A comparison between general circulation model simulations using two sea surface temperature datasets for January 1979
- Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
- California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (United States)
Simulations with the UCLA atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) using two different global sea surface temperature (SST) datasets for January 1979 are compared. One of these datasets is based on COADS (SSTs) at locations where they are ship reports, and climatology elsewhere; the other is derived from measurements by instruments onboard NOAA satellites. In the former dataset (COADS SST), data are concentrated along shipping routes in the Northern Hemisphere; in the latter dataset (HIRS SST), data cover the global domain. Ensembles of five 30-day mean fields are obtained from integrations performed in the perpetual-January mode. The results are presented as anomalies, that is, departures of each ensemble mean from that produced in a control simulation with climatological SSTs. Large differences are found between the anomalies obtained using COADS and HIRS SSTs, even in the Northern Hemisphere when the datasets are most similar to each other. The internal variability of the circulation in the control simulation and the simulated atmospheric response to anomalous forcings appear to be linked in that the pattern of geopotential height anomalies obtained using COADS SSTs resembles the first empirical orthogonal function (EOF 1) in the control simulation. The corresponding pattern obtained using HIRS SSTs is substantially different and somewhat resembles EOF 2 in the sector from central North America to central Asia. 16 refs., 7 figs.
- OSTI ID:
- 6918448
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Climate; (United States), Journal Name: Journal of Climate; (United States) Vol. 7:4; ISSN JLCLEL; ISSN 0894-8755
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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