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journal article Open Access May 25, 2015

Processes and mechanisms for the model SST biases in the North Atlantic and North Pacific: A link with the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation

Liping Zhang ORCID Chuanhu Zhao
Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems Vol. 7 No. 2 pp. 739-758 · American Geophysical Union (AGU)
View at Publisher Save 10.1002/2014ms000415
Abstract
AbstractAlmost all of CMIP5 climate models show cold SST biases in the extratropical North Atlantic (ENA) and tropical North Atlantic (TNA) as well as in the North Pacific which are commonly linked with the weak simulated Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). A weak AMOC and its associated reduced northward oceanic heat transport are associated with a cooling of the ENA Ocean, whereas the TNA cooling is attributable to both weak AMOC and surface heat flux. The cold biases in the ENA and TNA have remote impacts on the SST bias in the North Pacific. Here we use coupled ocean‐atmosphere model experiments to show the mechanisms and pathways by which the ENA and TNA affect the North Pacific. The model simulations demonstrate that the cooling SST bias in the North Pacific is largely due to the remote effect of the cooling SST bias in the ENA, while the remote impact of the TNA cooling SST bias is of secondary importance. The ENA cooling bias triggers the circumglobal teleconnection via the Northern Hemisphere annular mode, producing a strengthening of the Aleutian low, an enhancement of the southward Ekman and Oyashio cold advection, and thus a cooling SST in the North Pacific. In contrast, the TNA cooling produces a surface high extending to the eastern tropical North Pacific, inducing the northeasterly wind anomalies north, northerly cross‐equatorial wind anomalies, and northwesterly wind anomalies south of the equator. This C‐shape wind anomaly pattern generates an SST warming in the tropical southeastern Pacific, which eventually leads to an SST warming in the tropical central and western Pacific by the wind‐evaporation‐SST feedback. The tropical Pacific warming in turn leads to an SST cooling in the North Pacific by the Pacific North American teleconnection pattern.
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Metrics
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Citations
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References
Details
Published
May 25, 2015
Vol/Issue
7(2)
Pages
739-758
License
View
Authors
L
Liping Zhang

Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Program Princeton University Princeton New Jersey USA; NOAA Geophysical Fluids Dynamics Laboratory Princeton New Jersey USA

C
Chuanhu Zhao

Physical Oceanography Laboratory Key Laboratory of Ocean‐Atmosphere Interaction and Climate in Universities of Shandong, Ocean University of China Qingdao China

Funding
NSFC Award: 41106009
Enabling Technologies (ESG-CET)
Earth System Research Laboratory
Cite This Article
Liping Zhang, Chuanhu Zhao (2015). Processes and mechanisms for the model SST biases in the North Atlantic and North Pacific: A link with the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 7(2), 739-758. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014ms000415
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