Theoretical and empirical studies have suggested that an underestimate of the ENSO asymmetry may be accompanied by a climatologically smaller and warmer western Pacific warm pool. In light of this suggestion, simulati...Theoretical and empirical studies have suggested that an underestimate of the ENSO asymmetry may be accompanied by a climatologically smaller and warmer western Pacific warm pool. In light of this suggestion, simulations of the tropical Pacific climate by 19 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 3 （CMIP3） climate models that do not use flux adjustment were evaluated. Our evaluation revealed systematic biases in both the mean state and ENSO statistics. The mean state in most of the models had a smaller and warmer warm pool. This common bias in the mean state was accompanied by a common bias in the simulated ENSO statistics： a significantly weak asymmetry between the two phases of ENSO. Moreover, despite the generally weak ENSO asymmetry simulated by all models, a positive correlation between the magnitude of the bias in the simulated warm-pool size and the magnitude of the bias in the simulated ENSO asymmetry was found. These findings support the suggested link between ENSO asymmetry and the tropical mean state--the climatological size and temperature of the warm pool in particular. Together with previous studies, these findings light up a path to improve the simulation of the tropical Pacific mean state by climate models： enhancing the asymmetry of ENSO in the climate models.展开更多
In the existing studies on the atmospheric energy cycle, the attention to thegeneration of available potential energy (APE) is restricted to its global mean value. Thegeographical distributions of the generation of AP...In the existing studies on the atmospheric energy cycle, the attention to thegeneration of available potential energy (APE) is restricted to its global mean value. Thegeographical distributions of the generation of APE and its mechanism of formation are investigatedby using the three-dimensional NCEP/NCAR diabatic heating reanalysis in this study. The results showthat the contributions from sensible heating and net radiation to the generation of zonal andtime-mean APE (G_Z) are mainly located in high and middle latitudes with an opposite sign, while thelatent heating shows a dominant effect on G_Z mainly in the tropics and high latitudes where thecontributions from the middle and upper tropospheres are also contrary to that from the lowtroposphere. In high latitudes, the G_Z is much stronger for the Winter Hemisphere than for theSummer Hemisphere, and this is consistent with the asymmetrical feature shown by the reservoir ofzonal and time-mean APE in two hemispheres, which suggests that the generation of APE plays afundamental role in maintaining the APE in the global atmospheric energy cycle. The samecontributions to the generation of stationary eddy APE (G_(SE)) from the different regions relatedto the maintenance of longitudinal temperature contrast are likely arisen by different physics.Specifically, the positive contributions to G_(SE) from the latent heating in the western tropicalPacific and from the sensible heating over land are dominated by the heating at warm regions,whereas those from the latent heating in the eastern tropical Pacific and from the sensitive heatingover the oceans are dominated by the cooling at cold regions. Thus, our findings provide anobservational estimate of the generation of eddy APE to identify the regional contributions in theclimate simulations because it might be correct for the wrong reasons in the general circulationmodel (GCM). The largest positive contributions to the generation of transient eddy APE (G_(TE)) arefound to be at middle latitudes in the middle and upper trop展开更多
基金supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program-Climate Change:Carbon Budget and Related Issues of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.XDA05110302)National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC)Major Research Project(Grant Nos.40890150 and 40890155)+2 种基金the National Basic Research Program of China for Structures,Variability,and Climatic Impacts of Ocean Circulation and Warm Pool in the Tropical Pacific Ocean(Grant No.2012CB417401)China Postdoctoral Science Foudation funded project(2012M521378)Chinese Scholarship Council,the Large-scale and Climate Dynamics Program of the US National Science Foundation(Grant Nos.AGS0553111 and AGS0852329)
文摘Theoretical and empirical studies have suggested that an underestimate of the ENSO asymmetry may be accompanied by a climatologically smaller and warmer western Pacific warm pool. In light of this suggestion, simulations of the tropical Pacific climate by 19 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 3 （CMIP3） climate models that do not use flux adjustment were evaluated. Our evaluation revealed systematic biases in both the mean state and ENSO statistics. The mean state in most of the models had a smaller and warmer warm pool. This common bias in the mean state was accompanied by a common bias in the simulated ENSO statistics： a significantly weak asymmetry between the two phases of ENSO. Moreover, despite the generally weak ENSO asymmetry simulated by all models, a positive correlation between the magnitude of the bias in the simulated warm-pool size and the magnitude of the bias in the simulated ENSO asymmetry was found. These findings support the suggested link between ENSO asymmetry and the tropical mean state--the climatological size and temperature of the warm pool in particular. Together with previous studies, these findings light up a path to improve the simulation of the tropical Pacific mean state by climate models： enhancing the asymmetry of ENSO in the climate models.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 40175028 and 40475045.
文摘In the existing studies on the atmospheric energy cycle, the attention to thegeneration of available potential energy (APE) is restricted to its global mean value. Thegeographical distributions of the generation of APE and its mechanism of formation are investigatedby using the three-dimensional NCEP/NCAR diabatic heating reanalysis in this study. The results showthat the contributions from sensible heating and net radiation to the generation of zonal andtime-mean APE (G_Z) are mainly located in high and middle latitudes with an opposite sign, while thelatent heating shows a dominant effect on G_Z mainly in the tropics and high latitudes where thecontributions from the middle and upper tropospheres are also contrary to that from the lowtroposphere. In high latitudes, the G_Z is much stronger for the Winter Hemisphere than for theSummer Hemisphere, and this is consistent with the asymmetrical feature shown by the reservoir ofzonal and time-mean APE in two hemispheres, which suggests that the generation of APE plays afundamental role in maintaining the APE in the global atmospheric energy cycle. The samecontributions to the generation of stationary eddy APE (G_(SE)) from the different regions relatedto the maintenance of longitudinal temperature contrast are likely arisen by different physics.Specifically, the positive contributions to G_(SE) from the latent heating in the western tropicalPacific and from the sensible heating over land are dominated by the heating at warm regions,whereas those from the latent heating in the eastern tropical Pacific and from the sensitive heatingover the oceans are dominated by the cooling at cold regions. Thus, our findings provide anobservational estimate of the generation of eddy APE to identify the regional contributions in theclimate simulations because it might be correct for the wrong reasons in the general circulationmodel (GCM). The largest positive contributions to the generation of transient eddy APE (G_(TE)) arefound to be at middle latitudes in the middle and upper trop
