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Global warming in a coupled climate model including oceanic eddy‐induced advection
Author(s) -
Hirst Anthony C.,
Gordon Hal B.,
O'Farrell Siobhan P.
Publication year - 1996
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 - 10.1029/96gl03234
Subject(s) - advection , climatology , mesoscale meteorology , environmental science , eddy , climate model , convection , stratification (seeds) , atmospheric sciences , ocean heat content , atmosphere (unit) , ocean current , geology , climate change , meteorology , oceanography , turbulence , seed dormancy , physics , germination , botany , dormancy , biology , thermodynamics
The Gent and McWilliams (GM) parameterization for large‐scale water transport caused by mesoscale oceanic eddies is introduced into the oceanic component of a global coupled ocean‐atmosphere model. Parallel simulations with and without the GM scheme are performed to examine the effect of this parameterization on model behavior under constant atmospheric CO 2 and on the model response to increasing CO 2 . The control (constant CO 2 ) runs show substantial differences in the oceanic stratification and extent of convection, similar to differences found previously using uncoupled ocean models. The transient (increasing CO 2 ) runs show moderate differences in the rate of oceanic heat sequestration (less in the GM case), as expected based on passive tracer uptake studies. However, the surface warming is weaker in the GM case, especially over the Southern Ocean, which is contrary to some recent supposition. Reasons for the reduced warming in the GM case are discussed.