4.6 Article

Examining the impact of multiple climate forcings on simulated Southern Hemisphere climate variability

Journal

CLIMATE DYNAMICS
Volume 54, Issue 11-12, Pages 4775-4792

Publisher

SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00382-020-05253-y

Keywords

Dipole-like sea-ice pattern; Coupled interaction; Feedback mechanism; ESM; Model sensitivity; SAM

Funding

  1. National Research foundation (NRF) through the Alliance for Collaboration on Climate & Earth Systems Science (ACCESS) [114689]
  2. iDEWS project under Japan Science and Technology Agency/Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development through the Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS)
  3. ACCESS in South Africa

Ask authors/readers for more resources

The study examines the influence of external climate forcings, and atmosphere-ocean-sea-ice coupled interaction on the Southern Hemisphere (SH) atmospheric circulation variability. We analysed observed and simulated changes in view of Antarctic sea-ice and Southern Ocean surface temperature trends over recent decades. The experiment embraces both idealised and comprehensive methods that involves an Earth System Model (ESM) prototype. The sensitivity experiment is conducted in a manner that decomposes the signatures of sea-ice, sea surface temperature and feedback mechanisms. The results reveal that the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) multidecadal variability is found to be modulated by coupled interactions whereas its sub-seasonal to interannual vacillation seems to follow a random trajectory. The latter may strengthen the notion that its predictability is limited even with the use of ESMs. Most of the atmospheric circulation variability and recent changes may be explained by the ocean thermal forcing and coupled interactions. However, the influence of sea-ice forcing alone is largely indistinguishable and predominantly localised in nature. The result also confirms that the Antarctic dipole-like sea-ice pattern, a leading climate mode in the SH, has intensified in the last three decades irrespective of season. The probable indication is that processes within the Southern Ocean may play a key role, which deserves further investigation.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.6
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available