Search

In a comment on a 2017 paper by Cheung et al., Kravtsov states that the results of Cheung et al. are invalidated by errors in the method used to estimate internal variability in historical surface temperatures, which involves using the ensemble mean of simulations from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) to estimate the forced signal. Kravtsov claims that differences between the forced signals in the individual models and as defined by the multimodel ensemble mean lead to errors in the assessment of internal variability in both model simulations and the instrumental record. Kravtsov proposes a different method, which instead uses CMIP5 models with at least four realizations to define the forced component. Here, it is shown that the conclusions of Cheung et al. are valid regardless of whether the method of Cheung et al. or that of Kravtsov is applied. Furthermore, many of the points raised by Kravtsov are discussed in Cheung et al., and the disagreements of Kravtsov appear to be mainly due to a misunderstanding of the aims of Cheung et al. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few if any high-resolution (annually resolved) paleoclimate records are available for the Hawaiian Islands prior to ~1850 CE, after which some instrumental records start to become available. This paper shows how atmospheric teleconnection patterns between North America and the northeastern North Pacific (NNP) allow for reconstruction of Hawaiian Islands rainfall using remote proxy information from North America. Based on a newly available precipitation dataset for the state of Hawaii and observed and reconstructed December-February (DJF) sea level pressures (SLPs) in the North Pacific Ocean, the authors make use of a strong relationship between winter SLP variability in the northeast Pacific and corresponding DJF Hawaii rainfall variations to reconstruct and evaluate that season's rainfall over the period 1500-2012 CE. A general drying trend, though with substantial decadal and longer-term variability, is evident, particularly during the last ~160 years. Hawaiian Islands rainfall exhibits strong modulation by El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), as well as in relation to Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO)-like variability. For significant periods of time, the reconstructed large-scale changes in the North Pacific SLP field described here and by construction the long-term decline in Hawaiian winter rainfall are broadly consistent with long-term changes in tropical Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) based on ENSO reconstructions documented in several other studies, particularly over the last two centuries. Also noted are some rather large multidecadal fluctuations in rainfall (and hence in NNP SLP) in the eighteenth century of undetermined provenance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major difficulty in investigating the nature of interdecadal variability of climatic time series is their shortness. An approach to this problem is through comparison of models. In this paper a first-order autoregressive [AR(1)] model is contrasted with a fractionally differenced (FD) model as applied to the winter-averaged sea level pressure time series for the Aleutian low [the North Pacific (NP) index] and the Sitka winter air temperature record. Both models fit the same number of parameters. The AR(1) model is a “short-memory” model in that it has a rapidly decaying autocovariance sequence, whereas an FD model exhibits “long memory” because its autocovariance sequence decays more slowly. Statistical tests cannot distinguish the superiority of one model over the other when fit with 100 NP or 146 Sitka data points. The FD model does equally well for short-term prediction and has potentially important implications for long-term behavior. In particular, the zero crossings of the FD model tend to be farther apart, so they have more of a “regimelike” character; a quarter century interval between zero crossings is 4 times more likely with the FD than the AR(1) model. The long-memory parameter δ for the FD model can be used as a characterization of regimelike behavior. The estimated δs for the NP index (spanning 100 yr) and the Sitka time series (168 yr) are virtually identical, and their size implies moderate long-memory behavior. Although the NP index and the Sitka series have broadband low-frequency variability and modest long-memory behavior, temporal irregularities in their zero crossings are still prevalent. Comparison of the FD and AR(1) models indicates that regimelike behavior cannot be ruled out for North Pacific processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The meridional geostrophic transport (MGT) in the interior tropical North Pacific Ocean is estimated based on global ocean heat and salt content data. The decadal variations of the zonally and vertically integrated MGT in the tropical North Pacific Ocean are found to precede the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) by 1–3 years. The dynamics of the MGT are analyzed based on Sverdrup theory. It is found that the total meridional transport variability (MGT plus Ekman) is dominated by the MGT variability having positive correlations with the PDO index. The Sverdrup transports differ from the total meridional transport significantly and have insignificant correlations with PDO index, suggesting that the MGT variability is not controlled by the Sverdrup dynamics. In comparison, the simulated meridional transport variability in the models from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) and the Ocean General Circulation Model for the Earth Simulator are dominated by the Sverdrup transports, having insignificant correlations with the simulated PDO indices. The comparison suggests that the non-Sverdrup component in the MGT is important for the predictability of PDO and that significant deficiencies exist in these models in simulating a realistic structure of the tropical ocean gyre variability and predicting the decadal climate variations associated with it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates the possible linkage between the monsoon trough and the interannual variability of the activity of westward-propagating tropical waves (WTW) over the western North Pacific (WNP) during July-November for the period 1979-2007. It is shown that the interannual variability of WTW activity is closely related to the location of the monsoon trough. During the years when the enhanced (weakened) monsoon trough extends eastward (retreats westward), the lower-tropospheric WTW activity is above (below) normal within the southeastern quadrant of the WNP. Furthermore, this study evaluates different wave structures and dynamics of two types of WTWs, equatorial Rossby (ER) waves and mixed Rossby-gravity (MRG)-tropical depression (TD)-type waves, in strong monsoon trough (S-MT) and weak monsoon trough (W-MT) years over the WNP. There is a significant change in the three-dimensional structure as those waves propagate westward to the east of the monsoon trough. For the TD-MRG waves, an apparent transition from MRG waves to off-equatorial TD disturbances is identified in the region of the monsoon trough. For the ER waves, their amplitudes have a faster growth, but their structures and propagation characters have no marked change. Differences in the location of the monsoon trough may lead to an east-west contrast in the WTWs. In a companion study (Part II), diagnostics of energetics and numerical experiments are conducted to explain the observed results in the present study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in ocean surface waves elicit a variety of impacts on coastal environments. To assess the future changes in the ocean surface wave climate, several future projections of global wave climate have been simulated in previous studies. However, previously there has been little discussion about the causes behind changes in the future wave climate and the differences between projections. The objective of this study is to estimate the future changes in mean wave climate and the sensitivity of the wave climate to sea surface temperature (SST) conditions in an effort to understand the mechanism behind the wave climate changes by specifically looking at spatial SST variation. A series of wave climate projections forced by surface winds from the MRI-AGCM3.2 were conducted based on SST ensemble experiments. The results yield future changes in annual mean wave height that are within about ±0.3 m. The future changes in summertime wave height in the western North Pacific (WNP), which are influenced by tropical cyclone changes, are highly sensitive to SST conditions. To generalize the result, the wave climate change and SST relation found by this study was compared with multimodel wave ensemble products from the Coordinated Ocean Wave Climate Project (COWCLIP). The spatial variation of SST in the tropical Pacific Ocean is a major factor in the wave climate changes for the WNP during summer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work examines the impact of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on the prediction skill of North Pacific variability (NPV) in retrospective predictions of the NCEP Climate Forecast System, version 2. It is noted that the phase relationship between ENSO and NPV at initial conditions (ICs) affects the prediction skill of NPV. For average lead times of 0-6 months, the prediction skills of sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs) in NPV (defined as the NPV index) increase from 0.42 to 0.63 from the cases of an out-of-phase relation between the Niño-3.4 and NPV indices in ICs to the cases of an in-phase relation. It is suggested that when ENSO and NPV are in phase in ICs, ENSO plays a constructive role in the NPV development and enhances its signals. Nevertheless, when ENSO and NPV are out of phase, some pronounced positive NPV events are still predictable. In these cases, the North Pacific is dominated by strong positive SSTAs, which may overcome the opposing influence from the tropical Pacific and display predictability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a key component of tropical atmospheric variability, intraseasonal variability (ISV) over the eastern North Pacific Ocean (ENP) exerts pronounced influences on regional weather and climate. Since general circulation models (GCMs) are essential tools for prediction and projection of future climate, current model deficiencies in representing this important variability leave us greatly disadvantaged in studies and prediction of climate change. In this study, the authors have assessed model fidelity in representing ENP ISV by analyzing 16 GCMs participating in phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). Among the 16 CMIP5 GCMs examined in this study, only seven GCMs capture the spatial pattern of the leading ENP ISV mode relatively well, although even these GCMs exhibit biases in simulating ISV amplitude. Analyses indicate that model fidelity in representing ENP ISV is closely associated with the ability to simulate a realistic summer mean state. The presence of westerly or weak mean easterly winds over the ENP warm pool region could be conducive to more realistic simulations of the ISV. One hypothesis to explain this relationship is that a realistic mean state could produce the correct sign of surface flux anomalies relative to the ISV convection, which helps to destabilize local intraseasonal disturbances. The projected changes in characteristics of ENP ISV under the representative concentration pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5) projection scenario are also explored based on simulations from three CMIP5 GCMs. Results suggest that, in a future climate, the amplitude of ISV could be enhanced over the southern part of the ENP while reduced over the northern ENP off the coast of Mexico/Central America and the Caribbean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A flexible regional ocean-atmosphere-land system coupled model [Flexible Regional Ocean Atmosphere Land System (FROALS)] was developed through the Ocean Atmosphere Sea Ice Soil, version 3 (OASIS3), coupler to improve the simulation of the interannual variability of the western North Pacific summer monsoon (WNPSM). The regionally coupled model consists of a regional atmospheric model, the Regional Climate Model, version 3 (RegCM3), and a global climate ocean model, the National Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (LASG)/Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) Climate Ocean Model (LICOM). The impacts of local air-sea interaction on the simulation of the interannual variability of the WNPSM are investigated through regionally ocean-atmosphere coupled and uncoupled simulations, with a focus on El Niño's decaying summer. Compared with the uncoupled simulation, the regionally coupled simulation exhibits improvements in both the climatology and the interannual variability of rainfall over the WNP. In El Niño's decaying summer, the WNP is dominated by an anomalous anticyclone, less rainfall, and enhanced subsidence, which lead to increases in the downward shortwave radiation flux, thereby warming sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies. Thus, the ocean appears as a slave to atmospheric forcing. In the uncoupled simulation, however, the atmosphere is a slave to oceanic SST forcing, with the warm SST anomalies located east of the Philippines unrealistically producing excessive rainfall. In the regionally coupled run, the unrealistic positive rainfall anomalies and the associated atmospheric circulations east of the Philippines are significantly improved, highlighting the importance of air-sea coupling in the simulation of the interannual variability of the WNPSM. One limitation of the model is that the anomalous anticyclone over the WNP is weaker than the observations in both the regionally coupled and the uncoupled simulations. This results from the weaker simulated climatological summer rainfall intensity over the monsoon trough. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New versions of the high-resolution 20- and 60-km-mesh Meteorological Research Institute (MRI) atmospheric general circulation models (MRI-AGCM version 3.2) have been developed and used to investigate potential future changes in tropical cyclone (TC) activity. Compared with the previous version (version 3.1), version 3.2 yields a more realistic simulation of the present-day (1979-2003) global distribution of TCs. Moreover, the 20-km-mesh model version 3.2 is able to simulate extremely intense TCs (categories 4 and 5), which is the first time a global climate model has been able to simulate such extremely intense TCs through a multidecadal simulation. Future (2075-99) projections under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) A1B scenario are conducted using versions 3.1 and 3.2, showing consistent decreases in the number of TCs globally and in both hemispheres as climate warms. Although projected future changes in basin-scale TC numbers show some differences between the two versions, the projected frequency of TC occurrence shows a consistent decrease in the western part of the western North Pacific (WNP) and in the South Pacific Ocean (SPO), while it shows a marked increase in the central Pacific. Both versions project a future increase in the frequency of intense TCs globally; however, the degree of increase is smaller in version 3.2 than in version 3.1. This difference arises partly because version 3.2 projects a pronounced decrease in mean TC intensity in the SPO. The 20-km-mesh model version 3.2 projects a northward shift in the most intense TCs (category 5) in the WNP, indicating an increasing potential for future catastrophic damage due to TCs in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The two leading modes of North Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) and sea level pressure (SLP), as well as their connections to tropical variability, are explored in the 24 coupled climate models used in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) to evaluate North Pacific decadal variability (NPDV) in the past [twentieth century; climate of the twentieth century (20C3M) scenario] and future [twenty-first century; Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A1B scenario] climate. Results indicate that the two dominant modes of North Pacific oceanic variability, the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) and the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO), do not exhibit significant changes in their spatial and temporal characteristics under greenhouse warming. However, the ability of the models to capture the dynamics associated with the leading North Pacific oceanic modes, including their link to the corresponding atmospheric forcing patterns and to tropical variability, is questionable. The temporal and spatial statistics of the North Pacific Ocean modes exhibit significant discrepancies from observations in their twentieth-century climate, most visibly for the second mode, which has significantly more low-frequency power and higher variance than in observations. The dynamical coupling between the North Pacific Ocean and atmosphere modes evident in the observations is very strong in the models for the first atmosphere--ocean coupled mode, which represents covariability of the PDO pattern with the Aleutian low (AL). However, the link for the second atmosphere--ocean coupled mode, describing covariability of an NPGO-like SST pattern with the North Pacific Oscillation (NPO), is not as clearly reproduced, with some models showing no relationship between the two. Exploring the tropical Pacific--North Pacific teleconnections reveals more issues with the models. In contrast with observations, the atmospheric teleconnection excited by the El Niñño--Southern Oscillation in the models does not project strongly on the AL--PDO coupled mode because of the displacement of the center of action of the AL in most models. Moreover, most models fail to show the observational connection between El Niñño Modoki--central Pacific warming and NPO variability in the North Pacific. In fact, the atmospheric teleconnections associated with El Niñño Modoki in some models have a significant projection on, and excite the AL--PDO coupled mode instead. Because of the known links between tropical Pacific variability and NPDV, these analyses demonstrate that focus on the North Pacific variability of climate models in isolation from tropical dynamics is likely to lead to an incomplete view, and inadequate prediction, of NPDV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variability in the monthly-mean flow and storm track in the North Pacific basin is examined with a focus on the near-surface baroclinicity. Dominant patterns of anomalous near-surface baroclinicity found from empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analyses generally show mixed patterns of shift and changes in the strength of near-surface baroclinicity. Composited anomalies in the monthly-mean wind at various pressure levels based on the signals in the EOFs show accompanying anomalies in the mean flow up to 50 hPa in the winter and up to 100 hPa in other seasons. Anomalous eddy fields accompanying the anomalous near-surface baroclinicity patterns exhibit, broadly speaking, structures anticipated from simple linear theories of baroclinic instability, and suggest a tendency for anomalous wave fluxes to accelerate--decelerate the surface westerly accordingly. However, the relationship between anomalous eddy fields and anomalous near-surface baroclinicity in the midwinter is not consistent with the simple linear baroclinic instability theories. Composited anomalous sea surface temperature (SST) accompanying anomalous near-surface baroclinicity often exhibits moderate values and large spatial scales in the basin, rather than large values concentrated near the oceanic fronts. In the midsummer and in some cases in cold months, however, large SST anomalies are found around the Kuroshio--Oyashio Extensions. Accompanying anomalies in the net surface heat flux, SST in the preceding and following months, and meridional eddy heat flux in the lower troposphere suggest active roles played by the ocean in generating the concomitant anomalous large-scale atmospheric state in some of these cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO) consortium provides a framework in which the adjoint method of data assimilation is applied to a general circulation model to provide a dynamically self-consistent estimate of the time-varying ocean state, which is constrained by observations. In this study, the sensitivity of the solution to the constraints provided by various datasets is investigated in a regional setting in the North Pacific. Four assimilation experiments are performed, which vary by the data used as constraints and the relative weights associated with these data. The resulting estimates are compared to two of the assimilated datasets as well as to data from two time series stations not used as constraints. These comparisons demonstrate that increasing the weights of the subsurface data provides overall improvement in the model–data consistency of the estimate of the state of the North Pacific Ocean. However, some elements of the solution are degraded. This could result from incompatibility between datasets, possibly because of hidden biases, or from errors in the model physics made more evident by the increased weight on subsurface data. The adjustments to the control parameters of surface forcing and initial conditions necessary to obtain the more accurate fit to the data are found to be within prior error bars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The physical processes associated with the ∼70-yr period climate mode, known as the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO), are examined. Based on analyses of observational data, a deterministic mechanism relying on atmosphere–ocean–sea ice interactions is proposed for the AMO. Variations in the thermohaline circulation are reflected as uniform sea surface temperature anomalies in the North Atlantic. These anomalies are associated with a hemispheric wavenumber-1 sea level pressure (SLP) structure in the atmosphere that is amplified through atmosphere–ocean interactions in the North Pacific. The SLP pattern and its associated wind field affect the sea ice export through Fram Strait, the freshwater balance in the northern North Atlantic, and consequently the strength of the large-scale ocean circulation. It generates sea surface temperature anomalies with opposite signs in the North Atlantic and completes a negative feedback. The authors find that the time scale of the cycle is associated with the thermohaline circulation adjustment to freshwater forcing, the SST response to it, the oceanic adjustment in the North Pacific, and the sea ice response to the wind forcing. Finally, it is argued that the Great Salinity Anomaly in the late 1960s and 1970s is part of AMO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the contribution of tropical sea surface temperature (SST) forcing to the 1976/77 climate transition of the winter atmospheric circulation over the North Pacific using a combined observational and modeling approach. The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Community Atmospheric Model version 3 (CAM3) simulates approximately 75% of the observed 4-hPa deepening of the wintertime Aleutian low from 1950–76 to 1977–2000 when forced with the observed evolution of tropical SSTs in a 10-member ensemble average. This response is driven by precipitation increases over the western half of the equatorial Pacific Ocean. In contrast, the NCAR Community Climate Model version 3 (CCM3), the predecessor to CAM3, simulates no significant change in the strength of the Aleutian low when forced with the same tropical SSTs in a 12-member ensemble average. The lack of response in CCM3 is traced to an erroneously large precipitation increase over the tropical Indian Ocean whose dynamical impact is to weaken the Aleutian low; this, when combined with the response to rainfall increases over the western and central equatorial Pacific, results in near-zero net change in the strength of the Aleutian low. The observed distribution of tropical precipitation anomalies associated with the 1976/77 transition, estimated from a combination of direct measurements at land stations and indirect information from surface marine cloudiness and wind divergence fields, supports the models’ simulated rainfall increases over the western half of the Pacific but not the magnitude of CCM3’s rainfall increase over the Indian Ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the North Pacific, the wintertime sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA), which is represented by March (SSTAMar), when the upper-ocean mixed layer depth (hMar) reaches its maximum, is formed by the anomalous surface forcing from fall to winter (S′). As a parameter of volume, hMar has a potential to modify the impact of S′ on SSTAMar. Introducing an upper-ocean heat budget equation, the present study identifies the physical relationship among the spatial distributions of hMar, S′, and SSTAMar. The long-term mean of hMar adjusts the spatial distribution of SSTAMar. Without the adjustment, the impact of S′ on SSTAMar is overestimated where the hMar mean is deep. Since hMar is partially due to seawater temperature, it leads to nonlinearity between the S′ and the SSTAMar. When the SSTAMar is negative (positive), the sensitivity to S′ is impervious (responsive) with the deepening (shoaling) of the hMar compared to the linear sensitivity. The thermal impacts from the ocean to the atmosphere might be underestimated under the assumption of the linear relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrographic data from the World Ocean Database 2001 and Argo profiling floats were analyzed to study temperature inversions in the subarctic North Pacific Ocean. The frequency distribution of temperature inversions [F(t-inv)] at a resolution of 1° (latitude) × 3° (longitude) was calculated. Temperature inversions seldom occurred around 50°N in the eastern subarctic North Pacific but were more common in the northern Gulf of Alaska and the southeastern subarctic North Pacific (42°–48°N, 140°–170°W). Large temperature inversions occurred throughout the year in the western and central subarctic North Pacific (north of 42°N and west of 180°) except near the Aleutian and Kuril Islands. Near those islands, F(t-inv) was characterized by pronounced seasonal variations forced by surface heating/cooling and strong tidal mixing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The occurrence frequency of the east Asian cold surge exhibits an interannual variation in concert with the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle. That is, the cold surge occurs more (less) frequently during warm (cold) ENSO winters. Because the cold surge high–low dipoles are coupled with the upper-level synoptic short waves, any mechanism modulating the activity of these waves would affect the cold surge activity. The streamfunction budget analysis in the short-wave regime indicates that the development of the cold surge short-wave train over east Asia and the northwest Pacific is modulated by the North Pacific ENSO short-wave train. Due to the coupling between the upper-level cold surge short-wave train and the surface cold surge dipole, it is inferred from this streamfunction budget analysis that the interannual variation of the cold surge occurrence frequency is a result of this modulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time series of sea surface temperature, wind speed, and significant wave height from meteorological buoys off the west coast of Canada and the adjacent United States are long enough and of sufficient quality to be useful for studying interannual variability and trends. Long-term averages of data provide a precise climatology of surface temperature, wind speed, and wave height for locations along- and offshore. Data from many of the buoys suggest a warming trend, but only three buoys show statistical significance, and sheltered buoys show no increases. Both the wind speed and the wave height data show an increasing trend with more statistical significance. Future data from these buoys should benefit from better calibration and a wider variety of sensors, as well as from longer time series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Potential predictability of low-frequency climate changes in the North Pacific depends on two main factors. The first is the sensitivity of the atmosphere to ocean-induced anomalies at the sea surface in midlatitudes. The second is the degree of teleconnectivity of the tropical low-frequency variability to midlatitudes. In contrast to the traditional approach of prescribing sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies, the response of a coupled atmospheric general circulation (CCM3)–mixed layer ocean model to oceanic perturbations of the mixed layer heat budget is examined. Since positive oceanic heat flux perturbations partially increase SST anomalies (locally), and partially are vented directly into the atmosphere, expressing boundary forcing on the atmosphere by prescribing upper-ocean heat flux anomalies allows for better understanding of the physical mechanism of low-frequency variability in midlatitudes. In the framework of this approach SST is considered to be a part of the adjustment of the coupled system rather than an external forcing. Wintertime model responses to mixed layer heat budget perturbations of up to 40 W m[sup -2] in the Kuroshio extension region and in the tropical central Pacific show statistically significant anomalies of 500-mb geopotential height (Z500) in the midlatitudes. The response to the tropical forcing resembles the well-known Pacific–North American pattern, one of the leading modes of internal variability of the control run. The amplitude of the Z500 geopotential height reaches 40 m in the region of the Aleutian low. The response of Z500 to forcing in the Kuroshio Current extension region resembles the mixture of western Pacific and Pacific–North American patterns, the first two modes of the internal variability of the atmosphere. In midlatitudes this response is equivalent barotropic, with the maximum of 80 m at (60°N, 160°W). Examination of the vorticity and thermodynamic budgets reveals the c... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]