The role of the hydrological cycle and the ocean`s thermohaline circulation in climate change: A multicomponent climate model study. Ph.D. Thesis

Thesis/Dissertation · Fri Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1993

OSTI ID:102039

Wang, Huaxiao

Global ocean-atmosphere and ocean-atmosphere-continental ice sheet models are developed to address the question of feedbacks between the hydrological cycle and the global thermohaline circulation capable of explaining the climate changes seen in paleoclimate records of the late Pleistocene and the last deglaciation. The ocean-atmosphere model climate system displays two distinct stable equilibria controlled by latitudinal water vapor transport and the net flux of water vapor from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. If the inter-basin transport is sufficiently large, small changes in water vapor transport over the North Atlantic can effect bifurcation; maximum difference between the modes occurs in the North Atlantic. If the inter-basin transport is from the Pacific to the Atlantic and sufficiently large, latitudinal vapor transport in the North Pacific controls the bifurcations, with maximum changes occurring in the North Pacific. For intermediate values of inter-basin transport, no rapid transitions occur in either basin. In the regime with vapor flux from the Atlantic to the Pacific, one mode has strong production of deep water in the North Atlantic and a large flux of heat to the atmosphere from the high latitude North Atlantic. The other has strong deep water production in the Southern Ocean and weak production in the North Pacific and small heat transport to high-latitude North Atlantic. The ocean-atmosphere-ice sheet system displays feedbacks which produce century/millennium time scale oscillations. The thermohaline circulation plays a central role in these feedbacks because of its transport of both heat and salt. The feedbacks could potentially play a causal role in the century/milliennium climate change seen in the paleoclimate record.

• Research Organization: Northwestern Univ., Chicago, IL (United States)
• OSTI ID: 102039
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR-WATER INTERACTIONS
CLIMATE MODELS
GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS
GLOBAL ASPECTS
HYDROLOGY
PALEOCLIMATOLOGY
WATER CURRENTS
WATER VAPOR