scholarly journals Final warming of the Southern Hemisphere polar vortex in high- and low-top CMIP5 models

2013 ◽  
Vol 118 (6) ◽  
pp. 2535-2546 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. J. Wilcox ◽  
A. J. Charlton-Perez
2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (18) ◽  
pp. 7125-7139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas J. Byrne ◽  
Theodore G. Shepherd ◽  
Tim Woollings ◽  
R. Alan Plumb

Abstract Statistical models of climate generally regard climate variability as anomalies about a climatological seasonal cycle, which are treated as a stationary stochastic process plus a long-term seasonally dependent trend. However, the climate system has deterministic aspects apart from the climatological seasonal cycle and long-term trends, and the assumption of stationary statistics is only an approximation. The variability of the Southern Hemisphere zonal-mean circulation in the period encompassing late spring and summer is an important climate phenomenon and has been the subject of numerous studies. It is shown here, using reanalysis data, that this variability is rendered highly nonstationary by the organizing influence of the seasonal breakdown of the stratospheric polar vortex, which breaks time symmetry. It is argued that the zonal-mean tropospheric circulation variability during this period is best viewed as interannual variability in the transition between the springtime and summertime regimes induced by variability in the vortex breakdown. In particular, the apparent long-term poleward jet shift during the early-summer season can be more simply understood as a delay in the equatorward shift associated with this regime transition. The implications of such a perspective for various open questions are discussed.


2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 19175-19194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Tomikawa ◽  
T. Yamanouchi

Abstract. An analysis of the static stability and ozone vertical gradient in the ozone tropopause based (OTB) coordinate is applied to the ozonesonde data at 10 stations in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) extratropics. The tropopause inversion layer (TIL) with a static stability maximum just above the tropopause shows similar seasonal variations at two Antarctic stations, which are latitudinally far from each other. Since the sunshine hour varies with time in a quite different way between these two stations, it implies that the radiative heating due to solar ultraviolet absorption of ozone does not contribute to the seasonal variation of the TIL. A meridional section of the static stability in the OTB coordinate shows that the static stability just above the tropopause has a large latitudinal gradient between 60° S and 70° S in austral winter because of the absence of the TIL over the Antarctic. It is accompanied by an increase of westerly shear with height above the tropopause, so that the polar-night jet is formed above this latitude region. This result suggests a close relationship between the absence of the TIL and the stratospheric polar vortex in the Antarctic winter. A vertical gradient of ozone mixing ratio, referred to as ozone vertical gradient, around the tropopause shows similar latitudinal and seasonal variations with the static stability in the SH extratropics. In a height region above the TIL, a small ozone vertical gradient in the midlatitudes associated with the Antarctic ozone hole is observed in a height region of the subvortex but not around the polar vortex. This is a clear evidence of active latitudinal mixing between the midlatitudes and subvortex.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela J Harvey ◽  
Stefan W Grab

Abstract Although global and Northern Hemisphere (NH) temperature responses to volcanic forcing have been extensively investigated, knowledge of such responses over Southern Hemisphere (SH) continental regions is still limited. Here we use an ensemble of CMIP5 models to explore SH temperature responses to four major volcanic eruptions: Krakatau (1883), Santa Maria (1902), Agung (1963) and Pinatubo (1991). Focus is on near-surface temperature responses over southern continental landmasses including southern South America (SSA), southern Africa (SAF) and Australia and their seasonal differences. Findings indicate that for all continents, temperature responses were strongest and lasted longest following the Krakatau eruption. Responses in Australia had the shortest lag time, strongest maximum seasonal response, as well as the most significant monthly anomalies. In contrast, SSA records the longest lag time, weakest maximum seasonal temperature response, and lowest number of monthly negative anomalies following these eruptions. In most cases, the strongest single-season response occurred in austral autumn or winter, and the weakest in summer or spring. We tentatively propose that cooler temperature responses are likely caused, at least in part, by the intensification of the westerlies and associated mid-latitude cyclones and anti-cyclones.


2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (19) ◽  
pp. n/a-n/a ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulo Ceppi ◽  
Yen-Ting Hwang ◽  
Dargan M. W. Frierson ◽  
Dennis L. Hartmann

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. 2183-2196 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Cariolle ◽  
H. Teyssèdre

Abstract. This article describes the validation of a linear parameterization of the ozone photochemistry for use in upper tropospheric and stratospheric studies. The present work extends a previously developed scheme by improving the 2-D model used to derive the coefficients of the parameterization. The chemical reaction rates are updated from a compilation that includes recent laboratory work. Furthermore, the polar ozone destruction due to heterogeneous reactions at the surface of the polar stratospheric clouds is taken into account as a function of the stratospheric temperature and the total chlorine content. Two versions of the parameterization are tested. The first one only requires the solution of a continuity equation for the time evolution of the ozone mixing ratio, the second one uses one additional equation for a cold tracer. The parameterization has been introduced into the chemical transport model MOCAGE. The model is integrated with wind and temperature fields from the ECMWF operational analyses over the period 2000–2004. Overall, the results from the two versions show a very good agreement between the modelled ozone distribution and the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) satellite data and the "in-situ" vertical soundings. During the course of the integration the model does not show any drift and the biases are generally small, of the order of 10%. The model also reproduces fairly well the polar ozone variability, notably the formation of "ozone holes" in the Southern Hemisphere with amplitudes and a seasonal evolution that follow the dynamics and time evolution of the polar vortex. The introduction of the cold tracer further improves the model simulation by allowing additional ozone destruction inside air masses exported from the high to the mid-latitudes, and by maintaining low ozone content inside the polar vortex of the Southern Hemisphere over longer periods in spring time. It is concluded that for the study of climate scenarios or the assimilation of ozone data, the present parameterization gives a valuable alternative to the introduction of detailed and computationally costly chemical schemes into general circulation models.


2007 ◽  
Vol 85 (11) ◽  
pp. 1287-1300 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Bencherif ◽  
L El Amraoui ◽  
N Semane ◽  
S Massart ◽  
D Vidyaranya Charyulu ◽  
...  

Following an exceptionally active winter, the 2002 Southern Hemisphere (SH) major warming occurred in late September. It was preceded by three minor warming events that occurred in late August and early September, and yielded vortex split and break-down over Antarctica. Ozone (O3 and nitrous oxide (N2O) profiles obtained during that period of time (15 August – 4 October) by the Sub-Millimetre Radiometer (SMR) aboard the Odin satellite are assimilated into MOCAGE (Modélisation Isentrope du transport Mésoéchelle de l'Ozone Stratosphérique par Advection), a global three-dimensional chemistry transport model of Météo-France. The assimilated algorithm is a three-dimensional-FGAT built by the European Centre for Research and Advance Training in Scientific Computation (CERFACS) using the PALM (Projet d'Assimilation par Logiciel Multi-méthode) software. The assimilated O3 and N2O profiles and isentropic distributions are compared to ground-based measurements (LIDAR and balloon-sonde) and to maps of advected potential vorticity (APV). The latter is computed by the MIMOSA (Modélisation Isentrope du transport Mésoéchelle de l'Ozone Stratosphérique par Advection) model, a high-resolution advection transport model, using meteorological fields from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). It is found that O3 concentrations retrieved by the MOCAGE–PALM assimilation system show a reasonably good agreement in the 20–28 km height range when compared with ground-based profiles. This altitude range corresponds to the intersection between the MOCAGE levels (0–28 km) and SMR O3 retrievals (20–50 km). Moreover, comparison of N2O assimilated fields with MIMOSA APV maps indicates that the dramatic split and subsequent break-down of the polar vortex, as well as the associated mixing of mid- and low-latitude stratospheric air, are well resolved and pictured by MOCAGE–PALM. The present study demonstrates also that the tremendous dynamics and associated polar vortex deformations during the 2002-austral-winter have modified ozone and nitrous oxide distributions not only at the vicinity of the polar vortex, but over topics and subtropics as well. PACS Nos.: 92.60.H–, 92.60.Hd, 92.70.Cp, 92.70.Gt


2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 1161-1175 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Kurzke ◽  
M. V. Kurgansky ◽  
K. Dethloff ◽  
D. Handorf ◽  
S. Erxleben ◽  
...  

Abstract. A quasi-geostrophic model of Southern Hemisphere's wintertime atmospheric circulation with horizontal resolution T21 has been coupled to a global ocean circulation model with a resolution of 2° × 2° and simplified physics. This simplified coupled model reproduces qualitatively some features of the first and the second EOF of atmospheric 833 hPa geopotential height in accordance with NCEP data. The variability patterns of the simplified coupled model have been compared with variability patterns simulated by four complex state-of-the-art coupled CMIP5 models. The first EOF of the simplified model is too zonal and does not reproduce the right position of the centre of action over the Pacific Ocean and its extension to the tropics. The agreement in the second EOF between the simplified and the CMIP5 models is better. The total variance of the simplified model is weaker than the observational variance and those of the CMIP5 models. The transport properties of the Southern Ocean circulation are in qualitative accord with observations. The simplified model exhibits skill in reproducing essential features of decadal and multi-decadal climate variability in the extratropical Southern Hemisphere. Notably, 800 yr long coupled model simulations reveal sea surface temperature fluctuations on the timescale of several decades in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current region.


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