Tuesday, 15 January 2002: 11:00 AM
Diagnostics of the Thermohaline Circulation in a Coupled Climate Model
Two 200-year integrations using a global coupled model consisting of
the GISS AGCM and the HYCOM OGCM are carried out -- a control run assuming
fixed atmospheric composition, and a perturbation run assuming gradual
doubling of CO_2. The model does not use flux corrections at the air-sea
interface, nor is the ocean 'spun up' prior to coupling. The control run
stabilizes after several decades. When doubling CO_2 at the rate of 1% per
year, the model responds with a 2 C increase in 200 years in the global
mean surface air temperature and a virtually unchanged Atlantic meridional
overturning circulation. The latter is maintained by a salinity increase
which counteracts the effect of global warming on the surface buoyancy.
This talk dwells on geographic details of the 3-D thermohaline circulation
(THC) which, due to the predominantly isopycnic character of HYCOM, can be
constructed in (x,y,density) space with relative ease. In both runs, we see
strong similarities between the simulated and the observed THC. This is
consistent with -- and partially explains -- the relatively small warming
signal seen in the CO_2 doubling run. The largest deviations between the
simulated and observed THC are found in the bottom-water source regions
of the world ocean and appear to be related to deficiencies in the
modeling of sea ice.
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