Distilling the Evolving Contributions of Anthropogenic Aerosols and Greenhouse Gases to Large‐Scale Low‐Frequency Surface Ocean Changes Over the Past Century
[1];
[2];
[4];
[5]
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences University of Colorado Boulder Boulder CO USA, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences University of California Los Angeles Los Angeles CA USA
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences University of Colorado Boulder Boulder CO USA, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences University of Colorado Boulder Boulder CO USA
- Climate and Global Dynamics Division NCAR Boulder CO USA
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences University of Colorado Boulder Boulder CO USA, Physical Sciences Laboratory NOAA Boulder CO USA
- Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences University of Colorado Boulder Boulder CO USA
Abstract Anthropogenic aerosols (AER) and greenhouse gases (GHG)—the leading drivers of the forced historical change—produce different large‐scale climate response patterns, with correlations trending from negative to positive over the past century. To understand what caused the time‐evolving comparison between GHG and AER response patterns, we apply a low‐frequency component analysis to historical surface ocean changes from CESM1 single‐forcing large‐ensemble simulations. While GHG response is characterized by its first leading mode, AER response consists of two distinct modes. The first one, featuring long‐term global AER increase and global cooling, opposes GHG response patterns up to the mid‐twentieth century. The second one, featuring multidecadal variations in AER distributions and interhemispheric asymmetric surface ocean changes, appears to reinforce the GHG warming effect over recent decades. AER thus can have both competing and synergistic effects with GHG as their emissions change temporally and spatially.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0023228
- OSTI ID:
- 2478576
- Journal Information:
- Geophysical Research Letters, Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters Journal Issue: 22 Vol. 51; ISSN 0094-8276
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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