Stephen Outten

Complementary explanation of temperature response in the lower atmosphere

There are a number of asymmetries in the surface air temperature response to forcing, including polar amplification and changes to the diurnal and seasonal temperature ranges. We propose that such spatial?temporal signatures of climate change can, in part, be explained by differences in the effective heat capacity of the atmosphere. We have demonstrated that predictions arising from this hypothesis are simultaneously satisfied through the analysis of temperature records from daily to inter-decadal timescales using observational and reanalysis datasets. This mechanism can help to explain why we see the largest temperature trends in the winter months (0.42?K/decade in winter compared to 0.18?K/decade in summer) and why the diurnal temperature range decreases in a warming world, having decreased by ?0.4?K since 1950.

Investigating the recent apparent hiatus in surface temperature increases: 2. Comparison of model ensembles to observational estimates

To assess published hypotheses surrounding the recent slowdown in surface warming (hiatus), we compare five available global observational surface temperature estimates to two 30-member ensembles from the Norwegian Earth System Model (NorESM). Model ensembles are initialized in 1980 from the transient historical runs and driven with forcings used in the CMIP5 experiments and updated forcings based upon current observational understanding, described in Part 1. The ensembles’ surface temperature trends are statistically indistinguishable over 1998–2012 despite differences in the prescribed forcings. There is thus no evidence that forcing errors play a significant role in explaining the hiatus according to NorESM. The observations fall either toward the lower portion of the ensembles or, for some observational estimates and regions, outside. The exception is the Arctic where the observations fall toward the upper ensemble bounds. Observational data set choices can make a large difference to findings of consistency or otherwise. Those NorESM ensemble members that exhibit Nino3.4 Sea Surface Temperature (SST) trends similar to observed also exhibit comparable tropical and to some extent globalmean trends, supporting a role for El Nino Southern Oscillation in explaining the hiatus. Several ensemble members capture the marked seasonality observed in Northern Hemispheremidlatitude trends, with cooling in the wintertime and warming in the remaining seasons. Overall, we find that we cannot falsify NorESM as being capable of explaining the observed hiatus behavior. Importantly, this is not equivalent to concluding NorESM could simultaneously capture all important facets of the hiatus. Similar experiments with further, distinct, Earth System Models are required to verify our findings.

Investigating the recent apparent hiatus in surface temperature increases: 1. Construction of two 30-member Earth System Model ensembles

The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, along with numerous studies since, has suggested that the apparent global warming hiatus results from some combination of natural variability and changes to external forcings. Herein the external forcings for greenhouse gases (GHGs), long-lived trace gases, volcanic and tropospheric aerosols, and solar irradiance have been replaced in the Norwegian Earth System Model using recent observational estimates. The potential impact of these alternative forcings, and by residual the internally generated variability, is examined through two 30-member ensembles covering the period 1980 to 2012. The Reference ensemble uses the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 historical forcings extended with the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5) scenario, while the Sensitivity ensemble uses the alternative forcings. Over the hiatus period defined herein as 1998–2012, all of the forcings show some change between the Sensitivity and Reference experiments and have a combined net forcing change of −0.03 W m−2. The GHG forcing is 0.012 W m−2 higher in the Sensitivity forcings. The alternative solar forcing differs from the Reference forcing by −0.08 W m−2, the same as the alternative volcanic forcing that was based on the latest estimates from NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Anthropogenic aerosol emissions were replaced using the EU-EclipseV4a data set and produce a mean forcing change of 0.11 W m−2 over the period. Part 1 details the creation of the two 30-member ensembles and their characterization for parameters of particular relevance to the explanation of the hiatus. A detailed investigation of the two resulting ensembles global surface temperature behavior is given in Part 2, along with comparisons to observational data sets.

Eurasian Winter Cooling: Intercomparison of Reanalyses and CMIP5 Data Sets

Abstract A cooling trend in wintertime surface air temperature over continental Eurasia has been identified in reanalysis and the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) ‘historical’ simulations over the period 1989-2009. Here the authors have shown that this cooling trend is related to changes in Arctic sea-ice around the Barents-Kara seas. This study illustrates a consistent spatial and temporal structure of the wintertime temperature variability centered over Asia using state-of-the-art reanalyses and global climate model datasets. Our findings indicate that there is a physical basis for seasonal predictions of near-surface temperatures over continental Asia based on changes to the ice-cover in the Barents-Kara seas.

Climatology and Interannual Variability of Cloudiness in the Atlantic Arctic from Surface Observations since the Late Nineteenth Century

AbstractA long-term climatology of cloudiness over the Norwegian, Barents, and Kara Seas (NBK) based on visual surface observations is presented. Annual mean total cloud cover (TCC) is almost equal over solid-ice (SI) and open-water (OW) regions of the NBK (73% ± 3% and 76% ± 2%, respectively). In general, TCC has higher intra- and interannual variability over SI than over OW. A decrease of TCC in the middle of the twentieth century and an increase in the last few decades was found at individual stations and for the NBK as a whole. In most cases these changes are statistically significant with magnitudes exceeding the data uncertainty that is associated with the surface observations. The most pronounced trends are observed in autumn when the largest changes to the sea ice concentration (SIC) occur. TCC over SI correlates significantly with SIC in the Barents Sea, with a statistically significant correlation coefficient between annual TCC and SIC of −0.38 for the period 1936–2013. Cloudiness over OW shows ...

Bjerknes compensation in the Bergen Climate Model

The meridional transport of heat is a critical component of the Earth’s climate system. If the total heat transported by the climate system is approximately constant, then the anomalies of heat transported by the atmosphere and ocean should be approximately equal and opposite, a scenario now called Bjerknes compensation. This has previously been found in two coupled climate models, with both showing multi-decadal variability in the heat transports. This work identifies Bjerknes compensation in the Bergen Climate Model, adding to the understanding of the robust features of Bjerknes compensation in coupled climate models. The atmospheric and oceanic heat transports are investigated in the 600-year control run of a fully-coupled global climate model. The presence of Bjerknes compensation is confirmed by the strong anti-correlation and equal magnitude of the anomalies of these heat transports. The heat transport anomalies contain a signal of multi-decadal variability. Since natural variability in global heat transport could mask anthropogenic climate change signals, understanding Bjerknes compensation is of socio-economic importance. Using regression analysis the atmospheric and oceanic responses to the multi-decadal variability of the Bjerknes compensation signal are investigated. This highlights the importance of the marginal ice zones of the Greenland and Barents Seas as the critical location for coupling the atmosphere and ocean. During periods of increased heat transport in the ocean, these regions show decreased sea-ice, leading to increased fluxes and local temperatures, and giving rise to a thermal low-pressure center and a non-local high-pressure centre, thus changing the atmospheric flow on multi-decadal timescales.