Robust features of Atlantic multi-decadal variability and its climate impacts

Physics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Global Change: Abrupt/Rapid Climate Change (4901, 8408), Global Change: Atmosphere (0315, 0325), Global Change: Climate Variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513), Global Change: Global Climate Models (3337, 4928), Global Change: Coupled Models Of The Climate System

Scientific paper

Atlantic Multi-decadal Variability (AMV), also known as the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO), is characterized by a sharp rise and fall of the North Atlantic basin-wide sea surface temperatures (SST) on multi-decadal time scales. Widespread consequences of these rapid temperature swings were noted in many previous studies. Among these are the drying of Sahel in the 1960-70s and change in the frequency and intensity of Atlantic hurricanes on multi-decadal time scales. Given the short instrumental data records (about a century long) the central question is whether these climate fluctuations are robustly linked with the AMV and to what extent are these connections subject to changes in a changing climate. Here we address this issue by using the CMIP3 simulations for the 20th, 21st, and pre-industrial eras with 23 IPCC models. While models tend to produce AMV of shorter time scales and less periodic than suggested by the observations, the spatial structures of the SST anomaly patterns, and their association with worldwide precipitation, are surprisingly similar between models (with differing external forcing) and observations. Our results confirm the strong link between AMV and Sahel rainfall and suggest a clear physical mechanism for the linkage in terms of meridional shifts of the Atlantic ITCZ. The results also help clarify influences that may not be robust, such as the impacts over North America, India, and Australia.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Robust features of Atlantic multi-decadal variability and its climate impacts does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Robust features of Atlantic multi-decadal variability and its climate impacts, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Robust features of Atlantic multi-decadal variability and its climate impacts will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1401715

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.