Open AccessSpecification of regional sea surface temperatures in atmospheric general circulation model simulations
Author(s) -
Kumar Arun,
Hoerling Martin P.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/98jd00427
Subject(s) - spurious relationship , climatology , atmospheric circulation , environmental science , general circulation model , climate model , atmospheric sciences , sea surface temperature , atmospheric model , meteorology , climate change , geology , oceanography , geography , computer science , machine learning
A hierarchy of atmospheric general circulation model simulations of the 1950–1994 period that employ different prescriptions of the oceanic boundary conditions are analyzed. It is demonstrated that contrary to expectations, increased spatial coverage of the sea surface temperature specification can degrade the underlying simulated climate signals. The cause for this is related to an inability to accurately model the diversity of air‐sea interaction regimes that exist across the global oceans. Such failure is shown to generate spurious sources of atmospheric energy that exert global influences on interannual and decadal timescales.