The responses of Sea Surface Temperature(SST) to greenhouse gas(GHG) and anthropogenic aerosol in the North Pa- cific are compared based on the historical single and all-forcing simulations with Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Climate Model version 3(GFDL CM3). During 1860–2005, the effect of GHG forcing on the North Pacific SST is opposite to that of the aerosol forcing. Specifically, the aerosol cooling effect exceeds the GHG warming effect in the Kuroshio Extension(KE) region dur- ing 1950–2004 in the CM3 single forcing. The mid-latitude response of ocean circulation to the GHG(aerosol) forcing is to enhance(weaken) the Subtropical Gyre. Then the SST warming(cooling) lies on the zonal band of 40?N because of the increased(reduced) KE warm advection effect in the GHG(aerosol) forcing simulations, and the cooling effect to SST will surpass the warming effect in the KE region in the historical all-forcing simulations. Besides, the positive feedback between cold SST and cloud can also strengthen the aerosol cooling effect in the KE region during boreal summer, when the mixed layer depth is shallow. In the GHG(aerosol) forcing simulations, corresponding to warming(cooling) SST in the KE region, the weakened(enhanced) Aleutian Low appears in the Northeast Pacific. Consequently, the SST responses to all-forcing in the historical simulations are similar to the re- sponses to aerosol forcing in sign and spatial pattern, hence the aerosol effect is quite important to the SST cooling in the mid-latitude North Pacific during the past 55 years.
Based on a coupled ocean-atmosphere model, the response of the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) mode to global warming is investigated with a six member ensemble of simulations for the period 1850-2100. The model can simulate the IOD features rea-listically, including the east-west dipole pattern and the phase locking in boreal autumn. The ensemble analysis suppresses internal variability and isolates the radiative forced response. In response to increasing greenhouse gases, a weakening of the Walker circula-tion leads to the easterly wind anomalies in the equatorial Indian Ocean and the shoaling thermocline in the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean (EEIO), and sea surface temperature and precipitation changes show an IOD-like pattern in the equatorial Indian Ocean. Al-though the thermocline feedback intensifies with shoaling, the interannual variability of the IOD mode surprisingly weakens under global warming. The zonal wind feedback of IOD is found to weaken as well, due to decreased precipitation in the EEIO. Therefore, the atmospheric feedback decreases much more than the oceanic feedback increases, causing the decreased IOD variance in this model.
The mixed layer is deep in January-April in the Kuroshio Extension region. This paper investigates the response in this region of mixed layer depth (MLD) and the spring bloom initiation to global warming using the output of 15 models from CMIP5. The models indicate that in the late 21st century the mixed layer will shoal and the MLD reduction will be most pronounced in spring at about 33~N on the southern edge of the present deep-MLD region. The advection of temperature change in the upper 100 m by the mean eastward flow explains the spatial pattern of MLD shoaling in the models. Associated with the shoaling mixed layer, the onset of spring bloom inception is projected to advance due to the strengthened stratification in the warming climate.
Long-term change of sea surface temperature (SST) in the China Seas from 1900 to 2006 is examined based on two different observation datasets (HadlSSTI and HadSST3). Similar to the Atlantic, SST in the China Seas has been well observed during the past 107 years. A comparison between the reconstructed (HadISSTI) and un-interpolated (HadSST3) datasets shows that the SST wanning trends from both datasets are consistent with each other in most of the China Seas. The warming trends are stronger in winter than in summer, with a maximum rate of SST increase exceeding 2.7℃ (100year)-I in the East China Sea and the Taiwan Strait during winter based on HadISSTI. However, the SST from both datasets experienced a sudden decrease after 1999 in the China Seas. The estimated trend from HadlSSTI is stronger than that fi'om HadSST3 in the East China Sea and the east of Taiwan Island, where the difference in the linear SST warming trends are as large as about 1℃ (100year)-I when using respectively HadISST1 and HadSST3 datasets. When compared to the linear winter warnling trend of the land surface air temperature (1.6℃ (100 year)-1), HadSST3 shows a more reasonable trend of less than 2.1℃( 100 year)-1 than HadISST 1 's trend of larger than 2.7℃ ( 100 year)-1 at the mouth of the Yangtze River. The restllts also indicate large uncertainties in the estimate of SST warming patterns.
A robust anomalous anticyclonic circulation (AAC) was observed over Northeast Asia and the Japan Sea in boreal win-ter 1997/98 and over the Japan Sea in spring 1998. The formation mechanism is investigated. On the background of the vertically sheared winter monsoonal flow, anomalous rainfall in the tropical Indo-Western Pacific warm pool excited a wave train towards East Asia in the upper troposphere during boreal winter of 1997/98. The AAC over Northeast Asia and the Japan Sea is part of the wave train of equivalent barotropic structure. The AAC over the Japan Sea persisted from winter to spring and even intensified in spring 1998. The diagnostic calculations show that the vorticity and temperature fluxes by synoptic eddies are an important mechanism for the AAC over the Japan Sea in spring 1998.
Mode water is a distinct water mass characterized by a near vertical homogeneous layer or low potential vorticity, and is considered essential for understanding ocean climate variability. Based on the output of GFDL CM3, this study investigates the response of eastern subtropical mode water (ESTMW) in the North Pacific to two different single forcings: greenhouse gases (GHGs) and aerosol. Under GHG forcing, ESTMW is produced on lighter isopycnal surfaces and is decreased in volume. Under aerosol forcing, in sharp contrast, it is produced on denser isopycnal surfaces and is increased in volume. The main reason for the opposite response is because surface ocean-to-atmosphere latent heat flux change over the ESTMW formation region shoals the mixed layer and thus weakens the lateral induction under GHG forcing, but deepens the mixed layer and thus strengthens the lateral induction under aerosol forcing. In addition, local wind changes are also favorable to the opposite response of ESTMW production to GHG versus aerosol.
Six coupled general circulation models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) are em-ployed for examining the full evolution of the North Pacific mode water and Subtropical Countercurrent (STCC) under global warming over 400 years following the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 4.5. The mode water and STCC first show a sharp weakening trend when the radiative forcing increases, but then reverse to a slow strengthening trend of smaller magnitude after the radiative forcing is stablized. As the radiative forcing increases during the 21st century, the ocean warming is surface-intensified and decreases with depth, strengthening the upper ocean's stratification and becoming unfavorable for the mode water formation. Moving southward in the subtropical gyre, the shrinking mode water decelerates the STCC to the south. After the radiative forcing is stabilized in the 2070s, the subsequent warming is greater at the subsurface than at the sea surface, destabilizing the upper ocean and becoming favorable for the mode water formation. As a result, the mode water and STCC recover gradually after the radiative forc-ing is stabilized.
The response of the North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water and Subtropical Countercurrent (STCC) to changes in greenhouse gas (GHG) and aerosol is investigated based on the 20th-century historical and single-forcing simulations with the Geo-physical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Climate Model version 3 (GFDL CM3). The aerosol effect causes sea surface temperature (SST) to decrease in the mid-latitude North Pacific, especially in the Kuroshio Extension region, during the past five decades (1950-2005), and this cooling effect exceeds the warming effect by the GHG increase. The STCC response to the GHG and aerosol forcing are opposite. In the GHG (aerosol) forcing run, the STCC decelerates (accelerates) due to the decreased (increased) mode waters in the North Pacific, resulting from a weaker (stronger) front in the mixed layer depth and decreased (increased) subduction in the mode water formation region. The aerosol effect on the SST, mode waters and STCC more than offsets the GHG effect. The response of SST in a zonal band around 40?N and the STCC to the combined forcing in the historical simulation is similar to the response to the aerosol forcing.