Nobumasa Komori

Seasonal Evolutions of Atmospheric Response to Decadal SST Anomalies in the North Pacific Subarctic Frontal Zone: Observations and a Coupled Model Simulation

AbstractPotential impacts of pronounced decadal-scale variations in the North Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) that tend to be confined to the subarctic frontal zone (SAFZ) upon seasonally varying atmospheric states are investigated, by using 48-yr observational data and a 120-yr simulation with an ocean–atmosphere coupled general circulation model (CGCM). SST fields based on in situ observations and the ocean component of the CGCM have horizontal resolutions of 2.0° and 0.5°, respectively, which can reasonably resolve frontal SST gradient across the SAFZ. Both the observations and CGCM simulation provide a consistent picture between SST anomalies in the SAFZ yielded by its decadal-scale meridional displacement and their association with atmospheric anomalies. Correlated with SST anomalies persistent in the SAFZ from fall to winter, a coherent decadal-scale signal in the wintertime atmospheric circulation over the North Pacific starts emerging in November and develops into an equivalent barotropic an...

Air-Sea Heat Exchanges Characteristic of a Prominent Midlatitude Oceanic Front in the South Indian Ocean as Simulated in a High-Resolution Coupled GCM

Abstract An integration of a high-resolution coupled general circulation model whose ocean component is eddy permitting and thus able to reproduce a sharp gradient in sea surface temperature (SST) is analyzed to investigate air–sea heat exchanges characteristic of the midlatitude oceanic frontal zone. The focus of this paper is placed on a prominent SST front in the south Indian Ocean, which is collocated with the core of the Southern Hemisphere storm track. Time-mean distribution of sensible heat flux is characterized by a distinct cross-frontal contrast. It is upward and downward on the warmer and cooler flanks, respectively, of the SST front, acting to maintain the sharp gradient of surface air temperature (SAT) that is important for preconditioning the environment for the recurrent development of storms and thereby anchoring the storm track. Induced by cross-frontal advection of cold (warm) air associated with migratory atmospheric disturbances, the surface flux is highly variable with intermittent en...

Description of AFES 2: Improvements for High-Resolution and Coupled Simulations

This chapter describes the updated version of Atmospheric General Circulation Model for the Earth Simulator (AFES 2). Modifications are intended (1) to increase the accuracy and efficiency of the Legendre transform at high resolutions and (2) to improve the physical performance. In particular, the Emanuel scheme replaces a simplified version of the Arakawa-Schubert scheme for the parametrization of cumulus convection. The Emanuel scheme parametrizes O(100m) drafts within subgrid-scale cumuli and does not have explicit dependency upon the grid size. Therefore the cloud model of the Emanuel scheme allows us to use it at high resolutions of O(10km) where the validity of the ensemble cloud model of the Arakawa-Schubert scheme is questionable. Moreover, 10-year test runs indicate that the use of the Emanuel scheme improve the physical performance at a moderate resolution as well. Anomalies of the geopotential height and zonal winds in the middle to upper troposphere are reduced, although the improvements in terms of the distributions of precipitation and sea-level pressure are not significant. Improvements are attributable to a better vertical structure of temperature in the tropics due to more realistic estimation of mixing of the momentum, temperature, and moisture by the Emanuel scheme.

Oceanic fronts and jets around Japan: a review

This article reviews progress in our understanding of oceanic fronts around Japan and their roles in air–sea interaction. Fronts associated with the Kuroshio and its extension, fronts within the area of the Kuroshio-Oyashio confluence, and the subtropical fronts are described with particular emphasis on their structure, variability, and role in air–sea interaction. The discussion also extends to the fronts in the coastal and marginal seas, the Seto Inland Sea and Japan Sea. Studies on oceanic fronts have progressed significantly during the past decade, but many of these studies focus on processes at individual fronts and do not provide a comprehensive view. Hence, one of the goals of this article is to review the oceanic fronts around Japan by describing the processes based on common metrics. These metrics focus primarily on surface properties to obtain insights into air–sea interactions that occur along oceanic fronts. The basic characteristics derived for each front (i.e., metrics) are then presented as a table. We envision that many of the coupled ocean-atmosphere global circulation models in the coming decade will represent oceanic fronts reasonably well, and it is hoped that this review along with the table of metrics will provide a useful benchmark for evaluating these models.

Observing-System Research and Ensemble Data Assimilation at JAMSTEC

Recent activities on ensemble data assimilation and its application to observing-system research at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology are reviewed. A revised version of an ensemble-based data assimilation system for global atmospheric data has been developed on the second-generation Earth Simulator. This system assimilates conventional atmospheric observations and satellite-based wind data into an atmospheric general circulation model using the local ensemble transform Kalman filter (LETKF), a deterministic ensemble Kalman filter algorithm that is extremely efficient with parallel computer architecture. The updated system incorporates improvements to the previous system in the forecast model, data assimilation algorithm and input data. Using the LETKF system, observations taken during field campaigns are evaluated by data assimilation experiments involving adding or removing observations. The results of these observing-system experiments successfully demonstrate the value of the observations and are highly useful for exploring the predictability of atmospheric disturbances.

High-Resolution Simulation of the Global Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean System: Description and Preliminary Outcomes of CFES (CGCM for the Earth Simulator)

We have been developing a global, high-resolution, coupled atmosphereocean general circulation model, named CFES, which was designed to achieve efficient computational performance on the Earth Simulator. A brief description of CFES and some preliminary results obtained from 66-month integration are presented. Although some deficiencies are apparent in the results, realistically simulated smallscale structures such as extratropical cyclones and sea surface temperature fronts in the mid-latitudes, and seasonal variation of tropical sea surface temperature and polar sea-ice extent encourage us to study mechanism and predictability of high-impact phenomena and their relation to the global-scale circulations using CFES.

Emergence of Wind-Driven Near-Inertial Waves in the Deep Ocean Triggered by Small-Scale Eddy Vorticity Structures

Usingnumericalsimulationsforcedbyauniformrealisticwindtimeseries,theauthorsshowthatthepresence of a mesoscale eddy field at midlatitudes accelerates the vertical propagation of the wind-forced near-inertial waves (NIW) and produces the emergence of a maximum of vertical velocity into the deep ocean (around 2500 m) characterized by a mean amplitude of 25 m day 21 , a dominant 2f frequency, and scales as small as O(30 km). These results differ from previous studies that reported a smaller depth and larger scales. The authors show that the larger depth observed in the present study (2500 m instead of 1700 m) is due to the wind forcing duration that allows the first five baroclinic modes to disperse and to impact the deep NIW maximum (insteadofthefirsttwomodesasreportedbefore).Thesmallerscales(30 kminsteadof90 km)areexplainedby a resonance mechanism (described in previous studies) that affects the high NIW baroclinic modes, but only whensmall-scalerelativevorticitystructures(relatedtothemesoscaleeddyfield)haveanamplitudethatislarge enough. These results, which point out the importance of the wind forcing duration and the resolution, indicate that the emergence of a deep NIW maximum with a 2f frequency reported before is a robust feature that is enhanced with more realistic conditions. Such 2f frequency in the deep interior raises the question of the mechanisms, still unresolved, that may ultimately transfer this superinertial energy into mixing at these depths.

Dynamical Initialization for the Numerical Forecasting of Ocean Surface Circulations Using a Variational Assimilation System

Abstract A variational data assimilation system is presented for the initialization of an ocean surface circulation forecast system. The authors’ variational data assimilation system is designed to satisfy both statistical and dynamical constraints. As is usual, the statistical part of the assimilation scheme corresponds to the optimal interpolation scheme while the dynamical part works as a weak constraint for the model equations except for the time differential terms. Thus this variational data assimilation scheme can be regarded as an extended optimal interpolation capable of obtaining the analysis field that satisfies the model dynamics. Comparison with the results of assimilating altimetric data into a 1.5-layer primitive equation model by the classical optimal interpolation clearly shows the advantage of this assimilation method. For example, the analysis field is significantly improved, in particular, in the western boundary current regions and their extensions, where some assumptions inherent in t...

Influence of Local Dynamical Air–Sea Feedback Process on the Hawaiian Lee Countercurrent

AbstractLocal air–sea interactions over the high sea surface temperature (SST) band along the Hawaiian Lee Countercurrent (HLCC) are examined with a focus on dynamical feedback of SST-induced wind stress to the ocean using the atmosphere–ocean coupled general circulation model (CGCM). A pair of ensemble CGCM simulations are compared to extract the air–sea interactions associated with HLCC: the control simulations and other simulations, the latter purposely eliminating influences of the high SST band on the sea surface flux computations in the CGCM. The comparison reveals that oceanic response to surface wind convergence and positive wind stress curl induced by the high SST band increases (decreases) the HLCC speed in the southern (northern) flank of the HLCC. The HLCC speed changes are driven by the Ekman suction associated with positive wind stress curl over the warm HLCC via the thermal wind balance. The HLCC speed increase is more significant than its decrease. This dynamical feedback is likely to be i...

Frontolysis by surface heat flux in the Agulhas Return Current region with a focus on mixed layer processes: observation and a high-resolution CGCM

Detailed mechanisms for frontogenesis/frontolysis of the Agulhas Return Current (ARC) Front, defined as the maximum of the meridional sea surface temperature (SST) gradient at each longitude within the ARC region (40°–50°E, 55°–35°S), are investigated using observational datasets. Due to larger (smaller) latent heat release to the atmosphere on the northern (southern) side of the front, the meridional gradient of surface net heat flux (NHF) is found throughout the year. In austral summer, surface warming is weaker (stronger) on the northern (southern) side, and thus the NHF tends to relax the SST front. The weaker (stronger) surface warming, at the same time, leads to the deeper (shallower) mixed layer on the northern (southern) side. This enhances the frontolysis, because deeper (shallower) mixed layer is less (more) sensitive to surface warming. In austral winter, stronger (weaker) surface cooling on the northern (southern) side contributes to the frontolysis. However, deeper (shallower) mixed layer is induced by stronger (weaker) surface cooling on the northern (southern) side and suppresses the frontolysis, because the deeper (shallower) mixed layer is less (more) sensitive to surface cooling. Therefore, the frontolysis by the NHF becomes stronger (weaker) through the mixed layer processes in austral summer (winter). The cause of the meridional gradient of mixed layer depth is estimated using diagnostic entrainment velocity and the Monin–Obukhov depth. Furthermore, the above mechanisms obtained from the observation are confirmed using outputs from a high-resolution coupled general circulation model. Causes of model biases are also discussed.