Meridional energy transport in the coupled atmosphere-ocean system: Compensation and partitioning
Published Journal Article The variability and compensation of the meridional energy transport in the atmosphere and ocean are examined with the state-of-the-art GFDL Climate Model, version 2.1 (CM2.1), and the GFDL Intermediate Complexity Coupled Model (ICCM). On decadal time scales, a high degree o...
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ftunivexeter:oai:ore.exeter.ac.uk:10871/21169 2024-09-15T18:24:11+00:00 Meridional energy transport in the coupled atmosphere-ocean system: Compensation and partitioning Farneti, R Vallis, GK 2013 http://hdl.handle.net/10871/21169 https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00133.1 en eng American Meteorological Society http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/full/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00133.1 Vol. 26, No. 18, pp. 7151-7166 doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00133.1 http://hdl.handle.net/10871/21169 0894-8755 1520-0442 Journal of Climate 3999 Under indefinite embargo due to publisher policy. The final version is available from American Meteorological Society via the DOI in this record. Energy transport Meridional overturning circulation Atmosphere-ocean interaction Article 2013 ftunivexeter https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00133.1 2024-07-29T03:24:15Z Published Journal Article The variability and compensation of the meridional energy transport in the atmosphere and ocean are examined with the state-of-the-art GFDL Climate Model, version 2.1 (CM2.1), and the GFDL Intermediate Complexity Coupled Model (ICCM). On decadal time scales, a high degree of compensation between the energy transport in the atmosphere (AHT) and ocean (OHT) is found in the North Atlantic. The variability of the total or planetary heat transport (PHT) is much smaller than the variability in either AHT or OHT alone, a feature referred to as "Bjerknes compensation." Natural decadal variability stems from the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), which leadsOHTvariability. The PHT is positively correlated with the OHT, implying that the atmosphere is compensating, but imperfectly, for variations in ocean transport. Because of the fundamental role of the AMOC in generating the decadal OHT anomalies, Bjerknes compensation is expected to be active only in coupled models with a low-frequency AMOC spectral peak. The AHT and the transport in the oceanic gyres are positively correlated because the gyre transport responds to the atmospheric winds, thereby militating against long-term variability involving the wind-driven flow. Moisture and sensible heat transports in the atmosphere are also positively correlated at decadal time scales. The authors further explore the mechanisms and degree of compensation with a simple, diffusive, two-layer energy balance model. Taken together, these results suggest that compensation can be interpreted as arising from the highly efficient nature of the meridional energy transport in the atmosphere responding to ocean variability rather than any a priori need for the top-of-atmosphere radiation budget to be fixed. © 2013 American Meteorological Society. The work was funded by the NSF under Grant AGS-1144302 and by the DOE under award DE-971 SC0005189 Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic University of Exeter: Open Research Exeter (ORE) Journal of Climate 26 18 7151 7166 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Exeter: Open Research Exeter (ORE) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivexeter |
language |
English |
topic |
Energy transport Meridional overturning circulation Atmosphere-ocean interaction |
spellingShingle |
Energy transport Meridional overturning circulation Atmosphere-ocean interaction Farneti, R Vallis, GK Meridional energy transport in the coupled atmosphere-ocean system: Compensation and partitioning |
topic_facet |
Energy transport Meridional overturning circulation Atmosphere-ocean interaction |
description |
Published Journal Article The variability and compensation of the meridional energy transport in the atmosphere and ocean are examined with the state-of-the-art GFDL Climate Model, version 2.1 (CM2.1), and the GFDL Intermediate Complexity Coupled Model (ICCM). On decadal time scales, a high degree of compensation between the energy transport in the atmosphere (AHT) and ocean (OHT) is found in the North Atlantic. The variability of the total or planetary heat transport (PHT) is much smaller than the variability in either AHT or OHT alone, a feature referred to as "Bjerknes compensation." Natural decadal variability stems from the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), which leadsOHTvariability. The PHT is positively correlated with the OHT, implying that the atmosphere is compensating, but imperfectly, for variations in ocean transport. Because of the fundamental role of the AMOC in generating the decadal OHT anomalies, Bjerknes compensation is expected to be active only in coupled models with a low-frequency AMOC spectral peak. The AHT and the transport in the oceanic gyres are positively correlated because the gyre transport responds to the atmospheric winds, thereby militating against long-term variability involving the wind-driven flow. Moisture and sensible heat transports in the atmosphere are also positively correlated at decadal time scales. The authors further explore the mechanisms and degree of compensation with a simple, diffusive, two-layer energy balance model. Taken together, these results suggest that compensation can be interpreted as arising from the highly efficient nature of the meridional energy transport in the atmosphere responding to ocean variability rather than any a priori need for the top-of-atmosphere radiation budget to be fixed. © 2013 American Meteorological Society. The work was funded by the NSF under Grant AGS-1144302 and by the DOE under award DE-971 SC0005189 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Farneti, R Vallis, GK |
author_facet |
Farneti, R Vallis, GK |
author_sort |
Farneti, R |
title |
Meridional energy transport in the coupled atmosphere-ocean system: Compensation and partitioning |
title_short |
Meridional energy transport in the coupled atmosphere-ocean system: Compensation and partitioning |
title_full |
Meridional energy transport in the coupled atmosphere-ocean system: Compensation and partitioning |
title_fullStr |
Meridional energy transport in the coupled atmosphere-ocean system: Compensation and partitioning |
title_full_unstemmed |
Meridional energy transport in the coupled atmosphere-ocean system: Compensation and partitioning |
title_sort |
meridional energy transport in the coupled atmosphere-ocean system: compensation and partitioning |
publisher |
American Meteorological Society |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10871/21169 https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00133.1 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/full/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00133.1 Vol. 26, No. 18, pp. 7151-7166 doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00133.1 http://hdl.handle.net/10871/21169 0894-8755 1520-0442 Journal of Climate |
op_rights |
3999 Under indefinite embargo due to publisher policy. The final version is available from American Meteorological Society via the DOI in this record. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00133.1 |
container_title |
Journal of Climate |
container_volume |
26 |
container_issue |
18 |
container_start_page |
7151 |
op_container_end_page |
7166 |
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1810464487843561472 |