Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory

About: Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory is a facility organization based out in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Climate model & Climate change. The organization has 525 authors who have published 2432 publications receiving 264545 citations. The organization is also known as: GFDL.

Association of Tropical Cirrus in the 10–15-km Layer with Deep Convective Sources: An Observational Study Combining Millimeter Radar Data and Satellite-Derived Trajectories

Abstract: In this paper, millimeter cloud radar (MMCR) and Geosynchronous Meteorological Satellite (GMS) data are combined to study the properties of tropical cirrus that are common in the 10–15-km layer of the tropical troposphere in the western Pacific. Millimeter cloud radar observations collected by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program on the islands of Manus and Nauru in the western and central equatorial Pacific during a 12-month period spanning 1999 and 2000 show differences in cirrus properties: over Manus, where clouds above 7 km are observed 48% of the time, the cirrus are thicker and warmer on average and the radar reflectivity and Doppler velocity are larger; over Nauru clouds above 7 km are observed 23% of time. To explain the differences in cloud properties, the relationship between tropical cirrus and deep convection is examined by combining the radar observations with GMS satellite-derived back trajectories. Using a data record of 1 yr, it is found that 47% of the cirrus observed o...

The dynamical range of global circulations. II

Abstract: The dynamical range of global atmospheric circulations is extended to specialized parameter regions by evaluating the influence of the rotation rate (Ω) on axisymmetric, oblique, and diurnally heated moist models. In Part I, we derived the basic range of circulations by altering Ω for moist and dry atmospheres with regular and modified surfaces. Again we find the circulations to be composed of only a few elementary forms. In axisymmetric atmospheres, the circulations consist of a single jet in the rotational midrange (Ω*=1/2−1) and of double jets in the high range (Ω*=2−4), together with one or two pairs of Hadley and Ferrel cells; where (Ω*=Ω/Ω E ) is the rotation rate normalized by the terrestrial value. These circulations differ from those predicted by firstorder symmetric-Hadley (SH1) theory because the moist inviscid atmosphere allows a greater nonlinearity and prefers a higher-order meridional mode. The axisymmetric circulations do, however, resemble the mean flows of the natural system — but only in low latitudes, where they underlie the quasi-Hadley (QH) element of the MOIST flows. In midlatitudes, the axisymmetric jets are stronger than the natural jets but can be reduced to them by barotropic and baroclinic instablities. Oblique atmospheres with moderate to high tilts (θ P =25°−90°) have the equator-straddling Hadley cell and the four basic zonal winds predicted by the geometric theory for the solstitial-symmetric-Hadley (SSH) state: an easterly jet and a westerly tradewind in the summer hemisphere, and a westerly jet and an easterly tradewind in the winter hemisphere. The nonlinear baroclinic instability of the winter westerly produces a Ferrel cell and the same eddy fluxes as the quasi-geostrophic QGγ element, while the instability of the summer easterly jet produces a QG-Hadley (QGH) element with a unique, vertically bimodal eddy momentum flux. At high θ P and low Ω*, the oblique atmospheres reach a limiting state having global easterlies, a pole-to-pole Hadley cell, and a warm winter pole. At low tilts θ P <10°, the oblique circulations have a mix of solstitial and equinoctial features. Diurnal heating variations exert a fundamental influence on the natural-Hadley (NH) circulations of slowly rotating systems, especially in the singular range where the zonal winds approach extinction. The diurnality just modifies the NH element in the upper singular range (1/45⩽Ω*⩽1/16), but completely transforms it into a subsolar-antisolar Halley circulation in the lower singular range (0⩽Ω*<1/45). In the modified NH flows, the diurnality acts through the convection to enhance the generation of the momentum-transferring planetary waves and, thereby, changes the narrow polar jets of the nondiurnal states into broad, super-rotating currents. Circulation theory for these specialized flows remains rudimentary. It does not explain fully how the double jets and the multiple cells arise in the axisymmetric atmospheres, how the QGH element forms in the oblique atmospheres, or how waves propagate in the slowly rotating diurnal atmospheres. But eventually all theories could, in principle, be compared against planetary observation: with Mars testing the QGH elements; Jupiter, the high-range elements; Titan, the equinoctial and solstitital axisymmetric states; and Venus, the diurnally modified NH flows.

Winter Northern Hemisphere surface air temperature variability associated with the Arctic Oscillation and North Atlantic Oscillation

Abstract: The interannual variability of winter surface air temperature ( SAT) in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) associated with the Arctic Oscillation (AO) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is studied. The AO and the NAO show different impacts on winter NH SAT variations. The AO affects the SAT over the Euro-Asian and African continents, whereas the NAO is more regional with the major effect on the SAT in the western North Africa. This discrepancy can be reflected in other atmospheric variables such as sea level pressure and geopotential height fields as well. The analyses in this paper also suggest that the AO-related signal can penetrate deeply into the stratosphere while the NAO one is largely a tropospheric phenomenon.

Has coarse ocean resolution biased simulations of transient climate sensitivity

Abstract: We investigate the influence of ocean component resolution on simulation of climate sensitivity using variants of the GFDL CM2.5 climate model incorporating eddy-resolving (1/10°) and eddy-parameterizing (1°) ocean resolutions. Two parameterization configurations of the coarse-resolution model are used yielding a three-model suite with significant variation in the transient climate response (TCR). The variation of TCR in this suite and in an enhanced group of 10 GFDL models is found to be strongly associated with the control climate Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) magnitude and its decline under forcing. We find that it is the AMOC behavior rather than resolution per se that accounts for most of the TCR differences. A smaller difference in TCR stems from the eddy-resolving model having more Southern Ocean surface warming than the coarse models.