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Response of atmospheric energy to historical climate change in CMIP5

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Abstract

Three forms of atmospheric energy, i.e., internal, potential, and latent, are analyzed based on the historical simulations of 32 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) models and two reanalysis datasets (NCEP/NCAR and ERA-40). The spatial pattern of climatological mean atmospheric energy is well reproduced by all CMIP5 models. The variation of globally averaged atmospheric energy is similar to that of surface air temperature (SAT) for most models. The atmospheric energy from both simulation and reanalysis decreases following the volcanic eruption in low-latitude zones. Generally, the climatological mean of simulated atmospheric energy from most models is close to that obtained from NCEP/NCAR, while the simulated atmospheric energy trend is close to that obtained from ERA-40. Under a certain variation of SAT, the simulated global latent energy has the largest increase ratio, and the increase ratio of potential energy is the smallest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Land Surface Process and Climate Change in Cold and Arid Regions, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Bo Han  (韩 博), Shihua Lü  (吕世华), Yanhong Gao  (高艳红), Yinhuan Ao  (奥银焕) & Ruiqing Li  (李瑞青)

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  1. Bo Han  (韩 博)
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  2. Shihua Lü  (吕世华)
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  3. Yanhong Gao  (高艳红)
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  4. Yinhuan Ao  (奥银焕)
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  5. Ruiqing Li  (李瑞青)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yanhong Gao  (高艳红).

Additional information

Supported by the National Basic Research and Development (973) Program of China (2010CB950503), “100-Talent” Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to Dr. Gao, West Light Foundation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to Dr. Han, and National Natural Science Foundation of China (41205005).

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Han, B., Lü, S., Gao, Y. et al. Response of atmospheric energy to historical climate change in CMIP5. J Meteorol Res 29, 93–105 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13351-014-4016-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13351-014-4016-4

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