Comparison of the last interglacial climate simulated by a coupled global model of intermediate complexity and an AOGCM

Kubatzki, Claudia; Montoya, Marisa; Rahmstorf, Stefan; Ganopolski, Andrey; Claußen, Martin

doi:10.1007/s003820000078

Cited by 64 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Replacement of forests with shorter vegetation together with the normally assumed higher albedo could then cool the surface". Vegetation-induced cooling/warming through albedo change is also discussed in several other studies (Ganopolski et al, 1998;Claussen, 1998;Claussen et al, 2006;Kubatzki et al, 2000).…”

Section: Simulated Surface Temperature Anomaliesmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Monsoon is the major manifestation of the seasonal cycle in the tropical regions, and there is a wide range of evidence from marine and terrestrial data that the monsoon characteristics are affected by changes in the Earth's astronomical parameters (de Noblet et al, 1996;Kubatzki et al, 2000;Montoya et al, 2000) during the last lnterglacial. Both CCSM3 and LOVECLIM simulate significantly stronger northern monsoon during MIS-5e.…”

Section: Jja Precipitation Anomaliesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The last interglacial (Eemian) climate simulated by LOVECLIM and CCSM3

et al. 2013

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This paper presents a detailed analysis of the climate of the last interglacial simulated by two climate models of different complexities, CCSM3 (Community Climate System Model 3) and LOVECLIM (LOch-Vecode-Ecbilt-CLio-agIsm Model). The simulated surface temperature, hydrological cycle, vegetation and ENSO variability during the last interglacial are analyzed through the comparison with the simulated pre-industrial (PI) climate. In both models, the last interglacial period is characterized by a significant warming (cooling) over almost all the continents during boreal summer (winter) leading to a largely increased (reduced) seasonal contrast in the Northern (Southern) Hemisphere. This is mainly due to the much higher (lower) insolation received by the whole Earth in boreal summer (winter) during this interglacial. The Arctic is warmer than PI through the whole year, resulting from its much higher summer insolation, its remnant effect in the following fall-winter through the interactions between atmosphere, ocean and sea ice and feedbacks from sea ice and snow cover. Discrepancies exist in the sea-ice formation zones between the two models. Cooling is simulated by CCSM3 in the Greenland and Norwegian seas and near the shelves of Antarctica during DJF but not in LOVECLIM as a result of excessive sea-ice formation. Intensified African monsoon is responsible for the cooling during summer in northern Africa and on the Arabian Peninsula. Over India, the precipitation maximum is found further west, while in Africa the precipitation maximum migrates further north. Trees and grassland expand north in Sahel/Sahara, more clearly seen in LOVECLIM than in CCSM3 results. A mix of forest and grassland occupies continents and expands deep into the high northern latitudes. Desert areas reduce significantly in the Northern Hemisphere, but increase in northern Australia. The interannual SST variability of the tropical Pacific (El-Niño Southern Oscillation) of the last interglacial simulated by CCSM3 shows slightly larger variability and magnitude compared to the PI. However, the SST variability in our LOVECLIM simulations is particularly small due to the overestimated thermocline's depth

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Section: Simulated Surface Temperature Anomaliesmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Jja Precipitation Anomaliesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The last interglacial (Eemian) climate simulated by LOVECLIM and CCSM3

et al. 2013

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“…The recent work by Zeng and Neelin (1999), Claussen et al (1999) and Kubatzki et al (2000) suggest that palaeoclimatic changes in the Saharo-Arabian region were triggered by changes in insolation and amplified by a positive, nonlinear biogeophysical feedback between vegetation, atmospheric motion and precipitation.…”

Section: The Saharo-arabian Desertsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Climate change in arid environments: revisiting the past to understand the future

Lioubimtseva

2004

Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment

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Arid regions are expected to undergo significant changes under a scenario of climate warming, but there is considerable variability and uncertainty in these estimates between different scenarios. The complexities of precipitation changes, vegetation-climate feedbacks and direct physiological effects of CO2 on vegetation present particular challenges for climate change modelling of arid regions. Great uncertainties exist in the prediction of arid ecosystem responses to elevated CO2 and global warming. Palaeodata provide important information about the past frequency, intensity and subregional patterns of change in the world’s deserts that cannot always be captured by the climatic models. However, it is important to bear in mind that the global mechanisms of Quaternary climatic variability were different from present-day trends, and any direct analogies between the past and present should be treated with great caution. Although palaeodata provide valuable information about possible past changes in the vegetation-climate system, it is unlikely that the history of the world’s deserts is a key for their future.

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“…The original CLIMBER-2 model has been applied to many types of climate studies, including the simulation of different palaeoclimates (e.g. Ganopolski et al, 1998a, b;Brovkin et al, 1999;Claussen et al, 1999;Rahmstorf and Ganopolski, 1999;Kubatzki et al, 2000;Ganopolski et al, 2001).…”

Section: The Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanisms and time scales of glacial inception simulated with an Earth system model of intermediate complexity

et al. 2009

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Abstract. We investigate glacial inception and glacial thresholds in the climate-cryosphere system utilising the Earth system model of intermediate complexity CLIMBER-2, which includes modules for atmosphere, terrestrial vegetation, ocean and interactive ice sheets. The latter are described by the three-dimensional polythermal ice-sheet model SICOPOLIS. A bifurcation which represents glacial inception is analysed with two different model setups: one setup with dynamical ice-sheet model and another setup without it. The respective glacial thresholds differ in terms of maximum boreal summer insolation at 65 • N (hereafter referred as Milankovitch forcing (MF)). The glacial threshold of the configuration without ice-sheet dynamics corresponds to a much lower value of MF compared to the full model. If MF attains values only slightly below the aforementioned threshold there is fast transient response. Depending on the value of MF relative to the glacial threshold, the transient response time of inland-ice volume in the model configuration with ice-sheet dynamics ranges from 10 000 to 100 000 years. Due to these long response times, a glacial threshold obtained in an equilibrium simulation is not directly applicable to the transient response of the climate-cryosphere system to time-dependent orbital forcing. It is demonstrated that in transient simulations just crossing of the glacial threshold does not imply large-scale glaciation of the Northern Hemisphere. We found that in transient simulations MF has to drop well below the glacial threshold determined in an equilibrium simulation to initiate glacial inception. Finally, we show that the asynchronous coupling between climate and Correspondence to: R. Calov (calov@pik-potsdam.de) inland-ice components allows one sufficient realistic simulation of glacial inception and, at the same time, a considerable reduction of computational costs.

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Comparison of the last interglacial climate simulated by a coupled global model of intermediate complexity and an AOGCM

Cited by 64 publications

References 49 publications

The last interglacial (Eemian) climate simulated by LOVECLIM and CCSM3

The last interglacial (Eemian) climate simulated by LOVECLIM and CCSM3

Climate change in arid environments: revisiting the past to understand the future

Mechanisms and time scales of glacial inception simulated with an Earth system model of intermediate complexity

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