The ocean’s role in the transient response of climate to abrupt greenhouse gas forcing

We study the role of the ocean in setting the patterns and timescale of the transient response of the climate to anthropogenic greenhouse gas forcing. A novel framework is set out which involves integration of an ocean-only model in which the anthropogenic temperature signal is forced from the surface by anomalous downwelling heat fluxes and damped at a rate controlled by a ‘climate feedback’ parameter. We observe a broad correspondence between the evolution of the anthropogenic temperature (T[subscript anthro]) in our simplified ocean-only model and that of coupled climate models perturbed by a quadrupling of CO[subscript 2]. This suggests that many of the mechanisms at work in fully coupled models are captured by our idealized ocean-only system. The framework allows us to probe the role of the ocean in delaying warming signals in the Southern Ocean and in the northern North Atlantic, and in amplifying the warming signal in the Arctic. By comparing active and passive temperature-like tracers we assess the degree to which changes in ocean circulation play a role in setting the distribution and evolution of T[subscript anthro]. The background ocean circulation strongly influences the large-scale patterns of ocean heat uptake and storage, such that T[subscript anthro] is governed by an advection/diffusion equation and weakly damped to the atmosphere at a rate set by climate feedbacks. Where warming is sufficiently small, for example in the Southern Ocean, changes in ocean circulation play a secondary role. In other regions, most noticeably in the North Atlantic, changes in ocean circulation induced by T[subscript anthro] are central in shaping the response.United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Modeling, Analysis, and Prediction ProgramMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Joint Program on the Science & Policy of Global ChangeJames S. McDonnell Foundation (Postdoctoral Fellowship

Dynamic adjustment of the ocean circulation to self-attraction and loading effects

The oceanic response to surface loading, such as that related to atmospheric pressure, freshwater exchange, and changes in the gravity field, is essential to our understanding of sea level variability. In particular, so-called self-attraction and loading (SAL) effects caused by the redistribution of mass within the land–atmosphere–ocean system can have a measurable impact on sea level. In this study, the nature of SAL-induced variability in sea level is examined in terms of its equilibrium (static) and nonequilibrium (dynamic) components, using a general circulation model that implicitly includes the physics of SAL. The additional SAL forcing is derived by decomposing ocean mass anomalies into spherical harmonics and then applying Love numbers to infer associated crustal displacements and gravitational shifts. This implementation of SAL physics incurs only a relatively small computational cost. Effects of SAL on sea level amount to about 10% of the applied surface loading on average but depend strongly on location. The dynamic component exhibits large-scale basinwide patterns, with considerable contributions from subweekly time scales. Departures from equilibrium decrease toward longer time scales but are not totally negligible in many places. Ocean modeling studies should benefit from using a dynamical implementation of SAL as used here

The effects of varying humidity on copper sulfide film formation.

Detailed experiments involving extensive high resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed significant microstructural differences between Cu sulfides formed at low and high relative humidity (RH). It was known from prior experiments that the sulfide grows linearly with time at low RH up to a sulfide thickness approaching or exceeding one micron, while the sulfide initially grows linearly with time at high RH then becomes sub-linear at a sulfide thickness less than about 0.2 microns, with the sulfidation rate eventually approaching zero. TEM measurements of the Cu2S morphology revealed that the Cu2S formed at low RH has large sized grains (75 to greater than 150 nm) that are columnar in structure with sharp, abrupt grain boundaries. In contrast, the Cu2S formed at high RH has small equiaxed grains of 20 to 50 nm in size. Importantly, the small grains formed at high RH have highly disordered grain boundaries with a high concentration of nano-voids. Two-dimensional diffusion modeling was performed to determine whether the existence of localized source terms at the Cu/Cu2S interface could be responsible for the suppression of Cu sulfidation at long times at high RH. The models indicated that the existence of static localized source terms would not predict the complete suppression of growth that was observed. Instead, the models suggest that the diffusion of Cu through Cu2S becomes restricted during Cu2S formation at high RH. The leading speculation is that the extensive voiding that exists at grain boundaries in this material greatly reduces the flux of Cu between grains, leading to a reduction in the rate of sulfide film formation. These experiments provide an approach for adding microstructural information to Cu sulfidation rate computer models. In addition to the microstructural studies, new micro-patterned test structures were developed in this LDRD to offer insight into the point defect structure of Cu2S and to permit measurement of surface reaction rates during Cu sulfidation. The surface reaction rate was measured by creating micropatterned Cu lines of widths ranging from 5 microns to 100 microns. When sulfidized, the edges of the Cu lines show greater sulfidation than the center, an effect known as microloading. Measurement of the sulfidation profile enables an estimate of the ratio of the diffusivity of H2S in the gas phase to the surface reaction rate constant, k. Our measurements indicated that the gas phase diffusivity exceeds k by more than 10, but less than 100. This is consistent with computer simulations of the sulfidation process. Other electrical test structures were developed to measure the electrical conductivity of Cu2S that forms on Cu. This information can be used to determine relative vacancy concentrations in the Cu2S layer as a function of RH. The test structures involved micropatterned Cu disks and thin films, and the initial measurements showed that the electrical approach is feasible for point defect studies in Cu2S

The response of ice sheets to climate variability

West Antarctic Ice Sheet loss is a significant contributor to sea level rise. While the ice loss is thought to be triggered by fluctuations in oceanic heat at the ice shelf bases, ice sheet response to ocean variability remains poorly understood. Using a synchronously coupled ice-ocean model permitting grounding line migration, this study evaluates the response of an ice sheet to periodic variations in ocean forcing. Resulting oscillations in grounded ice volume amplitude is shown to grow as a nonlinear function of ocean forcing period. This implies that slower oscillations in climatic forcing are disproportionately important to ice sheets. The ice shelf residence time offers a critical time scale, above which the ice response amplitude is a linear function of ocean forcing period and below which it is quadratic. These results highlight the sensitivity of West Antarctic ice streams to perturbations in heat fluxes occurring at decadal time scales