GLORIA

GEOMAR Library Ocean Research Information Access

X

Your email was sent successfully. Check your inbox.

An error occurred while sending the email. Please try again.

Proceed reservation?

Export
Filter
  • Dewitte, Boris  (3)
  • 2010-2014  (3)
  • Physics  (3)
Material
Publisher
Person/Organisation
Language
Years
  • 2010-2014  (3)
Year
Subjects(RVK)
  • Physics  (3)
RVK
  • 1
    Online Resource
    Online Resource
    Sensitivity of ENSO to Stratification in a Recharge–Discharge Conceptual Model
    American Meteorological Society ; 2011
    In:  Journal of Climate Vol. 24, No. 16 ( 2011-08-15), p. 4332-4349
    Details
    In: Journal of Climate, American Meteorological Society, Vol. 24, No. 16 ( 2011-08-15), p. 4332-4349
    Abstract: El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is driven by large-scale ocean–atmosphere interactions in the equatorial Pacific and is sensitive to change in the mean state. Whereas conceptual models of ENSO usually consider the depth of the thermocline to be influential on the stability of ENSO, the observed changes in the depth of the 20°C isotherm are rather weak, on the order of approximately 5 m over the last decades. Conversely, change in stratification that affects both the intensity and sharpness of the thermocline can be pronounced. Here, the two-strip conceptual model of An and Jin is extended to include three parameters (i.e., the contribution of the first three baroclinic modes) that account for the main characteristics of the mean thermocline vertical structure. A stability analysis of the model is carried out that indicates that the model sustains a lower ENSO mode when the high-order baroclinic modes (M2 and M3) are considered. The sensitivity of the model solution to the coupling efficiency further indicates that, in the weak coupling regime, the model allows for several ocean basin modes at low frequency. The latter can eventually merge into a low-frequency and unstable mode representative of ENSO as the coupling efficiency increases. Also, higher baroclinic modes project more energy onto the ocean dynamics for the same input of wind forcing. Therefore, in this study’s model, a shallower, yet more intense mean thermocline may still sustain a strong (i.e., unstable) and low-frequency ENSO mode. Sensitivity tests to the strength of the two dominant feedbacks (thermocline vs zonal advection) indicate that the presence of high-order baroclinic modes favors the bifurcation from a low-frequency regime to a higher-frequency regime when the zonal advective feedback is enhanced. It is suggested that the proposed formalism can be used to interpret and measure the sensitivity of coupled general circulation models to climate change.
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 0894-8755 , 1520-0442
    URL: Article
    DOI: 10.1175/2011JCLI4148.1
    RVK:
    UA 4548
    Language: English
    Publisher: American Meteorological Society
    Publication Date: 2011
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 246750-1
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2021723-7
    Location Call Number Limitation Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
    Online Resource
  • 2
    Online Resource
    Online Resource
    Influence of Recent Stratification Changes on ENSO Stability in a Conceptual Model of the Equatorial Pacific
    American Meteorological Society ; 2013
    In:  Journal of Climate Vol. 26, No. 13 ( 2013-07-01), p. 4790-4802
    Details
    In: Journal of Climate, American Meteorological Society, Vol. 26, No. 13 ( 2013-07-01), p. 4790-4802
    Abstract: Changes in the mean circulation of the equatorial Pacific Ocean partly control the strong decadal modulation of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). This relationship is considered from the linear stability of a conceptual recharge/discharge model with parameters tuned from the observed mean state. Whereas decadal changes in the mean thermocline depth alone are usually considered in conceptual ENSO models, here focus is given to decadal changes in the mean stratification of the entire upper ocean (e.g., the mean thermocline depth, intensity, and thickness). Those stratification changes modify the projection of wind stress forcing momentum onto the gravest ocean baroclinic modes. Their influence on the simulated frequency and growth rate is comparable in intensity to the one of usual thermodynamic and atmospheric feedbacks, while they have here a secondary effect on the spatial structure and propagation of SST anomalies. This sensitivity is evidenced in particular for the climate shift of the 1970s in the Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA) dataset, as well as in a preindustrial simulation of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) model showing stratification changes similar to the ones after 2000. Despite limitations of the linear stability approach, conclusions on the sensitivity to stratification may be extended to interpret the modulation and diversity of ENSO in observations and in general circulation models.
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 0894-8755 , 1520-0442
    URL: Article
    DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00363.1
    RVK:
    UA 4548
    Language: English
    Publisher: American Meteorological Society
    Publication Date: 2013
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 246750-1
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2021723-7
    Location Call Number Limitation Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
    Online Resource
  • 3
    Online Resource
    Online Resource
    ENSO Feedbacks and Associated Time Scales of Variability in a Multimodel Ensemble
    American Meteorological Society ; 2010
    In:  Journal of Climate Vol. 23, No. 12 ( 2010-06-15), p. 3181-3204
    Details
    In: Journal of Climate, American Meteorological Society, Vol. 23, No. 12 ( 2010-06-15), p. 3181-3204
    Abstract: The background state of the equatorial Pacific determines the prevalence of a “slow” recharge oscillator-type ENSO over a “fast” quasi-biennial surface-driven ENSO. The first is controlled to a large extent by the thermocline feedback, whereas the latter is related to enhanced zonal advective feedback. In this study, dynamical diagnostics are used to investigate the relative importance of these two feedbacks in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project and its relation with the differences in ENSO-like variability among the models. The focus is on the role of the mean oceanic surface circulation in controlling the relative weight of the two feedbacks. By the means of an intermediate-type ocean model of the tropical Pacific “tuned” from the coupled general circulation model (CGCM) outputs, the contribution of the advection terms (vertical versus zonal) to the rate of SST change is estimated. A new finding is that biases in the advection terms are to a large extent related to the biases in the mean surface circulation. The latter are used to infer the dominant ENSO feedback for each CGCM. This allows for the classification of the CGCMs into three groups that account for the dominant feedback process of the ENSO cycle: horizontal advection (mainly in the western Pacific), vertical advection (mainly in the eastern Pacific), and the combination of both mechanisms. Based on such classification, the analysis also reveals that the models exhibit distinctive behavior with respect to the characteristics of ENSO: for most models, an enhanced (diminished) contribution of the zonal advective feedback is associated with faster (slower) ENSO and a tendency toward a cooler (warmer) mean state in the western-to-central Pacific Ocean. The results support the interpretation that biases in the mean state are sustained/maintained by the privileged mode of variability associated with the dominant feedback mechanism in the models. In particular, the models having a dominant zonal advective feedback exhibit significant cold SST asymmetry (or negative skewness) in the western equatorial Pacific.
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 1520-0442 , 0894-8755
    URL: Article
    DOI: 10.1175/2010JCLI2830.1
    RVK:
    UA 4548
    Language: English
    Publisher: American Meteorological Society
    Publication Date: 2010
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 246750-1
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2021723-7
    Location Call Number Limitation Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
    Online Resource
Close ⊗
This website uses cookies and the analysis tool Matomo. More information can be found here...