is rational and its main distribution features in winter agree well with those from observations.But the ice concentration in the sea ice edge area close to the Eurasian continent in the inner Arctic Oceanis much larger than the observation. There are significant interannual variation signals in the simulated seaice concentration in winter in high northern latitudes and the most significant area lies in the GreenlandSea, followed by the Barents Sea. All of these features agree well with the results from observations.     

Regional Arctic sea ice variations as predictor for winter climate conditions

Seasonal prediction skill of winter mid and high northern latitudes climate from sea ice variations in eight different Arctic regions is analyzed using detrended ERA-interim data and satellite sea ice data for the period 1980–2013. We find significant correlations between ice areas in both September and November and winter sea level pressure, air temperature and precipitation. The prediction skill is improved when using November sea ice conditions as predictor compared to September. This is particularly true for predicting winter NAO-like patterns and blocking situations in the Euro-Atlantic area. We find that sea ice variations in Barents Sea seem to be most important for the sign of the following winter NAO—negative after low ice—but amplitude and extension of the patterns are modulated by Greenland and Labrador Seas ice areas. November ice variability in the Greenland Sea provides the best prediction skill for central and western European temperature and ice variations in the Laptev/East Siberian Seas have the largest impact on the blocking number in the Euro-Atlantic region. Over North America, prediction skill is largest using September ice areas from the Pacific Arctic sector as predictor. Composite analyses of high and low regional autumn ice conditions reveal that the atmospheric response is not entirely linear suggesting changing predictive skill dependent on sign and amplitude of the anomaly. The results confirm the importance of realistic sea ice initial conditions for seasonal forecasts. However, correlations do seldom exceed 0.6 indicating that Arctic sea ice variations can only explain a part of winter climate variations in northern mid and high latitudes.     

Modeled winter sea ice variability and the North Atlantic Oscillation: a multi-century perspective

The relationship between winter sea ice variability and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is examined for the time period 1860–2300. This study uses model output to extend recently reported observational results to multi-century time scales. Nine ensemble members are used in two Global Climate Models with forcing evolving from pre-industrial conditions through the so-called A1B scenario in which carbon dioxide stabilizes at 720 ppm by 2100. Throughout, the NAO generates an east-west dipole pattern of sea ice concentration (SIC) anomalies with oppositely signed centers of action over the Labrador and Barents Seas. During the positive polarity of the NAO, SIC increases over the Labrador Sea due to wind-driven equatorward advection of ice, and SIC decreases over the Barents Sea due to wind-driven poleward transport of heat within the mixed layer of the ocean. Although this NAO-driven SIC variability pattern can always be detected, it accounts for a markedly varying fraction of the total sea ice variability depending on the strength of the forced sea ice extent trend. For the first half of the 20th century or 1990 control conditions, the NAO-driven SIC pattern accounts for almost a third of the total SIC variance. In the context of the long term winter sea ice retreat from 1860 to 2300, the NAO-driven SIC pattern is robustly observable, but accounts for only 2% of the total SIC variance. The NAO-driven SIC dipole retreats poleward with the retreating marginal ice zone, and its Barents Sea center of action weakens. Results presented here underscore the idea that the NAO’s influence on Arctic climate is robustly observable, but time dependent in its form and statistical importance.     

北半球高纬地区年际尺度循环过程中的气-海-冰相互作用关系

基于一个全球气-海-冰耦合模式数值模拟结果,对北半球高纬度地区年际尺度的气-海-冰相互作用进行了分析。在所使用的全球气-海-冰耦合模式中,大气环流模式和陆面过程模式来自国家气候中心,海洋环流模式和海冰模式来自中国科学院大气物理研究所大气科学和地球流体力学数值模拟国家重点实验室。采用一种逐日通量距平耦合方案实现次网格尺度海冰非均匀条件下大气环流模式和海洋环流模式在高纬地区的耦合。只对50 a模拟结果中的后30 a结果进行了分析。在分析中,首先对滤波后的北半球高纬度地区海平面气压、表面大气温度、海表面温度、海冰密集度及海表面感热通量的标准化距平做联合复经验正交函数分解,取第一模进行重建,然后讨论了在一个循环周期(约4 a)中北半球高纬度地区气-海-冰的作用关系。结果表明:(1)当北大西洋涛动处于正位相时,格陵兰海出现南风异常,使表面大气温度升高,海洋失去感热通量减少,海洋表面温度升高,海冰密集度减小;当北大西洋涛动处于负位相时,格陵兰海出现北风异常,使表面大气温度降低,海洋失去感热通量增多,海洋表面温度降低,海冰密集度增加。巴伦支海变化特点与格陵兰海相似,但在时间上并不完全一致。(2)多年平均而言,北冰洋内部靠近极点区域为冷中心。当北冰洋内部为低压异常时,因异常中心偏向太平洋一侧,使北冰洋内部靠近太平洋部分为暖平流异常,靠近大西洋一侧为冷平流异常。伴随着暖、冷平流异常,这两侧分别出现暖异常和冷异常,海表面给大气的感热通量分别偏少和偏多,上述海区海表面温度分别偏高和偏低,海冰密集度分别偏小和偏大。当北冰洋内部为高压异常时特点正好与上述相反。由上述分析结果可知,在海洋、大气年际循环中,大尺度大气环流变率起主导作用,海洋表面温度和海冰密集度变化主要是对大气环流变化的响应。     

Sources of uncertainty in projections of twenty-first century westerly wind changes over the Amundsen Sea,West Antarctica,in CMIP5 climate models

The influence of changes in winds over the Amundsen Sea has been shown to be a potentially key mechanism in explaining rapid loss of ice from major glaciers in West Antarctica, which is having a significant impact on global sea level. Here, Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) climate model data are used to assess twenty-first century projections in westerly winds over the Amundsen Sea (U _AS ). The importance of model uncertainty and internal climate variability in RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenario projections are quantified and potential sources of model uncertainty are considered. For the decade 2090–2099 the CMIP5 models show an ensemble mean twenty-first century response in annual mean U _AS of 0.3 and 0.7 m s^?1 following the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios respectively. However, as a consequence of large internal climate variability over the Amundsen Sea, it takes until around 2030 (2065) for the RCP8.5 response to exceed one (two) standard deviation(s) of decadal internal variability. In all scenarios and seasons the model uncertainty is large. However the present-day climatological zonal wind bias over the whole South Pacific, which is important for tropical teleconnections, is strongly related to inter-model differences in projected change in U _AS (more skilful models show larger U _AS increases). This relationship is significant in winter (r = ?0.56) and spring (r = ?0.65), when the influence of the tropics on the Amundsen Sea region is known to be important. Horizontal grid spacing and present day sea ice extent are not significant sources of inter-model spread.     

A box model study of the Greenland Sea,Norwegian Sea,and Arctic Ocean

We develop a simple dynamical system model of the Arctic Ocean and marginal seas by applying the Martinson, Killworth and Gordon box model of a high-latitude two-layer ocean to four regions connected together: the Greenland Sea, the Norwegian Sea, the Arctic Ocean, and the Greenland Gyre. The latter is a small convective region embedded in the northwest corner of the Norwegian Sea. The model for each region consists of a thermodynamic ice layer that covers two layers of saline water which can, under specific conditions, become statically unstable and hence create a state of active overturning. The system is forced by monthly mean atmospheric temperatures in the four regions, by continental runoffs and by inflows from adjacent oceans. The model predicts the ice thickness, and the temperature and salinity of the water in the upper layer of the four regions. Also determined are the water temperature and salinity of the lower layer in the Arctic Ocean box. The convective state of any given region, i.e. whether it is in an active overturning mode or not, is also determined as a continuous function of time. The different output variables of the model, which are the response to climatological forcing conditions, compare favourably with observed data. In the control run, the Arctic Ocean region is characterized by continuous ice cover, the Greenland Sea and Greenland Gyre have ice cover only during winter, and the Norwegian Sea region never forms an ice cover. Another feature of the control run is the winter time occurrence of convective overturning in the upper 200 m in the Greenland Gyre region. The model is also used for different anomaly experiments: a positive air temperature anomaly which represents a global warming of the earth, a negative salt anomaly in the Norwegian Sea which simulates the great salinity anomaly of the 1960s and 1970s, and an increase in the ice flux through Fram Strait which parameterizes anomalous ice production in the Arctic.     

Arctic sea ice decay simulated for a CO2-induced temperature rise

A large scale numerical time-dependent model of sea ice that takes into account the heat fluxes in and out of the ice, the seasonal occurrence of snow, and ice motions has been used in an experiment to determine the response of the Arctic Ocean ice pack to a warming of the atmosphere. The degree of warming specified is that expected for a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide with its associated greenhouse effect, a condition that could occur before the middle of the next century. The results of three 5-year simulations with a warmer atmosphere and varied boundary conditions were: (1) that in the face of a 5 K surface atmospheric temperature increase the ice pack disappeared completely in August and September but reformed in the central Arctic Ocean in mid fall; (2) that the simulations were moderately dependent on assumptions concerning cloud cover; and (3) that even when atmospheric temperature increases of 6–9 K were combined with an order-of-magnitude increase in the upward heat flux from the ocean, the ice still reappeared in winter. It should be noted that a year-round ice-free Arctic Ocean has apparently not existed for a million years or more.Currently on leave, working for the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, on the World Climate Programme.The calculations for this work were carried out while both authors were at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), which is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

Higher precision estimates of regional polar warming by ensemble regression of climate model projections

This study presents projections of twenty-first century wintertime surface temperature changes over the high-latitude regions based on the third Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project (CMIP3) multi-model ensemble. The state-dependence of the climate change response on the present day mean state is captured using a simple yet robust ensemble linear regression model. The ensemble regression approach gives different and more precise estimated mean responses compared to the ensemble mean approach. Over the Arctic in January, ensemble regression gives less warming than the ensemble mean along the boundary between sea ice and open ocean (sea ice edge). Most notably, the results show 3?°C less warming over the Barents Sea (~7?°C compared to ~10?°C). In addition, the ensemble regression method gives projections that are 30?% more precise over the Sea of Okhostk, Bering Sea and Labrador Sea. For the Antarctic in winter (July) the ensemble regression method gives 2?°C more warming over the Southern Ocean close to the Greenwich Meridian (~7?°C compared to ~5?°C). Projection uncertainty was almost half that of the ensemble mean uncertainty over the Southern Ocean between 30° W to 90° E and 30?% less over the northern Antarctic Peninsula. The ensemble regression model avoids the need for explicit ad hoc weighting of models and exploits the whole ensemble to objectively identify overly influential outlier models. Bootstrap resampling shows that maximum precision over the Southern Ocean can be obtained with ensembles having as few as only six climate models.     

Boundary layer stability and Arctic climate change: a feedback study using EC-Earth

Amplified Arctic warming is one of the key features of climate change. It is evident in observations as well as in climate model simulations. Usually referred to as Arctic amplification, it is generally recognized that the surface albedo feedback governs the response. However, a number of feedback mechanisms play a role in AA, of which those related to the prevalent near-surface inversion have received relatively little attention. Here we investigate the role of the near-surface thermal inversion, which is caused by radiative surface cooling in autumn and winter, on Arctic warming. We employ idealized climate change experiments using the climate model EC-Earth together with ERA-Interim reanalysis data to show that boundary-layer mixing governs the efficiency by which the surface warming signal is ‘diluted’ to higher levels. Reduced vertical mixing, as in the stably stratified inversion layer in Arctic winter, thus amplifies surface warming. Modelling results suggest that both shortwave—through the (seasonal) interaction with the sea ice feedback—and longwave feedbacks are affected by boundary-layer mixing, both in the Arctic and globally, with the effect on the shortwave feedback dominating. The amplifying effect will decrease, however, with climate warming because the surface inversion becomes progressively weaker. We estimate that the reduced Arctic inversion has slowed down global warming by about 5% over the past 2 decades, and we anticipate that it will continue to do so with ongoing Arctic warming.     

Projections of high resolution climate changes for South Korea using multiple-regional climate models based on four RCP scenarios. Part 1: surface air temperature

We projected surface air temperature changes over South Korea during the mid (2026-2050) and late (2076-2100) 21st century against the current climate (1981-2005) using the simulation results from five regional climate models (RCMs) driven by Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model, version 2, coupled with the Atmosphere- Ocean (HadGEM2-AO), and two ensemble methods (equal weighted averaging, weighted averaging based on Taylor’s skill score) under four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) scenarios. In general, the five RCM ensembles captured the spatial and seasonal variations, and probability distribution of temperature over South Korea reasonably compared to observation. They particularly showed a good performance in simulating annual temperature range compared to HadGEM2-AO. In future simulation, the temperature over South Korea will increase significantly for all scenarios and seasons. Stronger warming trends are projected in the late 21st century than in the mid-21st century, in particular under RCP8.5. The five RCM ensembles projected that temperature changes for the mid/late 21st century relative to the current climate are +1.54°C/+1.92°C for RCP2.6, +1.68°C/+2.91°C for RCP4.5, +1.17°C/+3.11°C for RCP6.0, and +1.75°C/+4.73°C for RCP8.5. Compared to the temperature projection of HadGEM2-AO, the five RCM ensembles projected smaller increases in temperature for all RCP scenarios and seasons. The inter-RCM spread is proportional to the simulation period (i.e., larger in the late-21st than mid-21st century) and significantly greater (about four times) in winter than summer for all RCP scenarios. Therefore, the modeled predictions of temperature increases during the late 21st century, particularly for winter temperatures, should be used with caution.     

北极海冰变化对新疆冬季气温的影响研究

利用1961年12月—2022年2月新疆冬季气温、北极海冰等资料，探讨北极海冰变化影响新疆冬季气温的物理模态、影响机制。结果表明，北极海冰的变化与新疆大部冬季气温呈正相关，北极海冰变化通过改变北半球大气高低空配置进而影响新疆冬季气温。另外，不同海区的海冰变化对新疆冬季气温的影响有显著区别：格陵兰海—丹麦海峡、拉普捷夫海—东西伯利亚海海冰异常偏多时，新疆大部冬季气温偏高。巴伦支海—喀拉海、鄂霍次克海—白令海峡、哈德孙湾—戴维斯海峡海冰异常偏多时，新疆大部冬季气温偏低。