Abstract
It is investigated how the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is simulated differently among various coupled general circulation models (CGCMs), and how it is related to the heat budget of the simulated ocean mixed layer, which includes the surface heat flux and ocean heat transport. For this purpose the dataset of the climate of the 20th Century experiment (20C3M) from nine CGCMs reported to IPCC’s AR4 are used, while the MRI and MIROC models are examined in detail. Detailed analyses of these two CGCMs reveal that the PDO is mainly affected by ocean heat transport rather than surface heat flux, in particular in the MRI model which has a larger contribution of ocean heat transport to the heat budget. It is found that the ocean heat transport due to Ekman advection versus geostrophic advection contributes differently to the PDO in the western and central North Pacific. Specifically, the strength of PDO tends to be larger for CGCMs with a larger ocean heat transport in the region.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Output data of vertical velocity and eddy diffusivity are not available in the CMIP3 dataset, therefore, we obtain the OHT by subtracting the SHF from the HCV.
As mentioned on Sect. 2.2, the leading EOF here is multiplied by the standard deviation of the first PC to compare the strength of the PDO in various CGCMs. Thus, the magnitude of the leading EOFs averaged over each region is considered as the strength of the PDO in this study.
References
Salas-Melia D et al (2005) Description and validation of the CNRM-CM3 global coupled model. CNRM Tech Rep 103, p 36
Barlow M, Nigam S, Berbery EH (2001) ENSO, Pacific decadal variability, and U.S. summertime precipitation, drought, and stream flow. J Clim 14:2105–2128
Capotondi A, Alexander MA (2001) Rossby waves in the tropical Pacific and their role in decadal thermocline variability. J Phys Oceanogr 31:3496–3515
Carton JA, Grodsky SA, Liu H (2008) Variability of the Oceanic mixed layer, 1960–2004. J Clim 21:1029–1047
Dawe JT, Thompson L (2007) PDO-related heat and temperature budget changes in a model of the North Pacific. J Clim 20:2092–2108
Delworth TL et al (2006) GFDLs CM2 global coupled climate models. Part I: formulation and simulation characteristics. J Clim 19:643–674
Deser C, Blackmon ML (1995) On the relationship between tropical and North Pacific sea surface temperature variations. J Clim 8:1677–1680
Deser C, Alexander MA, Timlin MS (1996) Upper-ocean thermal variations in the North Pacific during 1970–1991. J Clim 9:1840–1855
Enfield DB, Mestas-Nuñez AM (1999) Multiscale variability in global sea surface temperatures and their relationships with tropospheric climate pattern. J Clim 12:2719–2733
Flato GM, Boer GJ (2001) Warming asymmetry in climate change simulations. Geophys Res Lett 28:195–198
Frankignoul C (1985) Sea surface temperature anomalies, planetary waves and air-sea feedback in middle latitudes. Rev Geophys 23:357–390
Frankignoul C, Hasselmann K (1977) Stochastic climate models. Part II. Application to SST anomalies and thermocline variability. Tellus 29:289–305
Gershunov A, Barnett T (1998) Interdecadal modulation of ENSO teleconnections. Bull Am Meteor Soc 79:2715–2726
Goosse H, Fichefet T (1999) Importance of ice-ocean interactions for the global ocean circulation: a model study. J Geophys Res 104:337–355
Gordon C, Cooper C, Senior C, Banks H, Gregory J, Johns T, Mitchell J, Wood R (2000) The simulation of SST, sea ice extents and ocean heat transports in the Hadley Centre coupled model without flux adjustments. Clim Dyn 16:147–168
Hasumi H, Emori S (2004) Coupled GCM (MIROC) description. K-1 Tech Rep 1, p 34
Kang YJ, Noh Y, Yeh S-W (2010) Processes that influence the mixed layer deepening during winter in the North Pacific. J Geophys Res 115:C12004. doi:10.1029/2009JC005833
Kleeman R, Power SB (1995) A simple atmospheric model of surface heat flux for use in ocean modeling studies. J Phys Oceanogr 25:92–105
Lapp SL, St Jacques J-M, Barrow EM, Sauchyn DJ (2011) GCM projections for the Pacific Decadal Oscillation under greenhouse forcing for the early 21st century. Int J Climatol. Published online in Wiley Online Library. doi:10.1002/joc.2364
Latif M, Barnett TP (1994) Causes of decadal climate variability over the North Pacific and North America. Science 266:634–637
Latif M, Barnett TP (1996) Decadal climate variability over the North Pacific and North America: dynamics and predictability. J Clim 9:2407–2423
Legutke S, Voss R (1999) The Hamburg atmosphere–ocean coupled circulation model ECHO-G. Tech Rep 18, German Climate Computing Centre (DKRZ), p 62
Levitus S (1982) Climatological atlas of the world ocean, NOAA Prof Pap 13, p 173, US Govt Print Off, Washington, DC
Mantua NJ, Hare SR (2002) The Pacific Decadal Oscillation. J Oceanogr 58:35–44
Mantua NJ, Hare SR, Zhang Y, Wallace JM, Francis RC (1997) A Pacific interdecadal climate oscillation with impacts on salmon production. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 78:1069–1079
Marsland SJ, Haak H, Jungclaus JH, Latif M, Roeske F (2003) The Max-Planck-Institute global ocean/sea ice model with orthogonal curvilinear coordinates. Ocean Modell 5:91–127
Meehl GA, Covey C, Delworth T, Latif M, McAvaney B, Mitchell JFB, Stouffer RJ, Taylor KE (2007) The WCRP CMIP3 multimodel dataset: a new era in climate change research. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 88:1383–1394
Miller AJ, Schneider N (2000) Interdecadal climate regime dynamics in the North Pacific Ocean: theories, observations and ecosystem impacts. Prog Oceanogr 47:355–379
Miller AJ, Cayan DR, Barnett TP, Graham NE, Oberhuber JM (1994a) Interdecadal variability of the Pacific Ocean: model response to observed heat flux and wind stress anomalies. Clim Dyn 9:287–302
Miller AJ, Cayan DR, Barnett TP, Graham NE, Oberhuber JM (1994b) The 1976–77 climate shift of the Pacific Ocean. Oceanography 7:21–26
Minobe S (1997) A 50–70 year climatic oscillation over the North Pacific and North America. Geophys Res Lett 24:683–686
Monterey G, Levitus S (1997) Seasonal variability of mixed layer depth for the world ocean, NOAA Atlas NESDIS 14, Natl Oceanic and Atmos Admin, Silver Spring, MD, p 5
Nakamura H, Lin G, Yamagata T (1997) Decadal climate variability in the North Pacific during the recent decades. Bull Am Meteor Soc 78:2215–2225
Pavia EG, Graef F, Reyes J (2006) PDO–ENSO effects in the climate of Mexico. J Clim 19:6433–6438
Pierce DW, Barnett TP, Schneider N, Saravanan R, Dommenget D, Latif M (2001) The role of ocean dynamics in producing decadal climate variability in the North Pacific. Clim Dyn 18:51–70
Qiu B, Chen S (2006) Decadal variability in the formation of the North Pacific subtropical mode water: oceanic versus atmospheric control. J Phys Oceanogr 36:1365–1380
Qiu B, Schneider N, Chen S (2007) Coupled decadal variability in the North Pacific: an observationally constrained idealized model. J Clim 20:3602–3620
Schneider N, Cornuelle BD (2005) The forcing of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. J Clim 18:4355–4373
Tomita T, Nonaka M (2006) Upper-ocean mixed layer and wintertime sea surface temperature anomalies in the North Pacific. J Clim 19:300–307
Tomita T, Xie S-P, Nonaka M (2002) Estimates of surface and subsurface forcing for decadal sea surface temperature variability in the mid-latitude North Pacific. J Meteor Soc Jpn 80:1289–1300
Trenberth KE (1990) Recent observed interdecadal climate changes in the Northern Hemisphere. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 71:988–993
Wu L, Liu Z, Gallimore R, Jacob R, Lee D, Zhong Y (2003) A coupled modelling study of Pacific decadal variability: the tropical mode and the North Pacific Mode. J Clim 16:1101–1120
Yang H, Liu Z, Wang H (2004) Influences of extratropical thermal and wind forcings on equatorial thermocline in an ocean GCM. J Phys Oceanogr 24:174–187
Yim BY, Noh Y, Yeh S-W (2012) Role of the ocean mixed layer processes in the response of the North Pacific winter SST and MLD to global warming in CGCMs. Clim Dyn 38(5–6):1181–1190. doi:10.1007/s00382-011-1120-3
Yoon J, Yeh S-W (2010) Influence of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation on the relationship between El Niño and the northeast Asian summer monsoon. J Clim 23:4525–4537
Yu B, Boer GJ (2004) The role of the western Pacific in decadal variability. Geophys Res Lett 31:L02204. doi:10.1029/2003GL018471
Yukimoto S et al (2001) The new meteorological research institute coupled GCM (MRI-CGCM2). Model climate and variability. Pap Meteor Geophy 51:47–88
Zhang Y-L, Yu Y-Q (2011) Analysis of decadal climate variability in the tropical Pacific by coupled GCM. Atmos Oceanic Sci Lett 4:204–208
Zhang Y, Wallace JM, Iwasaka N (1996) Is climate variability over the North Pacific a linear response to ENSO? J Clim 9:1468–1478
Zhang Y, Wallace JM, Battisti DS (1997) ENSO-like interdecadal variability: 1900–1993. J Clim 10:1004–1020
Acknowledgments
We acknowledge the international modeling groups for providing their data for analysis, the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison (PCMDI) for collecting and archiving the model data, the JSC/CLIVAR Working Group on Coupled Modeling (WGCM) and their Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) and Climate Simulation Panel for organizing the model data analysis activity, and the IPCC WG1 TSU for technical support. The IPCC Data Archive at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science, US Department of Energy. This work was supported by the “National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (MEST)” (NRF-2009-C1AAA001-2009-0093042). Y. Noh was funded by the Korea Meteorological Administration Research and Development Program under Grant CATER 2012-6090. B. Qiu was supported by NSF through grant OCE-0926594.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yim, B.Y., Noh, Y., Yeh, SW. et al. Ocean mixed layer processes in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation in coupled general circulation models. Clim Dyn 41, 1407–1417 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-012-1630-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-012-1630-7