Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 Historical Simulations Research Articles

Projected future changes in the contribution of Indo-Pacific sea surface height variability to the Indonesian throughflow

The Indonesian throughflow (ITF) transports a significant amount of warm freshwater from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, making it critical to the global climate system. This study examines decadal ITF variations using ocean reanalysis data as well as climate model simulations from the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). While the observed annual cycle of ITF transport is known to be correlated with the annual cycle of sea surface height (SSH) difference between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, ocean reanalysis data (1959–2015) show that the Pacific Ocean SSH variability controls more than 85% of ITF variation on decadal timescales. In contrast, the Indian Ocean SSH variability contributes less than 15%. While those observed contributions are mostly reproduced in the CMIP5 historical simulations, an analysis of future climate projections shows a 25–30% increase in the Indian Ocean SSH variability to decadal ITF variations and a corresponding decrease in the Pacific contribution. These projected changes in the Indian Ocean SSH variability are associated with a 23% increase in the amplitudes of negative zonal wind stress anomalies over the equatorial Indian Ocean, along with a 12º eastward shift in the center of action in these anomalies. This combined effect of the increased amplitude and eastward shift in the zonal wind stress increases the SSHA variance over the Indian Ocean, increasing its contribution to the ITF variation. The decadal ITF changes discussed in this study will be crucial in understanding the future global climate variability, strongly coupled to Indo-Pacific interactions.

Exploring the future of the Coral Sea micronekton

Ecosystem models forced by future climate simulations outputs from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) simulate a substantial decline of tropical marine animal biomass over the course of the 21st century. Regional projections are however far more uncertain because of well-known biases common to most CMIP5 historical simulations that propagate within the food web. Moreover, the model outputs for high trophic levels marine fauna suffer from lack of validation based on in situ data. In this study, we implement a “bias-mitigation” strategy to reduce the physical oceanography and biogeochemical biases simulated by three CMIP5 models under the future RCP8.5 scenario. We force two very different micronekton models with these “bias-mitigated” outputs to infer the future micronekton changes in the Coral Sea: a 3-D deterministic population dynamics model; and a 3-D statistical model based on in situ hydro-acoustic data. These two models forecast a consistent pattern of micronekton abundance changes in the epipelagic layer (0–150 m) by 2100 for three different climate forcing used, with a marked decrease south of 22°S and a smaller increase further north mostly related to temperature and chlorophyll changes. In contrast, changes in the vertical patterns of micronekton predicted by the two models considerably differ in the upper mesopelagic layers (150–450 m) and lower mesopelagic layer (450–1000 m), highlighting the structural sensitivity in model type. Since micronekton are prey of all larger marine predators, those discrepancies in vertical structures of micronekton may hamper our potential to predict how top predators may evolve in the future.

The sea level variability and its projections over the Indo‐Pacific Ocean in CMIP5 models

The present study examines the representation of interannual and decadal variability of sea level over the Indo-Pacific region in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) historical simulations and future projections. The thermocline ridge region of the Indian Ocean (TRIO) shows strong sea level variability on both the interannual and decadal timescales in the CMIP5 historical simulations. Meanwhile, prominent interannual variability is seen in the tropical western Pacific and central to eastern equatorial Pacific, whereas, the decadal sea level variability is dominant in the North Pacific and western Pacific regions. CMIP5 models project similar spatial patterns of sea level variability over the Indo-Pacific region for the twenty-first century under the mid-range and high future emission scenarios, although with some differences in the amplitude and inter-model disagreement. In the interannual timescale, there is a regional contrast in the projected future variability between the Pacific (with increase in variability with increasing greenhouse gas emissions) and TRIO (with decrease of ~ 6 % variability), which is evident in both RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 future emission scenarios with inter-model consensus. On the other hand, increase in decadal sea level variability (~ 6 % and ~ 8 % in RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios respectively) is projected over the North Pacific region (north of 30°N). In the Indian Ocean, increase in decadal sea level variability is projected over the northwestern region including Arabian Sea, though it is not a region of large decadal variability (in the reanalysis and historical simulations). Analysis revealed that the local wind forcing (wind stress curl) plays a dominant role in the sea level variability over the Indo-Pacific region on both interannual and decadal timescales.

Possible mechanisms for the coupling between late spring sea surface temperature anomalies over tropical Atlantic and East Asian summer monsoon

The relationship between the preceding late spring Sea Surface Temperature (SST) over the tropical Atlantic and the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) is investigated based on the observational data and Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) historical simulations. The results show that warm (cold) tropical Atlantic SST (TASST) during May tends to be followed by a strong (weak) EASM with positive (negative) precipitation anomalies over the subtropical frontal area. Evidence is also provided that the atmospheric teleconnections propagating in both east and west directions are the key mechanisms linking the EASM with the preceding May TASST. That is, the warm TASST anomaly during late spring can persist through the subsequent summer, which, in turn, induces the Gill-type Rossby wave response in the eastern Pacific, exciting the westward relay of the Atlantic signal, as well as the eastward propagation of the Rossby wave along the jet stream. Furthermore, the westward (eastward) propagating teleconnection signal may induce the anomalous anticyclone in the lower troposphere over the Philippine Sea (anomalous tropospheric anticyclone with barotropic structure over the Okhotsk Sea). The anomalous anticyclonic circulation over the Philippine Sea (Okhotsk Sea) brings warm and humid (cold) air to higher latitudes (lower latitudes). These two different types of air mass merge over the Baiu-Meiyu–Changma region, causing the enhanced subtropical frontal rainfall. To support the observational findings, CMIP5 historical simulations are also utilized. Most state-of-the-art CMIP5 models can simulate this relationship between May TASST and the EASM.

Downscaled rainfall projections in south Florida using self-organizing maps

We make future projections of seasonal precipitation characteristics in southern Florida using a statistical downscaling approach based on Self Organized Maps. Our approach is applied separately to each three-month season: September–November; December–February; March–May; and June–August. We make use of 19 different simulations from the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project, phase 5 (CMIP5) and generate an ensemble of 1500 independent daily precipitation surrogates for each model simulation, yielding a grand ensemble of 28,500 total realizations for each season. The center and moments (25%ile and 75%ile) of this distribution are used to characterize most likely scenarios and their associated uncertainties. This approach is applied to 30-year windows of daily mean precipitation for both the CMIP5 historical simulations (1976–2005) and the CMIP5 future (RCP 4.5) projections. For the latter case, we examine both the “near future” (2021–2050) and “far future” (2071–2100) periods for three scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5).

Comparison of Low-Frequency Internal Climate Variability in CMIP5 Models and Observations

Low-frequency internal climate variability (ICV) plays an important role in modulating global surface temperature, regional climate, and climate extremes. However, it has not been completely characterized in the instrumental record and in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) model ensemble. In this study, the surface temperature ICV of the North Pacific (NP), North Atlantic (NA), and Northern Hemisphere (NH) in the instrumental record and historical CMIP5 all-forcing simulations is isolated using a semiempirical method wherein the CMIP5 ensemble mean is applied as the external forcing signal and removed from each time series. Comparison of ICV signals derived from this semiempirical method as well as from analysis of ICV in CMIP5 preindustrial control runs reveals disagreement in the spatial pattern and amplitude between models and instrumental data on multidecadal time scales (>20 yr). Analysis of the amplitude of total variability and the ICV in the models and instrumental data indicates that the models underestimate ICV amplitude on low-frequency time scales (>20 yr in the NA; >40 yr in the NP), while agreement is found in the NH variability. A multiple linear regression analysis of ICV in the instrumental record shows that variability in the NP drives decadal-to-interdecadal variability in the NH, whereas the NA drives multidecadal variability in the NH. Analysis of the CMIP5 historical simulations does not reveal such a relationship, indicating model limitations in simulating ICV. These findings demonstrate the need to better characterize low-frequency ICV, which may help improve attribution and decadal prediction.

A study of different frequencies of major stratospheric sudden warmings in CMIP5 historical simulations

AbstractClimatological frequency of major stratospheric sudden warmings (MSSWs) during northern winter has been repeatedly investigated using model simulations, but its model‐to‐model differences are relatively unexplained. Using an archive of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) historical simulations with 30 models, this study investigates the MSSW frequency of the simulations by building a framework in which the frequency is decomposed into a few factors. Results first demonstrate that the multimodel differences in the MSSW frequency are closely related to the mean and variability of the zonal mean zonal wind in the extratropical stratosphere in each simulation. An important point is that for each simulation, the zonal wind variability is further represented by a combination, or product, of average strength of extreme transient planetary wave forcings from the troposphere and average deceleration response of the polar vortex to an extreme wave forcing of fixed strength. This product can be interpreted and used as a proxy of large‐scale dynamical variability of the polar vortex arising from the planetary wave‐mean flow interaction. It turns out that a large portion of the CMIP5 model simulations underestimate one or both of the factors, leading to underestimations in dynamical variability. This contributes to the general underestimation of MSSW frequency in the simulations. This study proposes that this framework can be used in general to better understand MSSW frequency in different models and climate conditions (e.g., future climate change).

Assessment of CMIP5 historical simulations of rainfall over Southeast Asia

We present preliminary analyses of the historical (1986–2005) climate simulations of a ten-member subset of the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) global climate models over Southeast Asia. The objective of this study was to evaluate the general circulation models’ performance in simulating the mean state of climate over this less-studied climate vulnerable region, with a focus on precipitation. Results indicate that most of the models are unable to reproduce the observed state of climate over Southeast Asia. Though the multi-model ensemble mean is a better representation of the observations, the uncertainties in the individual models are far high. There is no particular model that performed well in simulating the historical climate of Southeast Asia. There seems to be no significant influence of the spatial resolutions of the models on the quality of simulation, despite the view that higher resolution models fare better. The study results emphasize on careful consideration of models for impact studies and the need to improve the next generation of models in their ability to simulate regional climates better.

Multidecadal Trends in Large-Scale Annual Mean SATa Based on CMIP5 Historical Simulations and Future Projections

Abstract Based on observations and Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) results, multidecadal variations and trends in annual mean surface air temperature anomalies (SATa) at global, hemispheric, and hemispheric land and ocean scales in the past and under the future scenarios of two representative concentration pathways (RCPs) are analyzed. Fifteen models are selected based on their performances in capturing the temporal variability, long-term trend, multidecadal variations, and trends in global annual mean SATa. Observational data analysis shows that the multidecadal variations in annual mean SATa of the land and ocean in the northern hemisphere (NH) and of the ocean in the southern hemisphere (SH) are similar to those of the global mean, showing an increase during the 1900–1944 and 1971–2000 periods, and flattening or even cooling during the 1945–1970 and 2001–2013 periods. These observed characteristics are basically reproduced by the models. However, SATa over SH land show an increase during the 1945–1970 period, which differs from the other hemispheric scales, and this feature is not captured well by the models. For the recent hiatus period (2001–2013), the projected trends of BCC-CSM1-1-m, CMCC-CM, GFDL-ESM2M, and NorESM1-ME at the global and hemispheric scales are closest to the observations based on RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios, suggesting that these four models have better projection capability in SATa. Because these four models are better at simulating and projecting the multidecadal trends of SATa, they are selected to analyze future SATa variations at the global and hemispheric scales during the 2006–2099 period. The selected multi-model ensemble (MME) projected trends in annual mean SATa for the globe, NH, and SH under RCP4.5 (RCP8.5) are 0.17 (0.29) °C, 0.22 (0.36) °C, and 0.11 (0.23) °C·decade −1 in the 21st century, respectively. These values are significantly lower than the projections of CMIP5 MME without model selection.

The impact of wave‐mean flow interaction on the Northern Hemisphere polar vortex after tropical volcanic eruptions

AbstractThe current generation of Earth system models that participate in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) does not, on average, produce a strengthened Northern Hemisphere (NH) polar vortex after large tropical volcanic eruptions as suggested by observational records. Here we investigate the impact of volcanic eruptions on the NH winter stratosphere with an ensemble of 20 model simulations of the Max Planck Institute Earth system model. We compare the dynamical impact in simulations of the very large 1815 Tambora eruption with the averaged dynamical response to the two largest eruptions of the CMIP5 historical simulations (the 1883 Krakatau and the 1991 Pinatubo eruptions). We find that for both the Tambora and the averaged Krakatau‐Pinatubo eruptions the radiative perturbation only weakly affects the polar vortex directly. The position of the maximum temperature anomaly gradient is located at approximately 30°N, where we obtain significant westerly zonal wind anomalies between 10 hPa and 30 hPa. Under the very strong forcing of the Tambora eruption, the NH polar vortex is significantly strengthened because the subtropical westerly wind anomalies are sufficiently strong to robustly alter the propagation of planetary waves. The average response to the eruptions of Krakatau and Pinatubo reveals a slight strengthening of the polar vortex, but individual ensemble members differ substantially, indicating that internal variability plays a dominant role. For the Tambora eruption the ensemble variability of the zonal mean temperature and zonal wind anomalies during midwinter and late winter is significantly reduced compared to the volcanically unperturbed period.

Overestimated Arctic warming and underestimated Eurasia mid‐latitude warming in CMIP5 simulations

ABSTRACTThe surface air temperature (SAT) trends from historical simulations of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) were compared with observations for the period of 1955–2004. The observed spatial pattern of SAT trends was strikingly different from the CMIP5‐historical simulations over mid‐ and high‐latitude Northern Hemisphere. The strongest observed warming for the Eurasian Continent was over mid latitudes. However, the CMIP5 historical simulations indicated enhanced warming over higher latitudes, and the warming trends increased from low to higher latitudes. The zonal mean SAT trends indicated overestimated warming in high‐latitude and underestimated warming in mid‐latitude land over Northern Hemisphere in CMIP5 historical simulations, which resulted in opposite trends in the meridional temperature gradient over high latitudes compared with observations. The overestimated Arctic and underestimated Eurasia mid‐latitude warming only occurred in cold season. Further comparison of the results of CMIP5 models from the Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project and historical simulations revealed that model bias in sea surface temperature and the exaggerated response of temperature change to Arctic sea ice decline are possible reasons for poorly simulated Arctic and Eurasia mid‐latitude temperature change.

ENSO and annual cycle interaction: the combination mode representation in CMIP5 models

Recent research demonstrated the existence of a combination mode (C-mode) originating from the atmospheric nonlinear interaction between the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Pacific warm pool annual cycle. In this paper, we show that the majority of coupled climate models in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) are able to reproduce the observed spatial pattern of the C-mode in terms of surface wind anomalies reasonably well, and about half of the coupled models are able to reproduce spectral power at the combination tone periodicities of about 10 and/or 15 months. Compared to the CMIP5 historical simulations, the CMIP5 Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP) simulations can generally exhibit a more realistic simulation of the C-mode due to prescribed lower boundary forcing. Overall, the multi-model ensemble average of the CMIP5 models tends to capture the C-mode better than the individual models. Furthermore, the models with better performance in simulating the ENSO mode tend to also exhibit a more realistic C-mode with respect to its spatial pattern and amplitude, in both the CMIP5 historical and AMIP simulations. This study shows that the CMIP5 models are able to simulate the proposed combination mode mechanism to some degree, resulting from their reasonable performance in representing the ENSO mode. It is suggested that the main ENSO periods in the current climate models needs to be further improved for making the C-mode better.

Description and basic evaluation of Beijing Normal University Earth System Model (BNU-ESM) version 1

Abstract. An earth system model has been developed at Beijing Normal University (Beijing Normal University Earth System Model, BNU-ESM); the model is based on several widely evaluated climate model components and is used to study mechanisms of ocean-atmosphere interactions, natural climate variability and carbon-climate feedbacks at interannual to interdecadal time scales. In this paper, the model structure and individual components are described briefly. Further, results for the CMIP5 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5) pre-industrial control and historical simulations are presented to demonstrate the model's performance in terms of the mean model state and the internal variability. It is illustrated that BNU-ESM can simulate many observed features of the earth climate system, such as the climatological annual cycle of surface-air temperature and precipitation, annual cycle of tropical Pacific sea surface temperature (SST), the overall patterns and positions of cells in global ocean meridional overturning circulation. For example, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) simulated in BNU-ESM exhibits an irregular oscillation between 2 and 5 years with the seasonal phase locking feature of ENSO. Important biases with regard to observations are presented and discussed, including warm SST discrepancies in the major upwelling regions, an equatorward drift of midlatitude westerly wind bands, and tropical precipitation bias over the ocean that is related to the double Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ).

Analyses of extreme climate events over china based on CMIP5 historical and future simulations

Based on observations and 12 simulations from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) models, climatic extremes and their changes over China in the past and under the future scenarios of three Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) are analyzed. In observations, frost days (FD) and low-temperature threshold days (TN10P) show a decreasing trend, and summer days (SU), high-temperature threshold days (TX90P), heavy precipitation days (R20), and the contribution of heavy precipitation days (P95T) show an increasing trend. Most models are able to simulate the main characteristics of most extreme indices. In particular, the mean FD and TX90P are reproduced the best, and the basic trends of FD, TN10P, SU and TX90P are represented. For the FD and SU indexes, most models show good ability in capturing the spatial differences between the mean state of the periods 1986–2005 and 1961–80; however, for other indices, the simulation abilities for spatial disparity are less satisfactory and need to be improved. Under the high emissions scenario of RCP8.5, the century-scale linear changes of the multi-model ensemble (MME) for FD, SU, TN10P, TX90P, R20 and P95T are −46.9, 46.0, −27.1, 175.4, and 2.9 days, and 9.9%, respectively; and the spatial change scope for each index is consistent with the emissions intensity. Due to the complexities of physical process parameterizations and the limitation of forcing data, great uncertainty still exists with respect to the simulation of climatic extremes.

Multidecadal North Atlantic sea surface temperature and Atlantic meridional overturning circulation variability in CMIP5 historical simulations

Received 22 May 2013; revised 4 September 2013; accepted 8 September 2013; published 23 October 2013. [1] In this paper, simulated variability of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and their relationship has been investigated. For the first time, climate models of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) provided to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC-AR5) in historical simulations have been used for this purpose. The models show the most energetic variability on the multidecadal timescale band both with respect to the AMO and AMOC, but with a large model spread in both amplitude and frequency. The relationship between the AMO and AMOC in most of the models resembles the delayed advective oscillation proposed for the AMOC on multidecadal timescales. A speed up (slow down) of the AMOC is in favor of generating a warm (cold) phase of the AMO by the anomalous northward (southward) heat transport in the upper ocean, which reversely leads to a weakening (strengthening) of the AMOC through changes in the meridional density gradient after a delayed time of ocean adjustment. This suggests that on multidecadal timescales the AMO and AMOC are related and interact with each other.

Interdecadal Connection between Arctic Temperature and Summer Precipitation over the Yangtze River Valley in the CMIP5 Historical Simulations

Abstract This study assesses the ability of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) simulations in capturing the interdecadal precipitation enhancement over the Yangtze River valley (YRV) and investigates the contributions of Arctic temperature and mid- to high-latitude warming to the interdecadal variability of the East Asian summer monsoon rainfall. Six CMIP5 historical simulations including models from the Canadian Centre for Climate Modeling and Analysis (CCCma), the Beijing Climate Center, the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, the Meteorological Research Institute, the Met Office Hadley Centre, and NCAR are used. The NCEP–NCAR reanalysis and observed precipitation are also used for comparison. Among the six CMIP5 simulations, only CCCma can approximately simulate the enhancement of interdecadal summer precipitation over the YRV in 1990–2005 relative to 1960–75; the various relationships between the summer precipitation and surface temperature (Ts), 850-hPa winds, and 500-hPa height field (H500); and the relationships between Ts and H500 determined using regression, correlation, and singular value decomposition (SVD) analyses. It is found that CCCma can reasonably simulate the interdecadal surface warming over the boreal mid- to high latitudes in winter, spring, and summer. The summer Baikal blocking anomaly is postulated to be the bridge that links the winter and spring surface warming over the mid- to high latitude and Arctic with the enhancement of summer precipitation over the YRV. Models that missed some or all of these relationships found in CCCma and the reanalysis failed to simulate the interdecadal enhancement of precipitation over the YRV. This points to the importance of Arctic and mid- to high-latitude processes on the interdecadal variability of the East Asian summer monsoon and the challenge for global climate models to correctly simulate the linkages.

Poleward expansion of the hadley circulation in CMIP5 simulations

Observational analyses have demonstrated that the Hadley circulation has expanded poleward in recent decades. Important issues are what caused the widening of the Hadley circulation and whether the observed widening is related to anthropogenic forcing. In the present study, we use currently available simulations of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase-5 (CMIP5) to analyze changes in the width of the Hadley circulation. It is found that CMIP5 historical simulations with greenhouse gas (GHG) forcing generate a total widening of ∼0.15°±0.06° in latitude (10 yr)−1 for the period 1979–2005, and the widening in CMIP5 historical simulations with all forcings is ∼0.17° ± 0.06° per decade. Similar to that in CMIP3, the simulated poleward expansion in CMIP5 is much weaker than the observational reanalyses. In CMIP5 projection simulations for the 21st century, magnitudes of widening of the Hadley circulation increase with radiative forcing. For the extreme projected radiative forcing of RCP8.5, the total annual-mean widening of the Hadley circulation is ∼0.27° ± 0.04° (10 yr)−1 in the 21st century. Although CMIP5 underestimates observed poleward expansion of the Hadley circulation, the results of this study suggest that the observed trends in the width of the Hadley circulation are caused by anthropogenic forcing and that increasing GHGs play an important role in the observed poleward expansion of the Hadley circulation, in addition to other forcings emphasized in previous studies.