Transient and long-term behaviour of the world ocean under global warming ...

• Main Author: Bi, Daohua
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: University Of Tasmania 2023
• Subjects: Southern Ocean
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25959/23237042; https://figshare.utas.edu.au/articles/thesis/Transient_and_long-term_behaviour_of_the_world_ocean_under_global_warming/23237042

The thermohaline circulation (THC) of the oceans plays a crucial role in adjusting the global thermal and hydrological budget in the climate system. Knowledge about its stability and change is very important for understanding the evolution of past climates and assessing possible climate changes in the future. In this study, we investigate the transient and long-term behaviour of the THC, particularly the Southern Ocean overturning in the CSIRO climate model, under increasing atmospheric greenhouse gases (as equivalent CO2 , referred to simply as CO2) following the IPCC/IS92a scenario to stabilisation at three times preindustrial CO2 (3x CO2) then continuing at that level of stabilisation. Firstly the CSIRO ocean model is further developed by modifying the surface boundary forcing, for the purpose of ensuring a stable and realistic ocean climate to be used as the initial condition of the ocean for coupled model climate change studies. The new formulation leads to a significantly improved spinup solution and ...