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Simulation of climate phase lags in response to precession and obliquity forcing and the role of vegetation

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Abstract

Long (130,000 years) transient simulations with a coupled model of intermediate complexity (CLIMBER-2) have been performed. The main objective of this study is to examine leads and lags in the response to the climate system to separate obliquity and precession-induced insolation changes. Focus is on the role of internal feedbacks in the coupled atmosphere/ocean/sea-ice/vegetation system. No interactive ice sheets were used. The results show that leads and lags occur in response to the African/Asian monsoon, temperatures at high latitudes and the Atlantic thermohaline circulation. For the monsoon, leads and lags of the monthly precipitation with respect to the precession parameter were found, which are strongly modified by vegetation. In contrast, no lag was observed for the annual precipitation. At high latitudes during late winter/early spring a vegetation-induced lag with respect to the precession parameter was found in surface air temperatures. Again, no annual lag was detected. The lag in the monthly surface air temperatures induces a lag in the annual overturning in the Atlantic Ocean by changing the strength of the deep convection. The lag is several thousand years. The obliquity-related forcing does not give rise to lags in the climate system. We conclude that lags in monthly climatic variables, which are due to vegetation feedbacks, can result in an annual lag when a climatic process (like deep water formation) acts as a filter for certain months.

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Acknowledgements

ET would like to thank the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research for kindly providing CLIMBER-2 and Gerard van der Schrier for stimulating discussions. The two referees’ comments/suggestions, which greatly improved our initial manuscript, are also acknowledged. This work was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) under a PIONIER grant to FJH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), PO Box 201, 3730, AE De Bilt, The Netherlands

    E. Tuenter & S. L. Weber

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Budapestlaan 4, 3584 CD, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    E. Tuenter, F. J. Hilgen & L. J. Lourens

  3. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, PO Box 60 12 03, 14412, Potsdam, Germany

    A. Ganopolski

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  1. E. Tuenter
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  2. S. L. Weber
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  3. F. J. Hilgen
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  4. L. J. Lourens
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  5. A. Ganopolski
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Correspondence to E. Tuenter.

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Tuenter, E., Weber, S.L., Hilgen, F.J. et al. Simulation of climate phase lags in response to precession and obliquity forcing and the role of vegetation. Clim Dyn 24, 279–295 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-004-0490-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-004-0490-1

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