Decadal Variability in the North Pacific as Simulated by FGOALS_g Fast Coupled Climate Model

This study examines the North Pacific decadal-to-interdecadal variabilities as simulated by a fast version of the coupled climate model namely FGOALS_g developed at LASG/IAP. The spatio-temporal structures of those variabilities and the evolution of the dominant mode together with its relation to El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) are analyzed with a 300-yr integration of the coupled model. The results indicate that the model reproduces well many features of the observed North Pacific variability. Similar to that in reality, the simulated modes are characterized by timescales ranging from decades to multidecades. However, the most prominent mode is a bidecadal mode with a principal period roughly 10~20-yr. The evolution of the bidecadal mode exhibits a clockwise rotation of the upper-ocean heat content anomalies in an association with the subtropical gyre. The corresponding atmospheric circulation anomalies are associated with the variabilities of Aleutian low, Pacific-North American (PNA) teleconnection and atmospheric circulation over Eurasia. Both the simulation and the observation show that the North Pacific decadal-to-interdecadal variabilities play an important role in modulating the frequency and strength of interannual ENSO events. However, the simulated SST anomalies are fairly larger than that of observations in Kuroshio/Oyashio Extension (KOE) region and Gulf of Alaska. This may be attributed to the excessive sea-ice coverage error and SST cool biases over high-latitude in the coupled model.

[1]  Yu Rucong,et al.  ENSO-dependent and ENSO-independent variability over the mid-latitude North Pacific: Observation and air-sea coupled model simulation , 2002 .

[2]  An idealized study of the impact of extratropical climate change on El Niño–Southern Oscillation , 2005 .

[3]  S. Power,et al.  Inter-decadal modulation of the impact of ENSO on Australia , 1999 .

[4]  Zhu Yimin,et al.  Joint propagating patterns of SST and SLP anomalies in the North Pacific on bidecadal and pentadecadal timescales , 2003 .

[5]  T. Barnett,et al.  Interdecadal modulation of ENSO teleconnections , 1998 .

[6]  William H. Lipscomb,et al.  An energy-conserving thermodynamic model of sea ice , 1999 .

[7]  R. Jacob,et al.  Search for the origins of Pacific decadal climate variability , 2002 .

[8]  Lixin Wu,et al.  Atmospheric Response to North Pacific SST: The Role of Ocean-Atmosphere Coupling* , 2004 .

[9]  R. Dickinson,et al.  The land surface climatology of the community land model coupled to the NCAR community climate model , 2002 .

[10]  Zhang Qiong,et al.  On the decadal and interdecadal variability in the Pacific Ocean , 2003 .

[11]  Bin Wang,et al.  Interdecadal changes in El Niño onset in the last four decades , 1995 .

[12]  Mojib Latif,et al.  Decadal climate variability over the North Pacific and North America: Dynamics and predictability , 1996 .

[13]  T. Zhou,et al.  Fundamental framework and experiments of the third generation of IAP / LASG world ocean general circulation model , 1999 .

[14]  R. Sutton,et al.  Atmospheric GCM Response to Extratropical SST Anomalies: Synthesis and Evaluation* , 2002 .

[15]  T. P. Barnett,et al.  Causes of Decadal Climate Variability over the North Pacific and North America , 1994, Science.

[16]  Yang Xiu.  Decadal-to-interdecadal variability of precipitation in North China and associated atmospheric and oceanic anomaly patterns , 2005 .

[17]  Hui Wan,et al.  Design of a new dynamical core for global atmospheric models based on some efficient numerical methods , 2004 .

[18]  T. Yamagata,et al.  Decadal Climate Variability in the North Pacific during the Recent Decades , 1997 .

[19]  W. White,et al.  Evolution of Interdecadal Variability in Sea Level Pressure, Sea Surface Temperature, and Upper Ocean Temperature over the Pacific Ocean* , 1999 .

[20]  Shoshiro Minobe,et al.  Resonance in bidecadal and pentadecadal climate oscillations over the North Pacific: Role in climatic regime shifts , 1999 .

[21]  J. Namias,et al.  Persistence of North Pacific Sea Surface Temperature and Atmospheric Flow Patterns , 1988 .

[22]  J. Wallace,et al.  ENSO-like Interdecadal Variability: 1900–93 , 1997 .

[23]  J. Wallace,et al.  A Pacific Interdecadal Climate Oscillation with Impacts on Salmon Production , 1997 .

[24]  Timothy J. Hoar,et al.  The 1990–1995 El Niño‐Southern Oscillation Event: Longest on Record , 1996 .

[25]  Response of IAP/ LASG GOALS model to the coupling of air-Sea fresh water exchange , 2000 .

[26]  North Pacific Storm Track Variations in Winter Season and the Coupled Pattern with the Midlatitude Atmosphere‐Ocean System , 2007 .

[27]  Xuehong Zhang,et al.  A flexible coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation model , 2002 .

[28]  Yu Yongqiang,et al.  Global coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation models in LASG/IAP , 2004 .

[29]  Z. Xuehong,et al.  An eddy-permitting oceanic general circulation model and its preliminary evaluation , 2004 .

[30]  S. Levitus,et al.  Structure and Cycle of Decadal Variability of Upper-Ocean Temperature in the North Pacific , 1997 .