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Abstract Deep convection associated with large-scale tropical atmospheric circulations governs tropical precipitation. Under anthropogenic warming, the weakened Walker and Hadley circulations alter tropical rainfall. Ocean circulations are also expected to change due to global warming, impacting tropical atmospheric circulation systems. From the perspective of ocean heat uptake, we investigate how ocean circulation change modulates tropical atmospheric circulation and vertical motion under CO2warming by comparing fully coupled and slab-ocean simulations. We find that the slowed South Equatorial Current and subtropical cells in the Pacific induce anomalous advective warming, reducing ocean heat uptake in the central-western tropical Pacific. This, combined with increased downward radiation at the top of atmosphere and horizontal moisture advection, escalates the moisture static energy in the air column and promotes ascent in this region, shifting the Pacific Walker circulation eastward and strengthening the Pacific Hadley circulation. Across the tropical Indian Ocean, ocean heat uptake shows a dipole-like change, increasing in the eastern Indian Ocean and seas surrounding marine continents while decreasing in the western Indian Ocean. The former ocean heat uptake increase is triggered by anomalous oceanic vertical advective cooling, which abates the moisture static energy in the air column and inhibits the ascent in the area. The latter ocean heat uptake decrease is prompted by anomalous oceanic advective warming from both horizontal and vertical directions, which enhances the moisture static energy in the air column, resulting in anomalous upward motions. Over most of the tropics, ocean dynamics help attenuate the strengthening of the gross moist stability due to CO2increase, thereby promoting ascent or weakening descent in the atmosphere. Significance StatementLarge-scale tropical atmospheric circulations are expected to weaken as a result of global warming, having a significant impact on tropical precipitation. Because the atmosphere and oceans are inextricably linked, any subtle change in one can affect the other. For this reason, it is critical to understand the role of ocean circulation change in steering the response of large-scale tropical atmospheric circulation to anthropogenic warming. This study approaches the aforementioned scientific question from the novel perspective of ocean heat uptake. It demonstrates how changes in ocean circulation affect heat uptake over tropical oceans, modifying vertical motion and the Walker and Hadley cells in the tropical atmosphere in a warming climate.
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Global Warming Pattern Formation: The Role of Ocean Heat Uptake
Abstract This study investigates the formation mechanism of the ocean surface warming pattern in response to a doubling CO2with a focus on the role of ocean heat uptake (or ocean surface heat flux change, ΔQnet). We demonstrate that thetransientpatterns of surface warming and rainfall change simulated by the dynamic ocean–atmosphere coupled model (DOM) can be reproduced by theequilibriumsolutions of the slab ocean–atmosphere coupled model (SOM) simulations when forced with the DOM ΔQnetdistribution. The SOM is then used as a diagnostic inverse modeling tool to decompose the CO2-induced thermodynamic warming effect and the ΔQnet(ocean heat uptake)–induced cooling effect. As ΔQnetis largely positive (i.e., downward into the ocean) in the subpolar oceans and weakly negative at the equator, its cooling effect is strongly polar amplified and opposes the CO2warming, reducing the net warming response especially over Antarctica. For the same reason, the ΔQnet-induced cooling effect contributes significantly to the equatorially enhanced warming in all three ocean basins, while the CO2warming effect plays a role in the equatorial warming of the eastern Pacific. The spatially varying component of ΔQnet, although globally averaged to zero, can effectively rectify and lead to decreased global mean surface temperature of a comparable magnitude as the global mean ΔQneteffect under transient climate change. Our study highlights the importance of air–sea interaction in the surface warming pattern formation and the key role of ocean heat uptake pattern.
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- PAR ID:
- 10364239
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Meteorological Society
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Climate
- Volume:
- 35
- Issue:
- 6
- ISSN:
- 0894-8755
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 1885-1899
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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