Open AccessTemperatures at the last interglacial simulated by a coupled ocean‐atmosphere climate model
Author(s) -
Montoya Marisa,
Crowley Thomas J.,
Storch Hans
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
paleoceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1944-9186
pISSN - 0883-8305
DOI - 10.1029/97pa02550
Subject(s) - eemian , interglacial , climatology , northern hemisphere , climate model , atmosphere (unit) , forcing (mathematics) , climate state , sea surface temperature , geology , environmental science , climate change , glacial period , atmospheric sciences , global warming , oceanography , effects of global warming , geography , meteorology , geomorphology
The last interglacial (Eemian, 125,000 years ago) has generally been considered the warmest time period in the last 200,000 years and thus sometimes been used as a reference for greenhouse projections. Herein we report results from a coupled ocean‐atmosphere climate model of the surface temperature response to changes in the radiative forcing at the last interglacial. Although the model generates the expected summer warming in the northern hemisphere, winter cooling of a comparable magnitude occurs over North Africa and tropical Asia. The global annual mean temperature for the Eemian run is 0.3°C cooler than the control run. Validation of simulated sea surface temperatures (SSTs) against reconstructed SSTs supports this conclusion and also the assumption that the flux correction, fitted for the present state, operates satisfactorily for modest perturbations. Our results imply that contrary to conventional expectations, Eemian global temperatures may already have been reached by the mid 20th century.