How Asymmetries Between Arctic and Antarctic Climate Sensitivity Are Modified by the Ocean
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- Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science Richland WA USA, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences University of Victoria Victoria British Columbia Canada
- Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science Richland WA USA
Abstract We investigate how the ocean response to CO 2 forcing affects hemispheric asymmetries in polar climate sensitivity. Intermodel comparison of Phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project CO 2 quadrupling experiments shows that even in models where hemispheric ocean heat uptake differences are small, Arctic warming still exceeds Antarctic warming. The polar climate impact of this evolving ocean response to CO 2 forcing is then isolated using slab ocean experiments in a state‐of‐the‐art climate model. Overall, feedbacks over the Southern Hemisphere more effectively dissipate top‐of‐atmosphere anomalies than those over the Northern Hemisphere. Furthermore, a poleward shift in ocean heat convergence in both hemispheres amplifies destabilizing ice albedo and lapse rate feedbacks over the Arctic much more so than over the Antarctic. These results suggest that the Arctic is intrinsically more sensitive to both CO 2 and oceanic forcings than the Antarctic and that ocean‐driven climate sensitivity asymmetry arises from feedback destabilization over the Arctic rather than feedback stabilization over the Antarctic.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC0576RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 1485697
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1485698; OSTI ID: 1490383
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-139104
- Journal Information:
- Geophysical Research Letters, Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters Vol. 45 Journal Issue: 23; ISSN 0094-8276
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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