Simulation of global warming with a simple coupled ocean-atmosphere model

Book · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:182823

Xiangze, Jin; Xuehong, Zhang ^[1]

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1. Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China). Inst. of Atmospheric Physics

A highly simplified ocean-atmosphere coupling system is established based on a two-dimensional oceanic thermohaline circulation model and an energy balance atmospheric model. Transient responses of the coupled system to a radiation forcing corresponding to the doubling of the atmospheric CO{sub 2} concentration have been investigated with an emphasis on the role of the model`s thermohaline circulation in the warming processes of the system. The results show that there are some significant differences between the Pacific and the Atlantic in their transient responses. On the whole, the warming in the Atlantic is slower in the surface and faster in the deep layers than those in the Pacific due to the process of the deep water formation in the northern North Atlantic, where the active convection and the downward vertical advection transport the surface thermal anomalies into the lower layers efficiently. On a hundred-year time scale, the thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic is weakened. As a result, the warming in the upper layer of the northern North Atlantic will be further delayed because of the reduction of the northward heat transport.

• OSTI ID: 182823
• Report Number(s): CONF-940426--; ISBN 0-923204-11-3
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR-WATER INTERACTIONS
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
ATLANTIC OCEAN
ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION
CARBON DIOXIDE
CLIMATE MODELS
ENERGY TRANSFER
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
GLOBAL ASPECTS
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
PACIFIC OCEAN
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS