The Atlantic inflow across the Greenland-Scotland ridge in global climate models (CMIP5)
Oceanic heat transport from the North Atlantic to the Arctic through the Nordic Seas is a key component of the climate system that has to be modelled accurately in order to predict, for example, future Arctic sea ice changes or European climate. Here we quantify biases in the climatological state an...
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ftunivbergen:oai:bora.uib.no:1956/22405 2023-05-15T14:55:52+02:00 The Atlantic inflow across the Greenland-Scotland ridge in global climate models (CMIP5) Heuzé, Céline Årthun, Marius 2020-01-29T14:14:36Z application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/1956/22405 https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.354 eng eng University of California Press https://www.elementascience.org/articles/10.1525/elementa.354/ Norges forskningsråd: 263223 urn:issn:2325-1026 https://hdl.handle.net/1956/22405 https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.354 cristin:1727633 Attribution CC BY http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Copyright 2019 The Author(s) Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene Oceanic heat transport Nordic seas CMIP5 models Climate models Peer reviewed Journal article 2020 ftunivbergen https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.354 2023-03-14T17:39:08Z Oceanic heat transport from the North Atlantic to the Arctic through the Nordic Seas is a key component of the climate system that has to be modelled accurately in order to predict, for example, future Arctic sea ice changes or European climate. Here we quantify biases in the climatological state and dynamics of the transport of oceanic heat into the Nordic Seas across the Greenland-Scotland ridge in 23 state-of-the-art global climate models that participated in the Climate Model Intercomparison Project phase 5. The mean poleward heat transport, its seasonal cycle and interannual variability are inconsistently represented across these models, with a vast majority underestimating them and a few models greatly overestimating them. The main predictor for these biases is the resolution of the model via its representation of the Greenland-Scotland ridge bathymetry: the higher the resolution, the larger the heat transport through the section. The second predictor is the large-scale ocean circulation, which is also connected to the bathymetry: models with the largest heat transport import water from the European slope current into all three straits of the Greenland-Scotland ridge, whereas those with a weak transport import water from the Labrador Sea. The third predictor is the spatial pattern of their main atmospheric modes of variability (North Atlantic Oscillation, East Atlantic and Scandinavian patterns), where the models with a weak inflow have their atmospheric low-pressure centre shifted south towards the central Atlantic. We argue that the key to a better representation of the large-scale oceanic heat transport from the North Atlantic to the Arctic in global models resides not only in higher resolution, but also in a better bathymetry and representation of the complex ocean-ice-atmosphere interactions. publishedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Greenland Greenland-Scotland Ridge Labrador Sea Nordic Seas North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Sea ice University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) Arctic Greenland Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene 7 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivbergen |
language |
English |
topic |
Oceanic heat transport Nordic seas CMIP5 models Climate models |
spellingShingle |
Oceanic heat transport Nordic seas CMIP5 models Climate models Heuzé, Céline Årthun, Marius The Atlantic inflow across the Greenland-Scotland ridge in global climate models (CMIP5) |
topic_facet |
Oceanic heat transport Nordic seas CMIP5 models Climate models |
description |
Oceanic heat transport from the North Atlantic to the Arctic through the Nordic Seas is a key component of the climate system that has to be modelled accurately in order to predict, for example, future Arctic sea ice changes or European climate. Here we quantify biases in the climatological state and dynamics of the transport of oceanic heat into the Nordic Seas across the Greenland-Scotland ridge in 23 state-of-the-art global climate models that participated in the Climate Model Intercomparison Project phase 5. The mean poleward heat transport, its seasonal cycle and interannual variability are inconsistently represented across these models, with a vast majority underestimating them and a few models greatly overestimating them. The main predictor for these biases is the resolution of the model via its representation of the Greenland-Scotland ridge bathymetry: the higher the resolution, the larger the heat transport through the section. The second predictor is the large-scale ocean circulation, which is also connected to the bathymetry: models with the largest heat transport import water from the European slope current into all three straits of the Greenland-Scotland ridge, whereas those with a weak transport import water from the Labrador Sea. The third predictor is the spatial pattern of their main atmospheric modes of variability (North Atlantic Oscillation, East Atlantic and Scandinavian patterns), where the models with a weak inflow have their atmospheric low-pressure centre shifted south towards the central Atlantic. We argue that the key to a better representation of the large-scale oceanic heat transport from the North Atlantic to the Arctic in global models resides not only in higher resolution, but also in a better bathymetry and representation of the complex ocean-ice-atmosphere interactions. publishedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Heuzé, Céline Årthun, Marius |
author_facet |
Heuzé, Céline Årthun, Marius |
author_sort |
Heuzé, Céline |
title |
The Atlantic inflow across the Greenland-Scotland ridge in global climate models (CMIP5) |
title_short |
The Atlantic inflow across the Greenland-Scotland ridge in global climate models (CMIP5) |
title_full |
The Atlantic inflow across the Greenland-Scotland ridge in global climate models (CMIP5) |
title_fullStr |
The Atlantic inflow across the Greenland-Scotland ridge in global climate models (CMIP5) |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Atlantic inflow across the Greenland-Scotland ridge in global climate models (CMIP5) |
title_sort |
atlantic inflow across the greenland-scotland ridge in global climate models (cmip5) |
publisher |
University of California Press |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1956/22405 https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.354 |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Greenland Greenland-Scotland Ridge Labrador Sea Nordic Seas North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Greenland Greenland-Scotland Ridge Labrador Sea Nordic Seas North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Sea ice |
op_source |
Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene |
op_relation |
https://www.elementascience.org/articles/10.1525/elementa.354/ Norges forskningsråd: 263223 urn:issn:2325-1026 https://hdl.handle.net/1956/22405 https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.354 cristin:1727633 |
op_rights |
Attribution CC BY http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Copyright 2019 The Author(s) |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.354 |
container_title |
Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene |
container_volume |
7 |
_version_ |
1766327884318769152 |