Arctic sea ice simulation in the PlioMIP ensemble

International audience Eight general circulation models have simulated the mid-Pliocene warm period (mid-Pliocene, 3.264 to 3.025 Ma) as part of the Pliocene Modelling Intercomparison Project (PlioMIP). Here, we analyse and compare their simulation of Arctic sea ice for both the pre-industrial perio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Climate of the Past
Main Authors: Howell, Fergus W., Haywood, Alan M., Otto-Bliesner, Bette L., Bragg, Fran, Chan, Wing-Le, Chandler, Mark A., Contoux, Camille, Kamae, Youichi, Abe-Ouchi, Ayako, Rosenbloom, Nan A., Stepanek, Christian, Zhang, Zhongshi
Other Authors: Centre Européen de Recherche et d'Enseignement des Géosciences de l'Environnement (CEREGE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Collège de France (CdF (institution))-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Center for Climate System Research Kashiwa (CCSR), The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Nansen-Zhu International Research Center, Institute of Atmospheric Physics Beijing (IAP), Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing (CAS)-Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing (CAS)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2016
Subjects:
[SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences
Arctic
Sea ice
Online Access:https://hal.science/hal-01758957
https://hal.science/hal-01758957/document
https://hal.science/hal-01758957/file/cp-12-749-2016.pdf
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-749-2016
Description
Summary:International audience Eight general circulation models have simulated the mid-Pliocene warm period (mid-Pliocene, 3.264 to 3.025 Ma) as part of the Pliocene Modelling Intercomparison Project (PlioMIP). Here, we analyse and compare their simulation of Arctic sea ice for both the pre-industrial period and the mid-Pliocene. Mid-Pliocene sea ice thickness and extent is reduced, and the model spread of extent is more than twice the pre-industrial spread in some summer months. Half of the PlioMIP models simulate ice-free conditions in the mid-Pliocene. This spread amongst the ensemble is in line with the uncertainties amongst proxy reconstructions for mid-Pliocene sea ice extent. Correlations between mid-Pliocene Arctic temperatures and sea ice extents are almost twice as strong as the equivalent correlations for the pre-industrial simulations. The need for more comprehensive sea ice proxy data is highlighted, in order to better compare model performances.

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