Details:

Journal Title:
Nature Communications
Personal Author:
Persad, G. G. ; Ming, Y. ; Shen, Z. Y. ; Ramaswamy, V. ;
Persad, G. G. ; Ming, Y. ; Shen, Z. Y. ; Ramaswamy, V. ; Less -
NOAA Program & Office:
OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; CICSP (Cooperative Institute for Climate Science) ; GFDL (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory) ;
OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; CICSP (Cooperative Institute for Climate Science) ; GFDL (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory) ; Less -
Description:
Despite distinct geographic distributions of top-of-the-atmosphere radiative forcing, anthropogenic greenhouse gases and aerosols have been found to produce similar patterns of climate response in atmosphere-and-ocean coupled climate model simulations. Understanding surface energy flux changes, a crucial pathway by which atmospheric forcing is communicated to the ocean, is a vital bridge to explaining the similar full atmosphere-andocean responses to these disparate forcings. Here we analyze the fast, atmosphere-driven change in surface energy flux caused by present-day greenhouse gases vs aerosols to elucidate its role in shaping the subsequent slow, coupled response. We find that the surface energy flux response patterns achieve roughly two-thirds of the anti-correlation seen in the fully coupled response, driven by Rossby waves excited by symmetric changes to the land-sea contrast. Our results suggest that atmosphere and land surface processes are capable of achieving substantial within-hemisphere homogenization in the climate response to disparate forcers on fast, societally-relevant timescales.
Source:
Nature Communications, 9, 7.
DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05735-y
Document Type:
Journal Article ;
Funding:
Grant no. NA14OAR4320106 ;
Rights Information:
CC BY
Compliance:
Submitted
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:bce0284f430bb3d3a9bf8ec2389adb815f449a4b466fe6330a27112ecb8eef61
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