Time-dependent response of a zonally averaged ocean–atmosphere–sea ice model to Milankovitch forcing

An ocean–atmosphere–sea ice model is developed to explore the time-dependent response of climate to Milankovitch forcing for the time interval 5–3 Myr BP. The ocean component is a zonally averaged model of the circulation in five basins (Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, Pacific, and Southern Oceans). The atmospheric component is a one-dimensional (latitudinal) energy balance model, and the sea-ice component is a thermodynamic model. Two numerical experiments are conducted. The first experiment does not include sea ice and the Arctic Ocean; the second experiment does. Results from the two experiments are used to investigate (1) the response of annual mean surface air and ocean temperatures to Milankovitch forcing, and (2) the role of sea ice in this response. In both experiments, the response of air temperature is dominated by obliquity cycles at most latitudes. On the other hand, the response of ocean temperature varies with latitude and depth. Deep water formed between 45°N and 65°N in the Atlantic Ocean mainly responds to precession. In contrast, deep water formed south of 60°S responds to obliquity when sea ice is not included. Sea ice acts as a time-integrator of summer insolation changes such that annual mean sea-ice conditions mainly respond to obliquity. Thus, in the presence of sea ice, air temperature changes over the sea ice are amplified, and temperature changes in deep water of southern origin are suppressed since water below sea ice is kept near the freezing point.     

The global response to Younger Dryas boundary conditions in an AGCM simulation

 Geological evidence points to a global Younger Dryas (YD) climatic oscillation during the last glacial/ present interglacial transition phase. A convincing mechanism to explain this global YD climatic oscillation is not yet available. Nevertheless, a profound understanding of the mechanism behind the YD climate would lead to a better understanding of climate variability. Therefore, the Hamburg atmospheric circulation model was used to perform four numerical experiments on the YD climate. The objective of this study is to improve the understanding of different forcings influencing climate during the last glacial/interglacial transition and to investigate to what extent the model response agrees with global geological evidence of YD climate change. The following boundary conditions were altered: sea surface conditions, ice sheets, insolation and atmospheric CO₂ concentration. Sea surface temperatures based on foraminiferal assemblages proved to produce insufficient winter cooling in the N Atlantic Ocean in two experiments. It is proposed that this discrepancy is caused by uncertainties in the reconstruction method of sea surface temperatures. Therefore, a model-derived set of Atlantic surface ocean conditions was prescribed in a subsequent simulation. However, the latter set represented an Atlantic Ocean without a thermohaline circulation, which is not in agreement with evidence from ocean cores. The global response to the boundary conditions was analysed using three variables, namely surface temperature, zonal wind speed and precipitation. The statistical significance of the changes was tested with a two-tailed t-test. Moreover, the significant responses to cooled oceans were compared with geological evidence of a YD oscillation. This comparison revealed a good match in Europe, Greenland, Atlantic Canada and the N Pacific region, explaining the YD oscillation in these regions as a response to cooled N Atlantic and N Pacific Oceans. However, the results leave the YD climate in other regions completely unexplained. This reflects either an insufficient set of boundary conditions or the important role played by feedbacks within the coupled atmosphere-ocean-ice system. These feedbacks are poorly represented in the used atmospheric model, since ice sheets and the ocean surface conditions have to be prescribed. Received: 30 July 1996 / Accepted: 12 February 1997     

Role of the ocean in controlling atmospheric CO2 concentration in the course of global glaciations

Responses of ocean circulation and ocean carbon cycle in the course of a global glaciation from the present Earth conditions are investigated by using a coupled climate-biogeochemical model. We investigate steady states of the climate system under colder conditions induced by a reduction of solar constant from the present condition. A globally ice-covered solution is obtained under the solar constant of 92.2% of the present value. We found that because almost all of sea water reaches the frozen point, the ocean stratification is maintained not by temperature but by salinity just before the global glaciation (at the solar constant of 92.3%). It is demonstrated that the ocean circulation is driven not by the surface cooling but by the surface freshwater forcing associated with formation and melting of sea ice. As a result, the deep ocean is ventilated exclusively by deep water formation in southern high latitudes where sea ice production takes place much more massively than northern high latitudes. We also found that atmospheric CO₂ concentration decreases through the ocean carbon cycle. This reduction is explained primarily by an increase of solubility of CO₂ due to a decrease of sea surface temperature, whereas the export production weakens by 30% just before the global glaciation. In order to investigate the conditions for the atmospheric CO₂ reduction to cause global glaciations, we also conduct a series of simulations in which the total amount of carbon in the atmosphere?Cocean system is reduced from the present condition. Under the present solar constant, the results show that the global glaciation takes place when the total carbon decreases to be 70% of the present-day value. Just before the glaciation, weathering rate becomes very small (almost 10% of the present value) and the organic carbon burial declines due to weakened biological productivity. Therefore, outgoing carbon flux from the atmosphere?Cocean system significantly decreases. This suggests the atmosphere?Cocean system has strong negative feedback loops against decline of the total carbon content. The results obtained here imply that some processes outside the atmosphere?Cocean feedback loops may be required to cause global glaciations.     

海冰在大气环流模式中的重要作用

文章简要综述了次网格尺度海冰非均匀性对大气环流模式性能的影响；南极冰在全球环流和短期气候变化中的作用；以及模式中不同的海冰反照率参数化对地表温度和辐射的影响等研究结果．说明海冰对极地海洋和大气的能量收支及短期气候变化有重要作用，不同的海冰参数化方案对气候模拟结果有重要影响．     

Atmospheric inversion strength over polar oceans in winter regulated by sea ice

Low-level temperature inversions are a common feature of the wintertime troposphere in the Arctic and Antarctic. Inversion strength plays an important role in regulating atmospheric processes including air pollution, ozone destruction, cloud formation, and negative longwave feedback mechanisms that shape polar climate response to anthropogenic forcing. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument provides reliable measures of spatial patterns in mean wintertime inversion strength when compared with available radiosonde observations and reanalysis products. Here, we examine the influence of sea ice concentration on inversion strength in the Arctic and Antarctic. Correlation of inversion strength with mean annual sea ice concentration, likely a surrogate for the effective thermal conductivity of the wintertime ice pack, yields strong, linear relationships in the Arctic (r?=?0.88) and Antarctic (r?=?0.86). We find a substantially greater (stronger) linear relationship between sea ice concentration and surface air temperature than with temperature at 850?hPa, lending credence to the idea that sea ice controls inversion strength through modulation of surface heat fluxes. As such, declines in sea ice in either hemisphere may imply weaker mean inversions in the future. Comparison of mean inversion strength in AIRS and global climate models (GCMs) suggests that many GCMs poorly characterize mean inversion strength at high latitudes.     

Influence of high latitude ice cover on the marine Intertropical Convergence Zone

We investigate the causes for a strong high latitude imposed ice (land or sea) influence on the marine Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in the Community Climate Model version 3 coupled to a 50-m slab ocean. The marine ITCZ in all the ocean basins shift meridionally away from the hemisphere with an imposed added ice cover, altering the global Hadley circulation with an increased tropical subsidence in the hemisphere with imposed ice and uplift in the other. The effect appears to be independent of the longitudinal position of imposed ice. The anomalous ice induces a rapid cooling and drying of the air and surface over the entire high- and midlatitudes; subsequent progression of cold anomalies occurs in the Pacific and Atlantic northeasterly trade regions, where a wind-evaporation-sea surface temperature (SST) feedback initiates progression of a cold SST ‘front’ towards the ITCZ latitudes. Once the cooler SST reaches the ITCZ latitude, the ITCZ shifts southwards, aided by positive feedbacks associated with the displacement. The ITCZ displacement transports moisture away from the colder and drier hemisphere into the other hemisphere, resulting in a pronounced hemispheric asymmetric response in anomalous specific humidity; we speculate that the atmospheric humidity plays a central role in the hemispheric asymmetric nature of the climate response to high latitude ice cover anomalies. From an energy balance viewpoint, the increased outgoing radiative flux at the latitudes of the imposed ice is compensated by an increased radiative energy flux at the tropical latitudes occupied by the displaced ITCZ, and subsequently transported by the altered Hadley and eddy circulations to the imposed ice latitudes. The situation investigated here may be applicable to past climates like the Last Glacial Maximum where hemispheric asymmetric changes to ice cover occurred. Major caveats to the conclusions drawn include omission of interactive sea ice physics and ocean dynamical feedback and sensitivity to atmospheric physics parameterizations across different models.     

Low-frequency climate variability of an aquaplanet

The long-term variability of an aquaplanet climate is analyzed with a coupled atmosphere–ocean–sea ice general circulation model. The main result of the 20,000 years simulation is a very dominant low-frequency oscillation with a period of approximately 700 years. All compartments of the aquaplanet (atmosphere, ocean, and sea ice) are involved as the climate alternates between warmer and colder states. Comprehensive time series analyses, as well as a comparison between mean states of cold and warm phases, give a detailed picture of the life cycle of the low-frequency oscillation. The warm phases are characterized by ice-free polar waters and a weaker meridional overturning circulation. During cold phases, the poles are completely covered by sea ice (down to 65^° N/S) and the overturning cells in the ocean are stronger. The climate state changes throughout atmosphere and ocean; however, surface areas in high latitudes are especially affected due to the changing sea ice cover. The meridional energy transport in atmosphere and ocean alternates with the climate regime, since the ocean is more efficient in transporting heat poleward when the poles are ice-free.     

Development of global coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation models

It has long been believed that a climate model capable of realistically simulating many features of global climate, variability, and climate change must interactively represent the major components of the dynamically coupled climate system, particularly the atmosphere, ocean, and cryosphere. This effort traditionally has been constrained by computing power, our understanding of the observed system, and climate modeling capability. With the advent of supercomputers, improved understanding of global climate processes, and computationally efficient general circulation climate models, we have witnessed a rapid increase in the simulation of global climate by coupling together various representations of atmosphere, ocean, and sea ice. Beginning in the late 1960s and continuing through the early 1980s, general circulation models (GCMs) of the atmosphere, ocean, and sea ice were coupled and run asynchronously to produce credible simulations of the global climate. Systematic errors in these component models later led some modeling groups to use flux correction or flux adjustment, whereby either one or several of the variables at the air-sea interface are adjusted to bring the simulations in closer agreement with observations. Further advances in computing power and climate modeling techniques in the past few years have allowed global coupled ocean-atmosphere GCMs to be run synchronously (i.e., atmosphere and ocean communicate at least once each model day). Computing constraints, combined with the need for multidecadal climate integrations, still only allow relatively coarse-grid ocean GCMs to be coupled to correspondingly coarse-grid atmospheric models (on the order of 500 km × 500 km). However, results from this current generation of global, coupled GCMs have revealed interesting characteristics associated with ocean dynamics and global climate in experiments with gradual increases of carbon dioxide. Another somewhat surprising aspect of the global-coupled GCM simulations is the appearance of some features associated with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Along with concurrent efforts with other types of limited-domain, dynamical coupled models, this has led to the realization that inherent unstable coupled modes exist in the climate system that are the unique product of the interactive coupling of the atmosphere and the ocean. All of these efforts are leading to the next generation of coupled ocean-atmosphere GCMs. These models will run on even faster and larger-memory computers and will have higher-resolution atmosphere and ocean components, more accurate sea-ice formulations, improved cloud-radiation schemes, and increasingly realistic land-surface processes.This paper was presented at the International Conference on Modelling of Global Climate Change and Variability, held in Hamburg 11–15 September 1989 under the auspices of the Meteorological Institute of the University of Hamburg and the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. Guest Editor for these papers is Dr. L. DümenilThe National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation     

Variability of Fram Strait sea ice export: causes, impacts and feedbacks in a coupled climate model

Analyses of a 500-year control integration of the global coupled atmosphere–sea ice–ocean model ECHAM5.0/MPI-OM show a high variability in the ice export through Fram Strait on interannual to decadal timescales. This variability is mainly determined by variations in the sea level pressure gradient across Fram Strait and thus geostrophic wind stress. Ice thickness anomalies, formed at the Siberian coast and in the Chukchi Sea, propagate across the Arctic to Fram Strait and contribute to the variability of the ice export on a timescale of about 9 years. Large anomalies of the ice export through Fram Strait cause fresh water signals, which reach the Labrador Sea after 1–2 years and lead to significant changes in the deep convection. The associated anomalies in ice cover and ocean heat release have a significant impact on air temperature in the Labrador Sea and on the large-scale atmospheric circulation. This affects the sea ice transport and distribution in the Arctic again. Sensitivity studies, simulating the effect of large ice exports through Fram Strait, show that the isolated effect of a prescribed ice/fresh water anomaly is very important for the climate variability in the Labrador Sea. Thus, the ice export through Fram Strait can be used for predictability of Labrador Sea climate up to 2 years in advance.     

Simulation of sea ice and ocean variability in the arctic during 1955–2002 with an intermediate complexity model

Abstract

A number of recent sea‐ice and ocean changes in the Arctic and subarctic regions are simulated using the global University of Victoria (UVic) Earth System Climate Model version 2.6. This is an intermediate complexity model which includes a three‐dimensional ocean model (MOM 2.2), an energy‐moisture balance model for the atmosphere with heat and moisture transport, and a dynamic‐thermodynamic sea‐ice model with elastic‐viscous‐plastic rheology. The model is first spun up for 1800 years with monthly wind stress forcing derived from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) climatology winds and a pre‐industrial atmospheric CO₂ concentration of 280 ppm. After a second spin‐up for the period 1800–1947 with daily climatology winds‐tress forcing, and a linearly increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentration, the model is run with interannually varying wind stresses for the period 1948–2002 with an average forcing interval of 2.5 days and an exponentially increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentration varying from 315 to 365 ppm. However, the analysis of the model output is only carried out for the years 1955–2002.

The simulated maximum and minimum sea‐ice areas for the Arctic are within 6% of the observed climatologies for the years 1978–2001. The model output also shows a small downward trend in sea‐ice extent, which, however, is smaller than has been observed during the past few decades. In addition, the model simulates a decrease in sea‐ice thickness in the SCICEX (SCientific ICe EXpeditions) measurement area in the central Arctic that is consistent with, but smaller than, that observed from submarine sonar profiling data.

The observed variability and magnitude of the export of sea ice through Fram Strait is quite well captured in the simulation. The change in correlation between the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index and the sea‐ice export around 1977 as found in a data study by Hilmer and Jung (2000) is also reproduced. Within the Arctic basin the model simulates well the patterns and the timing of the two major regimes of wind‐forced sea‐ice drift circulation (cyclonic and anticyclonic) as found earlier by Proshutinsky and Johnson (1997). The influence of variations in the Fram Strait ice export on the strength of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation and surface air temperature are also determined. In particular, it is shown that 3–4 years after a large ice export, the maximum meridional overturning streamfunction decreases by more than 10%.

The temperature and salinity increase at depths of 200–300 m, as observed in the eastern Arctic by Morison et al. (1998), between the USS Pargo cruise in 1993 and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) Joint USRussian Arctic Atlas climatology for the years 1948–87, are just visible in the model simulation. The increases are more noticeable, however, when the ocean model data are averaged over the pentade 1995–2000 and compared with model data averaged over the pentade 1955–60. The fact that these, and some of the other modelled changes, are smaller than the observed changes can likely be attributed to the relatively coarse resolution of the UVic Earth System Climate Model (3.6°E‐W and 1.8°N‐S). Nevertheless, the fact that the model captures qualitatively many of the recent sea‐ice and ocean changes in the Arctic suggests that it can be successfully used to investigate other Arctic‐North Atlantic Ocean climate interactions during past and future eras.     

Sea‐ice dynamics and CO2 sensitivity in a global climate model

Abstract

Present‐day results and CO₂ sensitivity are described for two versions of a global climate model (genesis) with and without sea‐ice dynamics. Sea‐ice dynamics is modelled using the cavitating‐fluid method of Flato and Hibler (1990, 1992). The atmospheric general circulation model originated from the NCAR Community Climate Model version 1, but is heavily modified to include new treatments of clouds, penetrative convection, planetary boundary‐layer mixing, solar radiation, the diurnal cycle and the semi‐Lagrangian transport of water vapour. The surface models include an explicit model of vegetation (similar to BATS and SiB), multilayer models of soil, snow and sea ice, and a slab ocean mixed layer.

When sea‐ice dynamics is turned off, the CO₂‐induced warming increases drastically around ～60–80°S in winter and spring. This is due to the much greater (and unrealistic) compactness of the Antarctic ice cover without dynamics, which is reduced considerably when CO₂ is doubled and exposes more open ocean to the atmosphere. With dynamics, the winter ice is already quite dispersed for 1 × CO₂ so that its compactness does not decrease as much when CO₂ is doubled.     

Past and future polar amplification of climate change: climate model intercomparisons and ice-core constraints

Climate model simulations available from the PMIP1, PMIP2 and CMIP (IPCC-AR4) intercomparison projects for past and future climate change simulations are examined in terms of polar temperature changes in comparison to global temperature changes and with respect to pre-industrial reference simulations. For the mid-Holocene (MH, 6,000 years ago), the models are forced by changes in the Earth’s orbital parameters. The MH PMIP1 atmosphere-only simulations conducted with sea surface temperatures fixed to modern conditions show no MH consistent response for the poles, whereas the new PMIP2 coupled atmosphere–ocean climate models systematically simulate a significant MH warming both for Greenland (but smaller than ice-core based estimates) and Antarctica (consistent with the range of ice-core based range). In both PMIP1 and PMIP2, the MH annual mean changes in global temperature are negligible, consistent with the MH orbital forcing. The simulated last glacial maximum (LGM, 21,000 years ago) to pre-industrial change in global mean temperature ranges between 3 and 7°C in PMIP1 and PMIP2 model runs, similar to the range of temperature change expected from a quadrupling of atmospheric CO₂ concentrations in the CMIP simulations. Both LGM and future climate simulations are associated with a polar amplification of climate change. The range of glacial polar amplification in Greenland is strongly dependent on the ice sheet elevation changes prescribed to the climate models. All PMIP2 simulations systematically underestimate the reconstructed glacial–interglacial Greenland temperature change, while some of the simulations do capture the reconstructed glacial–interglacial Antarctic temperature change. Uncertainties in the prescribed central ice cap elevation cannot account for the temperature change underestimation by climate models. The variety of climate model sensitivities enables the exploration of the relative changes in polar temperature with respect to changes in global temperatures. Simulated changes of polar temperatures are strongly related to changes in simulated global temperatures for both future and LGM climates, confirming that ice-core-based reconstructions provide quantitative insights on global climate changes. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Weak oceanic heat transport as a cause of the instability of glacial climates

The stability of the thermohaline circulation of modern and glacial climates is compared with the help of a two dimensional ocean—atmosphere—sea ice coupled model. It turns out to be more unstable as less freshwater forcing is required to induce a polar halocline catastrophy in glacial climates. The large insulation of the ocean by the extensive sea ice cover changes the temperature boundary condition and the deepwater formation regions moves much further South. The nature of the instability is of oceanic origin, identical to that found in ocean models under mixed boundary conditions. With similar strengths of the oceanic circulation and rates of deep water formation for warm and cold climates, the loss of stability of the cold climate is due to the weak thermal stratification caused by the cooling of surface waters, the deep water temperatures being regulated by the temperature of freezing. Weaker stratification with similar overturning leads to a weakening of the meridional oceanic heat transport which is the major negative feedback stabilizing the oceanic circulation. Within the unstable regime periodic millennial oscillations occur spontaneously. The climate oscillates between a strong convective thermally driven oceanic state and a weak one driven by large salinity gradients. Both states are unstable. The atmosphere of low thermal inertia is carried along by the oceanic overturning while the variation of sea ice is out of phase with the oceanic heat content. During the abrupt warming events that punctuate the course of a millennial oscillation, sea ice variations are shown respectively to damp (amplify) the amplitude of the oceanic (atmospheric) response. This sensitivity of the oceanic circulation to a reduced concentration of greenhouse gases and to freshwater forcing adds support to the hypothesis that the millennial oscillations of the last glacial period, the so called Dansgaard—Oeschger events, may be internal instabilities of the climate system.     

Uncertainties of estimates of climatic change: A review

While climate modeling gives substantial information about the future climate, there are still many uncertainties. This review addresses the question of the response of the climate system to forcing by increasing atmospheric trace gases. The uncertainties of greatest concern are: the transient adjustment controlled by ocean heat uptake; the cover of snow and ice in high latitudes; the change in cloud radiative properties; and shifts in regional patterns connected to the ocean and land surfaces and to the internal dynamics of the atmosphere.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

The steric component of sea level rise associated with enhanced greenhouse warming: a model study

Climate change due to enhanced greenhouse warming has been calculated using the coupled GFDL general circulation model of the atmosphere and ocean. The results of the model for a sustained increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide of 1% per year over a century indicate a marked warming of the upper ocean. Results of the model are used to study the rise in sea level caused by increase in ocean temperatures and associated changes in ocean circulation. Neglecting possible contributions due to changes in the volume of polar ice sheets and mountain glaciers, the model predicts an average rise in sea level of approximately 15 ± 5 cm by the time atmospheric carbon dioxide doubles. Heating anomalies are greatest in subpolar latitudes. This effect leads to a weakening of the ocean thermohaline circulation. Changes in thermohaline circulation redistribute heat within the ocean from high latitudes toward the equator, and cause a more uniform sea level rise than would occur otherwise.     

Summertime land–sea thermal contrast and atmospheric circulation over East Asia in a warming climate—Part II: Importance of CO2-induced continental warming

In this the second of a two-part study, we examine the physical mechanisms responsible for the increasing contrast of the land–sea surface air temperature (SAT) in summertime over the Far East, as observed in recent decades and revealed in future climate projections obtained from a series of transient warming and sensitivity experiments conducted under the umbrella of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5. On a global perspective, a strengthening of land–sea SAT contrast in the transient warming simulations of coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation models is attributed to an increase in sea surface temperature (SST). However, in boreal summer, the strengthened contrast over the Far East is reproduced only by increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentration. In response to SST increase alone, the tropospheric warming over the interior of the mid- to high-latitude continents including Eurasia are weaker than those over the surrounding oceans, leading to a weakening of the land–sea SAT contrast over the Far East. Thus, the increasing contrast and associated change in atmospheric circulation over East Asia is explained by CO₂-induced continental warming. The degree of strengthening of the land–sea SAT contrast varies in different transient warming scenarios, but is reproduced through a combination of the CO₂-induced positive and SST-induced negative contributions to the land–sea contrast. These results imply that changes of climate patterns over the land–ocean boundary regions are sensitive to future scenarios of CO₂ concentration pathways including extreme cases.     

The effect of atmospheric CO2 and ice sheet topography on LGM climate

The role of reduced atmospheric CO₂ concentration and ice sheet topography plus its associated land albedo on the LGM climate is investigated using a coupled atmosphere-ocean-sea ice climate system model. The surface cooling induced by the reduced CO₂ concentration is larger than that by the ice sheet topography plus other factors by about 30% for the surface air temperature and by about 100% for the sea surface temperature. A large inter-hemispheric asymmetry in surface cooling with a larger cooling in the Northern Hemisphere is found for both cases. This asymmetric inter-hemispheric temperature response is consistent in the ice sheet topography case with earlier studies using an atmospheric model coupled with a mixed-layer ocean representation, but contrasts with these results in the reduced CO₂ case. The incorporation of ocean dynamics presumably leads to a larger snow and sea ice feedback as a result of the reduction in northward ocean heat transport, mainly as a consequence of the decrease in the North Atlantic overturning circulation by the substantial freshening of the North Atlantic convection regions. A reversed case is found in the Southern Ocean. Overall, the reduction in atmospheric CO₂ concentration accounts for about 60% of the total LGM climate change.     

CO2 threshold for millennial-scale oscillations in the climate system: implications for global warming scenarios

We present several equilibrium runs under varying atmospheric CO₂ concentrations using the University of Victoria Earth System Climate Model (UVic ESCM). The model shows two very different responses: for CO₂ concentrations of 400 ppm or lower, the system evolves into an equilibrium state. For CO₂ concentrations of 440 ppm or higher, the system starts oscillating between a state with vigorous deep water formation in the Southern Ocean and a state with no deep water formation in the Southern Ocean. The flushing events result in a rapid increase in atmospheric temperatures, degassing of CO₂ and therefore an increase in atmospheric CO₂ concentrations, and a reduction of sea ice cover in the Southern Ocean. They also cool the deep ocean worldwide. After the flush, the deep ocean warms slowly again and CO₂ is taken up by the ocean until the stratification becomes unstable again at high latitudes thousands of years later. The existence of a threshold in CO₂ concentration which places the UVic ESCM in either an oscillating or non-oscillating state makes our results intriguing. If the UVic ESCM captures a mechanism that is present and important in the real climate system, the consequences would comprise a rapid increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations of several tens of ppm, an increase in global surface temperature of the order of 1–2°C, local temperature changes of the order of 6°C and a profound change in ocean stratification, deep water temperature and sea ice cover.     

Ice and climate modeling: An editorial essay

The growth and decay of ice sheets are driven by forces affecting the seasonal cycles of snowfall and snowmelt. The external forces are likely to be variations in the earth's orbit which cause differences in the solar radiation received. Radiational control of snowmelt is modulated by the seasonal cycles of snow albedo and cloud cover. The effects of orbital changes can be magnified by feedbacks involving atmospheric CO₂ content, ocean temperatures and desert areas. Climate modeling of the causes of the Pleistocene ice ages involves modeling the interactions of all components of the climate system; snow, sea ice, glacier ice, the ocean, the atmosphere, and the solid earth. Such modeling is also necessary for interpreting oxygen isotope records from ice and ocean as paleoclimatic evidence.     

近20年来中国极地大气科学研究进展

南极、北极和青藏高原是地球上的 3大气候敏感地区 ,是多个国际计划研究全球变化的关键地区。中国的南极和北极实地考察研究 ,分别始于 2 0世纪 80和 90年代 ,起步较晚 ,但近 2 0余年来有较大的进展。极地大气科学考察与研究是极地科学研究的重要组成部分。讫今为止 ,中国已组织了 2 0次南极考察和 3次北极考察 ,建立了中国南极长城站、中山站和北极黄河站等 3个常年科学考察站 ;进行了常规地面气象、Brewer大气臭氧、近地面物理、高层大气物理、冰雪和大气化学等观测 ,获得了较为系统的极地大气科学第一手资料 ;开展了有关极地与全球变化的研究 ,取得了新的进展。南极地区大气温度、臭氧和海冰的气候变化在时间和空间上都是多样的。南极地区的增暖主要发生在南极半岛地区 ,在南极大陆主体并不明显 ,近 10余年来还有降温趋势。中国南极长城站和中山站的观测资料也证实了这一点。此外 ,还揭示了南极半岛西侧和罗斯海外围的海冰变化具有“翘翘板”特征 ,由此定义的南极涛动指数可用来讨论南极海冰状况和海冰关键区的活动 ;用实地考察资料研究了极地不同下垫面的近地面物理和海 -冰 -气相互作用特征 ,给出了边界层特征参数 ;讨论了极地天气气候和大气环境特征及其对东亚大气环流和中国天气气候的影响 ;利用