The Southern Ocean exerts a strong influence on global climate, regulating the storage and transport of heat, freshwater and carbon throughout the world's oceans. While the majority of previous studies focus on how wind changes influence Southern Ocean circulation patterns, here we set out to explore potential feedbacks from the ocean to the atmosphere. To isolate the role of oceanic variability on Southern Hemisphere climate, we perform coupled climate model experiments in which Southern Ocean variability is suppressed by restoring sea surface temperatures (SST) over 40 degrees-65 degrees S to the model's monthly mean climatology. We find that suppressing Southern Ocean SST variability does not impact the Southern Annular Mode, suggesting air-sea feedbacks do not play an important role in the persistence of the Southern Annular Mode in our model. Suppressing Southern Ocean SST variability does lead to robust mean-state changes in SST and sea ice. Changes in mixed layer processes and convection associated with the SST restoring lead to SST warming and a sea ice decline in southern high latitudes, and SST cooling in midlatitudes. These results highlight the impact non-linear processes can have on a model's mean state, and the need to consider these when performing simulations of the Southern Ocean.

Purich, A., Boschat, G., Liguori, G. (2021). Assessing the impact of suppressing Southern Ocean SST variability in a coupled climate model. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 11(1), 1-11 [10.1038/s41598-021-01306-2].

Assessing the impact of suppressing Southern Ocean SST variability in a coupled climate model

Liguori, Giovanni
2021

Abstract

The Southern Ocean exerts a strong influence on global climate, regulating the storage and transport of heat, freshwater and carbon throughout the world's oceans. While the majority of previous studies focus on how wind changes influence Southern Ocean circulation patterns, here we set out to explore potential feedbacks from the ocean to the atmosphere. To isolate the role of oceanic variability on Southern Hemisphere climate, we perform coupled climate model experiments in which Southern Ocean variability is suppressed by restoring sea surface temperatures (SST) over 40 degrees-65 degrees S to the model's monthly mean climatology. We find that suppressing Southern Ocean SST variability does not impact the Southern Annular Mode, suggesting air-sea feedbacks do not play an important role in the persistence of the Southern Annular Mode in our model. Suppressing Southern Ocean SST variability does lead to robust mean-state changes in SST and sea ice. Changes in mixed layer processes and convection associated with the SST restoring lead to SST warming and a sea ice decline in southern high latitudes, and SST cooling in midlatitudes. These results highlight the impact non-linear processes can have on a model's mean state, and the need to consider these when performing simulations of the Southern Ocean.
2021
Purich, A., Boschat, G., Liguori, G. (2021). Assessing the impact of suppressing Southern Ocean SST variability in a coupled climate model. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 11(1), 1-11 [10.1038/s41598-021-01306-2].
Purich, Ariaan; Boschat, Ghyslaine; Liguori, Giovanni
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Purich_2021_s41598-021-01306-2.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipo: Versione (PDF) editoriale
Licenza: Creative commons
Dimensione 8.66 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
8.66 MB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/897234
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 0
  • Scopus 4
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 5
social impact