The Role of Atmosphere Feedbacks during ENSO in the CMIP3 Models. Part III: The Shortwave Flux Feedback - Université Pierre et Marie Curie Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Journal of Climate Année : 2012

The Role of Atmosphere Feedbacks during ENSO in the CMIP3 Models. Part III: The Shortwave Flux Feedback

Résumé

Previous studies using coupled general circulation models (GCMs) suggest that the atmosphere model plays a dominant role in the modeled El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and that intermodel differences in the thermodynamical damping of sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are a dominant contributor to the ENSO amplitude diversity. This study presents a detailed analysis of the shortwave flux feedback (αSW) in 12 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 3 (CMIP3) simulations, motivated by findings that αSW is the primary contributor to model thermodynamical damping errors. A “feedback decomposition method,” developed to elucidate the αSW biases, shows that all models underestimate the dynamical atmospheric response to SSTs in the eastern equatorial Pacific, leading to underestimated αSW values. Biases in the cloud response to dynamics and the shortwave interception by clouds also contribute to errors in αSW. Changes in the αSW feedback between the coupled and corresponding atmosphere-only simulations are related to changes in the mean dynamics. A large nonlinearity is found in the observed and modeled SW flux feedback, hidden when linearly calculating αSW. In the observations, two physical mechanisms are proposed to explain this nonlinearity: 1) a weaker subsidence response to cold SST anomalies than the ascent response to warm SST anomalies and 2) a nonlinear high-level cloud cover response to SST. The shortwave flux feedback nonlinearity tends to be underestimated by the models, linked to an underestimated nonlinearity in the dynamical response to SST. The process-based methodology presented in this study may help to correct model ENSO atmospheric biases, ultimately leading to an improved simulation of ENSO in GCMs.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
[15200442 - Journal of Climate] The Role of Atmosphere Feedbacks during ENSO in the CMIP3 Models. Part III The Shortwave Flux Feedback.pdf (4.8 Mo) Télécharger le fichier
Origine : Fichiers éditeurs autorisés sur une archive ouverte

Dates et versions

hal-01490984 , version 1 (23-10-2021)

Licence

Paternité

Identifiants

Citer

James Lloyd, Éric Guilyardi, Hilary Weller. The Role of Atmosphere Feedbacks during ENSO in the CMIP3 Models. Part III: The Shortwave Flux Feedback. Journal of Climate, 2012, 25 (12), pp.4275 - 4293. ⟨10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00178.1⟩. ⟨hal-01490984⟩
2987 Consultations
10 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More