Tokuta Yokohata

Improved Climate Simulation by MIROC5: Mean States, Variability, and Climate Sensitivity

Abstract A new version of the atmosphere–ocean general circulation model cooperatively produced by the Japanese research community, known as the Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate (MIROC), has recently been developed. A century-long control experiment was performed using the new version (MIROC5) with the standard resolution of the T85 atmosphere and 1° ocean models. The climatological mean state and variability are then compared with observations and those in a previous version (MIROC3.2) with two different resolutions (medres, hires), coarser and finer than the resolution of MIROC5. A few aspects of the mean fields in MIROC5 are similar to or slightly worse than MIROC3.2, but otherwise the climatological features are considerably better. In particular, improvements are found in precipitation, zonal mean atmospheric fields, equatorial ocean subsurface fields, and the simulation of El Nino–Southern Oscillation. The difference between MIROC5 and the previous model is larger than that between th...

Origins of the solar radiation biases over the Southern Ocean in CFMIP2 models

AbstractCurrent climate models generally reflect too little solar radiation over the Southern Ocean, which may be the leading cause of the prevalent sea surface temperature biases in climate models. The authors study the role of clouds on the radiation biases in atmosphere-only simulations of the Cloud Feedback Model Intercomparison Project phase 2 (CFMIP2), as clouds have a leading role in controlling the solar radiation absorbed at those latitudes. The authors composite daily data around cyclone centers in the latitude band between 40° and 70°S during the summer. They use cloud property estimates from satellite to classify clouds into different regimes, which allow them to relate the cloud regimes and their associated radiative biases to the meteorological conditions in which they occur. The cloud regimes are defined using cloud properties retrieved using passive sensors and may suffer from the errors associated with this type of retrievals. The authors use information from the Cloud–Aerosol Lidar and I...

Structural Similarities and Differences in Climate Responses to CO2 Increase between Two Perturbed Physics Ensembles

Abstract The equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS) of the two perturbed physics ensembles (PPE) generated using structurally different GCMs, Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate (MIROC3.2) and the Third Hadley Centre Atmospheric Model with slab ocean (HadSM3), is investigated. A method to quantify the shortwave (SW) cloud feedback by clouds with different cloud-top pressure is developed. It is found that the difference in the ensemble means of the ECS between the two ensembles is mainly caused by differences in the SW low-level cloud feedback. The ensemble mean SW cloud feedback and ECS of the MIROC3.2 ensemble is larger than that of the HadSM3 ensemble. This is likely related to the 1XCO2 low-level cloud albedo of the former being larger than that of the latter. It is also found that the largest contribution to the within-ensemble variation of ECS comes from the SW low-level cloud feedback in both ensembles. The mechanism that causes the within-ensemble variation is different between the two e...

Impact of Strong Tropical Volcanic Eruptions on ENSO Simulated in a Coupled GCM

AbstractThe impact of strong tropical volcanic eruptions (SVEs) on the El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and its phase dependency is investigated using a coupled general circulation model (CGCM). This paper investigates the response of ENSO to an idealized SVE forcing, producing a peak perturbation of global-mean surface shortwave radiation larger than −6.5 W m−2. Radiative forcing due to volcanic aerosols injected into the stratosphere induces tropical surface cooling around the volcanic forcing peak. Identical-twin forecast experiments of an ENSO-neutral year in response to an SVE forcing show an El Nino–like warming lagging one year behind the peak forcing. In addition to a reduced role of the mean subsurface water upwelling (known as the dynamical thermostat mechanism), the rapid land surface cooling around the Maritime Continent weakens the equatorial Walker circulation, contributing to the positive zonal gradient of sea surface temperature (SST) and precipitation anomalies over the equatorial Paci...

A comparison of climate feedback strength between CO2 doubling and LGM experiments.

Abstract Studies of the climate in the past potentially provide a constraint on the uncertainty of climate sensitivity, but previous studies warn against a simple scaling to the future. Climate sensitivity is determined by a number of feedback processes, and they may vary according to climate states and forcings. In this study, the similarities and differences in feedbacks for CO2 doubling, a Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and LGM greenhouse gas (GHG) forcing experiments are investigated using an atmospheric general circulation model coupled to a slab ocean model. After computing the radiative forcing, the individual feedback strengths of water vapor, lapse-rate, albedo, and cloud feedbacks are evaluated explicitly. For this particular model, the difference in the climate sensitivity between the experiments is attributed to the shortwave cloud feedback, in which there is a tendency for it to become weaker or even negative in cooling experiments. No significant difference is found in the water vapor feedback ...

Reliability of multi-model and structurally different single-model ensembles

The performance of several state-of-the-art climate model ensembles, including two multi-model ensembles (MMEs) and four structurally different (perturbed parameter) single model ensembles (SMEs), are investigated for the first time using the rank histogram approach. In this method, the reliability of a model ensemble is evaluated from the point of view of whether the observations can be regarded as being sampled from the ensemble. Our analysis reveals that, in the MMEs, the climate variables we investigated are broadly reliable on the global scale, with a tendency towards overdispersion. On the other hand, in the SMEs, the reliability differs depending on the ensemble and variable field considered. In general, the mean state and historical trend of surface air temperature, and mean state of precipitation are reliable in the SMEs. However, variables such as sea level pressure or top-of-atmosphere clear-sky shortwave radiation do not cover a sufficiently wide range in some. It is not possible to assess whether this is a fundamental feature of SMEs generated with particular model, or a consequence of the algorithm used to select and perturb the values of the parameters. As under-dispersion is a potentially more serious issue when using ensembles to make projections, we recommend the application of rank histograms to assess reliability when designing and running perturbed physics SMEs.

Dependency of Feedbacks on Forcing and Climate State in Physics Parameter Ensembles

AbstractClimate sensitivity is one of the most important metrics for future climate projections. In previous studies the climate of the last glacial maximum has been used to constrain the range of climate sensitivity, and similarities and differences of temperature response to the forcing of the last glacial maximum and to idealized future forcing have been investigated. The feedback processes behind the response have not, however, been fully explored in a large model parameter space. In this study, the authors first examine the performance of various feedback analysis methods that identify important feedbacks for a physics parameter ensemble in experiments simulating both past and future climates. The selected methods are then used to reveal the relationship between the different ensemble experiments in terms of individual feedback processes. For the first time, all of the major feedback processes for an ensemble of paleoclimate simulations are evaluated. It is shown that the feedback and climate sensiti...

Using a Multiphysics Ensemble for Exploring Diversity in Cloud–Shortwave Feedback in GCMs

AbstractThis study proposes a systematic approach to investigate cloud-radiative feedbacks to climate change induced by an increase of CO2 concentrations in global climate models (GCMs). Based on two versions of the Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate (MIROC), which have opposite signs for cloud–shortwave feedback (ΔSWcld) and hence different equilibrium climate sensitivities (ECSs), hybrid models are constructed by replacing one or more parameterization schemes for cumulus convection, cloud, and turbulence between them. An ensemble of climate change simulations using a suite of eight models, called a multiphysics ensemble (MPE), is generated. The MPE provides a range of ECS as wide as the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 3 (CMIP3) multimodel ensemble and reveals a different magnitude and sign of ΔSWcld over the tropics, which is crucial for determining ECS.It is found that no single process controls ΔSWcld, but that the coupling of two processes does. Namely, changing the cloud and...

Comparison of equilibrium and transient responses to CO2 increase in eight state-of-the-art climate models

We compared the climate response of doubled CO2 equilibrium experiments (2 × CO2) by atmosphere—slab ocean coupled general circulation models (ASGCMs) and that of 1% per year CO2 increase experiments (1%CO2 by atmosphere—ocean coupled general circulation models (AOGCMs) using eight state-of-the-art climate models. Climate feedback processes in 2 × CO2 are different from those in 1%CO2, and the equilibrium climate sensitivity (T2×) in 2 × CO2 is different from the effective climate sensitivity (T2×, eff) in 1%CO2. The difference between T2× and T2×, eff is from −1.3 to 1.6 K, a large part of which can be explained by the difference in the ice-albedo and cloud feedback. The largest contribution is cloud SW feedback, and the difference in cloud SW feedback for 2 ×CO2 and 1%CO2 could be determined by the distribution of the SAT anomaly which causes differences in the atmospheric thermal structure. An important factor which determines the difference in ice-albedo feedback is the initial sea ice distribution at the Southern Ocean, which is generally overestimated in 2 ×CO2 as compared to 1%CO2 and observation. Through the comparison of climate feedback processes in 2 ×CO2 and 1%CO2, the possible behaviour of the time evolution of T2×, eff is discussed.

Effect of carbonaceous aerosols on surface temperature in the mid twentieth century

[1] Simulations using a climate model are used to investigate the possible impact of increasing emissions of carbonaceous aerosols on near-surface temperature in the mid-20th century. The annual global mean near-surface temperature change from the mid-20th century onward is reasonably described by a model that is forced by changes in most of the known climate forcing agents including an increase in carbonaceous aerosols, though it can also be well reproduced without increases in carbonaceous aerosols. However, if we consider spatio-temporal structure of the changes in the near-surface temperature, an increase in carbonaceous aerosols is definitely required for the model to represent changes in the near-surface temperature in the mid-century, in particular, cooling trends in the tropical and subtropical continents. The significance of an increase in carbonaceous aerosols as an indispensable contributor to mid-20th century temperature changes is confirmed with the use of an optimal fingerprinting methodology.