TY - CHAP
T1 - The Southern Oscillation in a Coupled GCM
T2 - Implications for Climate Sensitivity and Climate Change
AU - Meehl, Gerald A.
PY - 1991/1/1
Y1 - 1991/1/1
N2 - Results are presented from a global coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation climate model developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The atmospheric part of the coupled model is a global spectral (R15, 4.5° latitude by 7.5° longitude, 9 layers in the vertical) general circulation model. The ocean is a coarse-grid (5° latitude by 5° longitude, 4 layers in the vertical) global general circulation model. The coupled model includes a simple thermodynamic sea-ice model. Due mainly to inherent limitations in the ocean model, the coupled model simulates sea surface temperatures that are too low in the tropics and too high in the extratropics in the mean. In spite of these limitations, the coupled model simulates active interannual variability of the global climate system involving signals in the tropical Pacific that resemble, in some respects, the observed Southern Oscillation. These signals in the tropics are associated with teleconnections to the extratropics of both hemispheres. The implications of this model-simulated interannual variability of the coupled system relating to climate sensitivity and climate change due to an increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide are discussed.
AB - Results are presented from a global coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation climate model developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The atmospheric part of the coupled model is a global spectral (R15, 4.5° latitude by 7.5° longitude, 9 layers in the vertical) general circulation model. The ocean is a coarse-grid (5° latitude by 5° longitude, 4 layers in the vertical) global general circulation model. The coupled model includes a simple thermodynamic sea-ice model. Due mainly to inherent limitations in the ocean model, the coupled model simulates sea surface temperatures that are too low in the tropics and too high in the extratropics in the mean. In spite of these limitations, the coupled model simulates active interannual variability of the global climate system involving signals in the tropical Pacific that resemble, in some respects, the observed Southern Oscillation. These signals in the tropics are associated with teleconnections to the extratropics of both hemispheres. The implications of this model-simulated interannual variability of the coupled system relating to climate sensitivity and climate change due to an increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide are discussed.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84873006604
U2 - 10.1016/B978-0-444-88351-3.50015-5
DO - 10.1016/B978-0-444-88351-3.50015-5
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:84873006604
T3 - Developments in Atmospheric Science
SP - 111
EP - 128
BT - Developments in Atmospheric Science
ER -