290 research outputs found
El NinÌo Dynamics
Bringer of storms and droughts, the El NiñoâSouthern Oscillation results from the complex, sometimes chaotic interplay of ocean and atmosphere
El NinÌo Dynamics
Bringer of storms and droughts, the El NiñoâSouthern Oscillation results from the complex, sometimes chaotic interplay of ocean and atmosphere
Recent Advances Concerning Certain Class of Geophysical Flows
This paper is devoted to reviewing several recent developments concerning
certain class of geophysical models, including the primitive equations (PEs) of
atmospheric and oceanic dynamics and a tropical atmosphere model. The PEs for
large-scale oceanic and atmospheric dynamics are derived from the Navier-Stokes
equations coupled to the heat convection by adopting the Boussinesq and
hydrostatic approximations, while the tropical atmosphere model considered here
is a nonlinear interaction system between the barotropic mode and the first
baroclinic mode of the tropical atmosphere with moisture.
We are mainly concerned with the global well-posedness of strong solutions to
these systems, with full or partial viscosity, as well as certain singular
perturbation small parameter limits related to these systems, including the
small aspect ratio limit from the Navier-Stokes equations to the PEs, and a
small relaxation-parameter in the tropical atmosphere model. These limits
provide a rigorous justification to the hydrostatic balance in the PEs, and to
the relaxation limit of the tropical atmosphere model, respectively. Some
conditional uniqueness of weak solutions, and the global well-posedness of weak
solutions with certain class of discontinuous initial data, to the PEs are also
presented.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1507.0523
IstraĆŸivaÄ svetih mjesta Bellarmino Bagatti, ofm
The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) narrows in response to global warming in both observations and climate models. However, a physical understanding of this narrowing is lacking. Here we show that the narrowing of the ITCZ in simulations of future climate is related to changes in the moist static energy (MSE) budget. MSE advection by the mean circulation and MSE divergence by transient eddies tend to narrow the ITCZ, while changes in net energy input to the atmosphere and the gross moist stability tend to widen the ITCZ. The narrowing tendency arises because the meridional MSE gradient strengthens with warming, whereas the largest widening tendency is due to increasing shortwave heating of the atmosphere. The magnitude of the ITCZ narrowing depends strongly on the gross moist stability and clouds, emphasizing the need to better understand these fundamental processes in the tropical atmosphere
Tropical air-sea interaction in general circulation models
An intercomparison is undertaken of the tropical behavior of 17 coupled ocean-atmosphere models in which at least one component may be termed a general circulation model (GCM). The aim is to provide a taxonomyâa description and rough classificationâof behavior across the ensemble of models, focusing on interannual variability. The temporal behavior of the sea surface temperature (SST) field along the equator is presented for each model, SST being chosen as the primary variable for intercomparison due to its crucial role in mediating the coupling and because it is a sensitive indicator of climate drift. A wide variety of possible types of behavior are noted among the models. Models with substantial interannual tropical variability may be roughly classified into cases with propagating SST anomalies and cases in which the SST anomalies develop in place. A number of the models also exhibit significant drift with respect to SST climatology. However, there is not a clear relationship between climate drift and the presence or absence of interannual oscillations. In several cases, the mode of climate drift within the tropical Pacific appears to involve coupled feedback mechanisms similar to those responsible for El Niño variability. Implications for coupled-model development and for climate prediction on seasonal to interannual time scales are discussed. Overall, the results indicate considerable sensitivity of the tropical coupled ocean-atmosphere system and suggest that the simulation of the warm-pool/cold-tongue configuration in the equatorial Pacific represents a challenging test for climate model parameterizations
Does sea level pressure modulate the dynamic and thermodynamic forcing in the tropical Indian Ocean?
- âŠ