Impact of interactive chemistry of stratospheric ozone on Southern Hemisphere paleoclimate simulation

Abstract

AbstractA series of numerical simulations of the mid‐Holocene (6 kyr B.P.) climate are performed by using an Earth System Model of the Meteorological Research Institute of the Japan Meteorological Agency to investigate the impact of stratospheric ozone distribution, which is modulated by the change in orbital elements of the Earth, on the surface climate. The results of interactive ozone chemistry calculations for the mid‐Holocene and preindustrial periods are compared with those of the corresponding experiments in the fifth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5), in which the ozone distribution was prescribed to the 1850 Common Era level. The contribution of the interactive ozone chemistry in a quasi‐equilibrium state reveals a significant anomaly of up to +1.7 K in the Antarctic region for the annual mean zonal mean surface air temperature. This impact on the surface climate is explained by a similar mechanism to the cooling influence of the Antarctic ozone hole but opposite in sign: Weakening of the westerly jet associated with the Southern Annular Mode provides weakening of equatorward ocean surface current, sea ice retreat, and then warm sea surface temperature and surface air temperature. All the mid‐Holocene runs by CMIP5 models with the prescribed ozone had cold bias in sea surface temperature when compared with geological proxy data, whereas the bias is reduced in our simulations by using interactive ozone chemistry. We recommend that climate models include interactive sea ice and ozone distribution that are consistent with paleosolar insolation.