ALBERT

Description: Convectively triggered waves are the main driver of the tropical stratospheric circulation. In atmospheric models, the model’s resolution limits the length of the simulated wave spectrum. In this study, the authors compare the tropical tropospheric wave sources, their projection on the wave field in the lower stratosphere, and the circumstances of their upward propagation in the atmospheric model ECHAM6 with three spectral truncations of T63, T127, and T255. The model internally generates the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO), which dominates the variability in the tropical stratosphere. This analysis focuses on two opposite phases of the QBO to account for the influence of the background wind field on the wave filtering. It is shown that, compared to the high-resolution model versions, the T63 version has less convective variability and less wave momentum in the lower stratosphere at wavenumbers larger than 20, well below the version’s truncation limit. In the low-resolution version, the upward propagation of the waves is further hindered by the highly active (relative to the high-resolution versions) horizontal diffusion scheme. However, even in the T255 version of ECHAM6, the convective variability is too small compared to TRMM observations at periods shorter than 2 days and wavelengths shorter than 1000 km. Hence, to model a realistic tropical wave activity, the convective parameterization of the model has to improve to increase the day-to-day precipitation variability.

Description: Two simulations with a regional climate model are analyzed for climatic changes between the late 20th century and a pre-industrial period over central and southern South America. The model simulations have been forced with large-scale boundary data from the global simulation performed with a coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model. The regional simulations have been carried out on a 0.44° × 0.44° grid (approx. 50 km × 50 km horizontal resolution). The differences in the external forcings are related to a changed greenhouse gas content of the atmosphere, being higher in the present-day simulation. For validation purposes the climate model is analyzed using a five year long simulation between 1993 and 1997 forced with re-analysis data. The climate model reproduces the main climatic features reasonably well, especially when comparing model output co-located with observational station data. However, the comparison between observed and simulated climate is hampered by the sparse meteorological station network in South America. The present-day simulation is compared with the pre-industrial simulation for atmospheric fields of near-surface temperatures, precipitation, sea level pressure and zonal wind. Higher temperatures in the present-day simulation are evident over entire South America, mostly pronounced over the southern region of the Andes Mountains and the Parana basin. During southern winter the higher temperatures prevail over the entire continent, with largest differences over the central Andes Mountains and the Amazonian basin. Precipitation differences show a more heterogeneous pattern, especially over tropical regions. This might be explained by changes in convective processes acting on small scales. During southern summer wetter conditions are evident over the Amazonian and Parana basin in the present-day simulation. Precipitation increases are evident over Patagonia together with decreases to the north along the western slope of the Andes Mountains. During southern winter also a dipole pattern along the Andes Mountains with wetter conditions over the southern parts and drier conditions over the central parts is evident. An interesting feature relates to precipitation changes with changing sign within a few 10th of kilometers along the southern parts of the Andes mountain chain. This pattern can be explained by changes in large-scale circulation related to latitudinal changes of the extratropical southern hemispheric westerlies.

Description: In this study, we assess how the anthropogenically induced increase in greenhouse gas concentrations affects the climate of central and southern South America. We utilise two regional climate simulations for present day (PD) and pre-industrial (PI) times. These simulations are compared to historical reconstructions in order to investigate the driving processes responsible for climatic changes between the different periods. The regional climate model is validated against observations for both re-analysis data and GCM-driven regional simulations for the second half of the 20th century. Model biases are also taken into account for the interpretation of the model results. The added value of the regional simulation over global-scale modelling relates to a better representation of hydrological processes that are particularly evident in the proximity of the Andes Mountains. Climatic differences between the simulated PD minus PI period agree qualitatively well with proxy-based temperature reconstructions, albeit the regional model overestimates the amplitude of the temperature increase. For precipitation the most important changes between the PD and PI simulation relate to a dipole pattern along the Andes Mountains with increased precipitation over the southern parts and reduced precipitation over the central parts. Here only a few regions show robust similarity with studies based on empirical evidence. However, from a dynamical point-of-view, atmospheric circulation changes related to an increase in high-latitude zonal wind speed simulated by the regional climate model are consistent with numerical modelling studies addressing changes in greenhouse gas concentrations. Our results indicate that besides the direct effect of greenhouse gas changes, large-scale changes in atmospheric circulation and sea surface temperatures also exert an influence on temperature and precipitation changes in southern South America. These combined changes in turn affect the relationship between climate and atmospheric circulation between PD and PI times and should be considered for the statistical reconstruction of climate indices calibrated within present-day climate data.

Description: Long-term transient simulations are carried out in an initial condition ensemble mode using a global coupled climate model which includes comprehensive ocean and stratosphere components. This model, which is run for the years 1860–2100, allows the investigation of the troposphere–stratosphere interactions and the importance of representing the middle atmosphere in climate-change simulations. The model simulates the present-day climate (1961–2000) realistically in the troposphere, stratosphere and ocean. The enhanced stratospheric resolution leads to the simulation of sudden stratospheric warmings; however, their frequency is underestimated by a factor of 2 with respect to observations. In projections of the future climate using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change special report on emissions scenarios A2, an increased tropospheric wave forcing counteracts the radiative cooling in the middle atmosphere caused by the enhanced greenhouse gas concentration. This leads to a more dynamically active, warmer stratosphere compared with present-day simulations, and to the doubling of the number of stratospheric warmings. The associated changes in the mean zonal wind patterns lead to a southward displacement of the Northern Hemisphere storm track in the climate-change signal.