Response of a Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Model to Greenland Ice Melting
We investigate the transient response of the global coupled ocean-atmosphere system to enhanced freshwater forcing representative of melting of the Greenland ice sheets. A 50-year long simulation by a coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model (CGCM) is compared with another of the same leng...
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ftpubman:oai:pure.mpg.de:item_1203555 2024-09-15T18:08:19+00:00 Response of a Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Model to Greenland Ice Melting Stammer, D. Agarwal, N. Herrmann, P. Köhl, A. Mechoso, C. 2011 http://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-0012-3050-7 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1007/s10712-011-9142-2 http://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-0012-3050-7 Surveys in Geophysics info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2011 ftpubman https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-011-9142-2 2024-07-31T09:31:28Z We investigate the transient response of the global coupled ocean-atmosphere system to enhanced freshwater forcing representative of melting of the Greenland ice sheets. A 50-year long simulation by a coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model (CGCM) is compared with another of the same length in which Greenland melting is prescribed. To highlight the importance of coupled atmosphere-ocean processes, the CGCM results are compared with those of two other experiments carried out with the oceanic general circulation model (OGCM). In one of these OGCM experiments, the prescribed surface fluxes of heat, momentum and freshwater correspond to the unperturbed simulation by the CGCM; in the other experiment, Greenland melting is added to the freshwater flux. The responses by the CGCM and OGCM to the Greenland melting have similar patterns in the Atlantic, albeit the former having five times larger amplitudes in sea surface height anomalies. The CGCM shows likewise stronger variability in all state variables in all ocean basins because the impact of Greenland melting is quickly communicated to all ocean basins via atmospheric bridges. We conclude that the response of the global climate to Greenland ice melting is highly dependent on coupled atmosphere-ocean processes. These lead to reduced latent heat flux into the atmosphere and an associated increase in net freshwater flux into the ocean, especially in the subpolar North Atlantic. The combined result is a stronger response of the coupled system to Greenland ice sheet melting Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic Max Planck Society: MPG.PuRe Surveys in Geophysics 32 4-5 621 642 |
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Max Planck Society: MPG.PuRe |
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ftpubman |
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English |
description |
We investigate the transient response of the global coupled ocean-atmosphere system to enhanced freshwater forcing representative of melting of the Greenland ice sheets. A 50-year long simulation by a coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model (CGCM) is compared with another of the same length in which Greenland melting is prescribed. To highlight the importance of coupled atmosphere-ocean processes, the CGCM results are compared with those of two other experiments carried out with the oceanic general circulation model (OGCM). In one of these OGCM experiments, the prescribed surface fluxes of heat, momentum and freshwater correspond to the unperturbed simulation by the CGCM; in the other experiment, Greenland melting is added to the freshwater flux. The responses by the CGCM and OGCM to the Greenland melting have similar patterns in the Atlantic, albeit the former having five times larger amplitudes in sea surface height anomalies. The CGCM shows likewise stronger variability in all state variables in all ocean basins because the impact of Greenland melting is quickly communicated to all ocean basins via atmospheric bridges. We conclude that the response of the global climate to Greenland ice melting is highly dependent on coupled atmosphere-ocean processes. These lead to reduced latent heat flux into the atmosphere and an associated increase in net freshwater flux into the ocean, especially in the subpolar North Atlantic. The combined result is a stronger response of the coupled system to Greenland ice sheet melting |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stammer, D. Agarwal, N. Herrmann, P. Köhl, A. Mechoso, C. |
spellingShingle |
Stammer, D. Agarwal, N. Herrmann, P. Köhl, A. Mechoso, C. Response of a Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Model to Greenland Ice Melting |
author_facet |
Stammer, D. Agarwal, N. Herrmann, P. Köhl, A. Mechoso, C. |
author_sort |
Stammer, D. |
title |
Response of a Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Model to Greenland Ice Melting |
title_short |
Response of a Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Model to Greenland Ice Melting |
title_full |
Response of a Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Model to Greenland Ice Melting |
title_fullStr |
Response of a Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Model to Greenland Ice Melting |
title_full_unstemmed |
Response of a Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Model to Greenland Ice Melting |
title_sort |
response of a coupled ocean-atmosphere model to greenland ice melting |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-0012-3050-7 |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic |
op_source |
Surveys in Geophysics |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1007/s10712-011-9142-2 http://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-0012-3050-7 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-011-9142-2 |
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Surveys in Geophysics |
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32 |
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4-5 |
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621 |
op_container_end_page |
642 |
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1810445643414503424 |