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Tropical origins for recent and future Northern Hemisphere climate change
Author(s) -
Selten Frank M.,
Branstator Grant W.,
Dijkstra Henk A.,
Kliphuis Michael
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2004gl020739
Subject(s) - climatology , northern hemisphere , precipitation , southern hemisphere , climate change , general circulation model , tropical atlantic , tropics , climate model , environmental science , tropical climate , sea surface temperature , atmospheric sciences , oceanography , geology , geography , meteorology , ecology , archaeology , biology
Results from a large ensemble of climate model simulations over the period 1940–2080 suggest that the observed strengthening of the westerly winds over the North Atlantic during the past decades is not due to the enhanced greenhouse effect but is largely an expression of a random, internal climate variation driven by increased precipitation over the tropical Indian Ocean. Instead, the enhanced greenhouse effect drives a change in the extra‐tropical winter circulation through intensified precipitation over the tropical West Pacific. This change is characterized by a wave train encompassing the whole Northern hemisphere, a pattern known as the Circumglobal Waveguide Pattern.