Subtropical Eastern North Pacific SST bias in earth system models

Balaguru, Karthik; Van Roekel, Luke; Leung, Lai-Yung; Veneziani, Milena

doi:10.1029/2021JC017359

Subtropical Eastern North Pacific SST bias in earth system models

Journal Article · 01 August 2021 · Journal of Geophysical Research. C. (Oceans)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JC017359· OSTI ID:1823095

^[1]; Van Roekel, Luke ^[2]; ^[1]; Veneziani, Milena ^[2]

BATTELLE (PACIFIC NW LAB)
Los Alamos National Laboratory

Karthik Balaguru (PNNL), Luke Van Roekel (LLNL), L. Ruby Leung (PNNL) and Milena Veneziani (LLNL) Abstract: This study systematically evaluates the warm SST bias in the Subtropical Eastern North Pacific (SENP), a problem plaguing most CMIP6 models, using the Energy Exascale Earth System Model version 1 (E3SM). Compared to the model at its standard resolution (1o atmosphere, 30-60 km ocean), the SST bias improves in several regions at high resolution (0.25o atmosphere, 18-6 km ocean) except in subtropical eastern boundary regions, such as the SENP. A mixed layer heat budget analysis reveals that errors in the surface radiative fluxes and horizontal heat advection are primarily responsible for the bias. Analysis of HighResMIP models indicates that the lack of improvement in the SENP SST bias with resolution is not native to E3SM alone. A larger CMIP6 inter-model correlation of SST bias with biases in surface winds than radiation highlights the important role of large-scale circulation biases in the SENP SST bias in coupled models.

Research Organization:: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

DOE Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830

OSTI ID:: 1823095

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA-160304

Journal Information:: Journal of Geophysical Research. C. (Oceans), Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research. C. (Oceans) Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 126

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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