Observed decadal North Atlantic tripole SST variability. Part I: Weather noise forcing and coupled response

Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences

Volumn 69, Issue 1, 2012, Pages 35-50

  Fan, Meizhu ^a   Schneider, Edwin K ^b,c  

^a OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS   (United States)

^b GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^c CENTER FOR OCEAN LAND ATMOSPHERE STUDIES   (United States)

Author keywords

Atmosphere ocean interaction; Coupled models; North Atlantic Ocean; North Atlantic Oscillation; Stochastic models

Indexed keywords

ATMOSPHERE-OCEAN INTERACTIONS; ATMOSPHERIC FEEDBACKS; COUPLED MODELS; COUPLED RESPONSE; DECADAL VARIABILITY; MERIDIONAL OVERTURNING CIRCULATIONS; NORTH ATLANTIC; NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN; NORTH ATLANTIC OSCILLATIONS; OCEAN CIRCULATION; REANALYSIS; STRESS FEEDBACKS; SURFACE FLUX; SURFACE HEAT FLUXES; TWENTIETH CENTURY;

ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE; ATMOSPHERIC THERMODYNAMICS; HEAT FLUX; STOCHASTIC MODELS; SURFACE MEASUREMENT; WIND STRESS;

OCEANOGRAPHY;

ATMOSPHERE-OCEAN COUPLING; COMPUTER SIMULATION; DECADAL VARIATION; HEAT FLUX; NUMERICAL MODEL; OCEANIC CIRCULATION; SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE; STOCHASTICITY;

ATLANTIC OCEAN; ATLANTIC OCEAN (NORTH);

EID: 84855813443     PISSN: 00224928     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1175/JAS-D-11-018.1     Document Type: Article

References (51)

1. Barnston, A. G., and R. E. Livezey, 1987: Classification, seasonality and persistence of low-frequency atmospheric circulation patterns. Mon. Wea. Rev., 115, 1083-1126.
2. Barsugli, J. J., and D. S. Battisti, 1998: The basic effects of atmosphere-ocean thermal coupling on midlatitude variability. J. Atmos. Sci., 55, 477-493.
3. Battisti, D. S., U. S. Bhatt, and M. A. Alexander, 1995:A modeling study of the interannual variability in the wintertime North Atlantic Ocean. J. Climate, 8, 3067-3083.
4. Bellucci, A., S. Gualdi, E. Scoccimarro, and A. Navarra, 2008: NAO-ocean circulation interactions in a coupled general circulation model. Climate Dyn., 31, 759-777.
5. Blanke, B., J. D. Neelin, and D. Gutzler, 1997: Estimating the effect of stochastic wind stress forcing on ENSO irregularity. J. Climate, 10, 1473-1486.
6. Bretherton, C. S., and D. S. Battisti, 2000: An interpretation of the results from atmospheric general circulation models forced by the time history of the observed sea surface temperature distribution. Geophys. Res. Lett., 27, 767-770.
7. Cayan, D. R., 1992a: Latent and sensible heat flux anomalies over the northern oceans: The connection to monthly atmospheric circulation. J. Climate, 5, 354-369.
8. Cayan, D. R., 1992b: Latent and sensible heat flux anomalies over the northern oceans: Driving the sea surface temperature. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 22, 859-881.
9. Czaja, A., and C. Frankignoul, 1999: Influence of North Atlantic SST on the atmospheric circulation.Geophys. Res. Lett., 26, 2969-2972.
10. Czaja, A., and J. Marshall, 2001: Observations of atmosphere-ocean coupling in the North Atlantic. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 127, 1893-1916.
11. Deser, C., and M. L. Blackmon, 1993: Surface climate variations over the North Atlantic Ocean during winter: 1900-1989. J. Climate, 6, 1743-1753.
12. Eckert, C., andM. Latif, 1997: Predictability of a stochastically forced hybrid coupled model of El Niño. J. Climate, 10, 1488-1504.
13. Eden, C., and J. Willebrand, 2001: Mechanism of interannual to decadal variability of the North Atlantic circulation. J. Climate, 14, 2266-2280.
14. Eden, C., and R. J. Greatbatch, 2003: A damped decadal oscillation in the North Atlantic climate system. J. Climate, 16, 4043-4060.
15. Fan, M., 2008: Low frequency North Atlantic SST variability: Weather noise forcing and coupled response. Ph.D. thesis, George Mason University, 205 pp.
16. Frankignoul, C., 1985: Sea surface temperature anomalies, planetary waves and air-sea feedback in the middle latitudes. Rev. Geophys., 23, 357-390.
17. Frankignoul, C., and K. Hasselmann, 1977: Stochastic climate models, Part II. Application to sea-surface temperature anomalies and thermocline variability. Tellus, 29, 289-305.
18. Frankignoul, C., P.Müller, and E. Zorita, 1997:A simple model of the decadal response of the ocean to stochastic wind forcing. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 27, 1533-1546.
19. Frankignoul, C., A. Czaja, and B. L'Heveder, 1998: Air-sea feedback in the North Atlantic and surface boundary conditions for ocean models. J. Climate, 11, 2310-2324.
20. Gates, W. L., and Coauthors, 1999: An overview of the results of the Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP I). Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 80, 29-55.
21. Gill, A. E., 1982: Atmospheric-Ocean Dynamics. Academic Press, 666 pp.
22. Häkkinen, S., 1999: A simulation of thermohaline effects of a great salinity anomaly. J. Climate, 12, 1781-1795.
23. Hasselmann, K., 1976: Stochastic climate models. Part I: Theory. Tellus, 28, 473-485.
24. Jin, F.-F., 1997: A theory of interdecadal climate variability of the North Pacific ocean-atmosphere system. J. Climate, 10, 1821-1835.
25. Kalnay, E., and Coauthors, 1996: The NCEP/NCAR 40-Year Reanalysis Project. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 77, 437-471.
26. Kiehl, J. T., J. J.Hack, G. A. Bonin, B. A. Boville, D. L. Williamson, and P. J. Rasch, 1998: The National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Climate Model: CCM3. J. Climate, 11, 1131-1149.
27. Kirtman, B. P., and J. Shukla, 2002: Interactive coupled ensemble: A new coupling strategy for CGCMs. Geophys. Res. Lett., 29, 1367, doi:10.1029/2002GL014834.
28. Kirtman, B. P., Y. Fan, and E. K. Schneider, 2002: The COLA global coupled and anomaly coupled ocean-atmosphere GCM. J. Climate, 15, 2301-2320.
29. Kleeman, R., and A. M. Moore, 1997:Atheory for the limitation of ENSO predictability due to stochastic atmospheric transients. J. Atmos. Sci., 54, 753-767.
30. Knight, J. R., R. J.Allan, C.K.Folland, M.Vellinga, andM. E.Mann, 2005: A signature of persistent natural thermohaline circulation cycles in observed climate. Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L20708.
31. Kushnir, Y., 1994: Interdecadal variations in North Atlantic sea surface temperature and associated atmospheric circulation. J. Climate, 7, 141-157.
32. Kushnir, Y., W. A. Robinson, I. Bladé, N. M. J. Hall, S. Peng, and R. Sutton, 2002: Atmospheric GCM response to extratropical SST anomalies: Synthesis and evaluation. J. Climate, 15, 2233-2256.
33. Latif, M., 1998: Dynamics of interdecadal variability in coupled ocean-atmosphere models. J. Climate, 11, 602-624.
34. Latif, M., C.Böning, J.Willebrand, A.Biastoch, J.Dengg, N. Keenlyside, U. Schweckendiek, and G. Madec, 2006: Is the thermohaline circulation changing? J. Climate, 19, 4631-4637.
35. Levitus, S., J. Antonov, and T. Boyer, 1994: Interannual variability of temperature at a depth of 125 m in the North Atlantic Ocean. Science, 266, 96-99.
36. Marshall, J., H. Johnson, and J. Goodman, 2001: A study of the interaction of the North Atlantic Oscillation with the ocean circulation. J. Climate, 14, 1399-1421.
37. Minobe, S., A. Kuwano-Yoshida, N. Komori, S.-P. Xie, and R. J. Small, 2008: Influence of the Gulf Stream on the troposphere. Nature, 452, 206-209.
38. Molinari, R. L., D. A. Mayer, J. F. Festa, and H. F. Bezdek, 1997: Multi-year variability in the near-surface temperature structure of the midlatitude western North Atlantic Ocean. J. Geophys. Res., 102, 3267-3278.
39. Pacanowski, R. C., and S. M. Griffies, 1998: MOM 3.0 manual. NOAA/Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, 668 pp.
40. Rodwell, M. J., 2003: On the predictability of North Atlantic climate. The North Atlantic Oscillation: Climatic Significance and Environmental Impact, Geophys. Monogr., Vol. 134, Amer. Geophys. Union, 173-192.
41. Rodwell, M. J., and C. Folland, 2002: Atlantic air-sea interaction and seasonal predictability. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 128, 1413-1443.
42. Sarachik, E. S., M. Winton, and F. L. Yin, 1996: Mechanisms for decadal-to-centennial climate variability. Decadal Climate Variability: Dynamics and Predictability, D. L. T. Anderson and J. Willebrand, Eds., NATO ASI Series, Vol. 44, Springer-Verlag, 158-210.
43. Schneider, E. K., and M. Fan, 2007: Weather noise forcing of surface climate variability. J. Atmos. Sci., 64, 3265-3280.
44. Schneider, E. K., and M. Fan, 2012: Observed decadal North Atlantic tripole SST variability. Part II: Diagnosis of mechanisms. J. Atmos. Sci., 69, 51-64.
45. Seager, R., Y.Kushnir, M. Visbeck, N. Naik, J.Miller, G.Krahmann, and H. Cullen, 2000: Causes of Atlantic Ocean climate variability between 1958 and 1998. J. Climate, 13, 2845-2862.
46. Smith, T. M., R. W. Reynolds, T. C. Peterson, and J. Lawrimore, 2008: Improvements to NOAA's historical merged land-ocean surface temperature analysis (1880-2006). J. Climate, 21, 2283-2296.
47. Visbeck, M., E. P. Chassignet, R. G. Curry, T. L. Delworth, R. R. Dickson, and G. Krahmann, 2003: The ocean's response to North Atlantic Oscillation variability. The North Atlantic Oscillation: Climatic Significance and Environmental Impact, Geophys.Monogr., Vol. 134, Amer. Geophys. Union, 113-145.
48. Weng, W., and J.D. Neelin, 1998: On the role of ocean-atmosphere interaction in midlatitude interdecadal variability. Geophys. Res. Lett., 25, 167-170.
49. Wu, L., and Z. Liu, 2005: North Atlantic decadal variability: Air- sea coupling, oceanic memory, and potential Northern Hemisphere resonance. J. Climate, 18, 331-349.
50. Wu, Z., E. K. Schneider, and B. P. Kirtman, 2004: Causes of low frequency North Atlantic SST variability in a coupled GCM. Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L09210, doi:10.1029/2004GL019548.
51. Xue, Y., P. J. Sellers, J. L. Kinter III, and J. Shukla, 1991: A simplified biosphere model for global climate studies. J. Climate, 4, 345-364.