Subtropical dipole modes simulated in a coupled general circulation model

• Published in: Journal of Climate
• Main Authors: Morioka, Yushi, Tozuka, Tomoki, Masson, Sébastien, Terray, Pascal, Luo, Jing-Jia, Yamagata, Toshio
• Other Authors: Department of Earth and Planetary Science Tokyo, Graduate School of Science Tokyo, The University of Tokyo (UTokyo)-The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Variabilité climatique tropicale et globale (VARCLIM), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), Research Institute for Global Change (RIGC), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2012
• Subjects: Atmosphere-ocean interaction; Oceanic mixed layer; Precipitation; Sea surface temperature; Interannual variability; Seasonal variability; [SDU.STU.GP]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-GEO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes; Austral; Indian; South Atlantic Ocean
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00758345; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00758345/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00758345/file/%5B15200442%20-%20Journal%20of%20Climate%5D%20Subtropical%20Dipole%20Modes%20Simulated%20in%20a%20Coupled%20General%20Circulation%20Model.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00396.1

International audience The growth and decay mechanisms of subtropical dipole modes in the southern Indian and South Atlantic Oceans and their impacts on southern African rainfall are investigated using results from a coupled general circulation model originally developed for predicting tropical climate variations. The second (most) dominant mode of interannual sea surface temperature (SST) variations in the southern Indian (South Atlantic) Ocean represents a northeast–southwest oriented dipole, now called subtropical dipole mode. The positive (negative) SST interannual anomaly pole starts to grow in austral spring and reaches its peak in February. In austral late spring, the suppressed (enhanced) latent heat flux loss associated with the variations in the subtropical high causes a thinner (thicker) than normal mixed layer thickness that, in turn, enhances (reduces) the warming of the mixed layer by the climatological shortwave radiation. The positive (negative) pole gradually decays in austral fall because the mixed layer cooling by the entrainment is enhanced (reduced), mostly owing to the larger (smaller) temperature difference between the mixed layer and the entrained water. The increased (decreased) latent heat loss due to the warmer (colder) SST also contributes to the decay of the positive (negative) pole. Although further verification using longer observational data is required, the present coupled model suggests that the South Atlantic subtropical dipole may play a more important role in rainfall variations over the southern African region than the Indian Ocean subtropical dipole.