D.2 The Coupled Systems
As noted in Section D.1, many feedbacks operate within
the individual components of the climate system (atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere
and land surface). However, many important processes and feedbacks occur through
the coupling of the climate system components. Their representation is important
to the prediction of large-scale responses.
Modes of natural variability
There is an increasing realisation that natural circulation patterns, such
as ENSO and NAO, play a fundamental role in global climate and its interannual
and longer-term variability. The strongest natural fluctuation of climate
on interannual time-scales is the ENSO phenomenon (see Box
4). It is an inherently coupled atmosphere-ocean mode with its core activity
in the tropical Pacific, but with important regional climate impacts throughout
the world. Global climate models are only now beginning to exhibit variability
in the tropical Pacific that resembles ENSO, mainly through increased meridional
resolution at the equator. Patterns of sea surface temperature and atmospheric
circulation similar to those occurring during ENSO on interannual time-scales
also occur on decadal and longer time-scales.
The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is the dominant pattern of northern
wintertime atmospheric circulation variability and is increasingly being simulated
realistically. The NAO is closely related to the Arctic Oscillation (AO),
which has an additional annular component around the Arctic. There is strong
evidence that the NAO arises mainly from internal atmospheric processes involving
the entire troposphere-stratosphere system. Fluctuations in Atlantic Sea Surface
Temperatures (SSTs) are related to the strength of the NAO, and a modest two-way
interaction between the NAO and the Atlantic Ocean, leading to decadal variability,
is emerging as important in projecting climate change.
Climate change may manifest itself both as shifting means, as well as changing
preference of specific climate regimes, as evidenced by the observed trend toward
positive values for the last 30 years in the NAO index and the climate "shift"
in the tropical Pacific about 1976. While coupled models simulate features
of observed natural climate variability, such as the NAO and ENSO, which suggests
that many of the relevant processes are included in the models, further progress
is needed to depict these natural modes accurately. Moreover, because ENSO and
NAO are key determinants of regional climate change and can possibly result
in abrupt and counter intuitive changes, there has been an increase in uncertainty
in those aspects of climate change that critically depend on regional changes.
The thermohaline circulation (THC)
The thermohaline circulation (THC) is responsible for the major part of the
meridional heat transport in the Atlantic Ocean. The THC is a global-scale
overturning in the ocean driven by density differences arising from temperature
and salinity effects. In the Atlantic, heat is transported by warm surface waters
flowing northward and cold saline waters from the North Atlantic returning at
depth. Reorganisations in the Atlantic THC can be triggered by perturbations in
the surface buoyancy, which is influenced by precipitation, evaporation, continental
runoff, sea-ice formation, and the exchange of heat, processes that could all
change with consequences for regional and global climate. Interactions between
the atmosphere and the ocean are also likely to be of considerable importance
on decadal and longer time-scales, where the THC is involved. The interplay between
the large-scale atmospheric forcing, with warming and evaporation in low latitudes
and cooling and increased precipitation at high latitudes, forms the basis of
a potential instability of the present Atlantic THC. ENSO may also influence the
Atlantic THC by altering the fresh water balance of the tropical Atlantic, therefore
providing a coupling between low and high latitudes. Uncertainties in the representation
of small-scale flows over sills and through narrow straits and of ocean convection
limit the ability of models to simulate situations involving substantial changes
in the THC. The less saline North Pacific means that a deep THC does not occur
in the Pacific.
Non-linear events and rapid climate change
The possibility for rapid and irreversible changes in the climate system
exists, but there is a large degree of uncertainty about the mechanisms involved
and hence also about the likelihood or time-scales of such transitions.
The climate system involves many processes and feedbacks that interact in complex
non-linear ways. This interaction can give rise to thresholds in the climate
system that can be crossed if the system is perturbed sufficiently. There is
evidence from polar ice cores suggesting that atmospheric regimes can change
within a few years and that large-scale hemispheric changes can evolve as fast
as a few decades. For example, the possibility of a threshold for a rapid transition
of the Atlantic THC to a collapsed state has been demonstrated with a hierarchy
of models. It is not yet clear what this threshold is and how likely it is that
human activity would lead it to being exceeded (see Section
F.6). Atmospheric circulation can be characterised by different preferred
patterns; e.g., arising from ENSO and the NAO/AO, and changes in their phase
can occur rapidly. Basic theory and models suggest that climate change may be
first expressed in changes in the frequency of occurrence of these patterns.
Changes in vegetation, through either direct anthropogenic deforestation or
those caused by global warming, could occur rapidly and could induce further
climate change. It is supposed that the rapid creation of the Sahara about 5,500
years ago represents an example of such a non-linear change in land cover.
D.3 Regionalisation Techniques
Regional climate information was only addressed to a limited degree in the
SAR. Techniques used to enhance regional detail have been substantially improved
since the SAR and have become more widely applied. They fall into three categories:
high and variable resolution AOGCMs; regional (or nested limited area) climate
models (RCMs); and empirical/statistical and statistical/dynamical methods. The
techniques exhibit different strengths and weaknesses and their use at the continental
scale strongly depends on the needs of specific applications.
Coarse resolution AOGCMs simulate atmospheric general circulation features
well in general. At the regional scale, the models display area-average
biases that are highly variable from region to region and among models, with
sub-continental area averaged seasonal temperature biases typically ±4ºC
and precipitation biases between -40 and +80%. These represent an important
improvement compared to AOGCMs evaluated in the SAR.
The development of high resolution/variable resolution Atmospheric General
Circulation Models (AGCMs) since the SAR generally shows that the dynamics and
large-scale flow in the models improves as resolution increases. In some
cases, however, systematic errors are worsened compared to coarser resolution
models, although only very few results have been documented.
High resolution RCMs have matured considerably since the SAR. Regional
models consistently improve the spatial detail of simulated climate compared
to AGCMs. RCMs driven by observed boundary conditions evidence area-averaged
temperature biases (regional scales of 105 to 106 km2) generally
below 2ºC, while precipitation biases are below 50%. Regionalisation work
indicates at finer scales that the changes can be substantially different in
magnitude or sign from the large area-average results. A relatively large spread
exists among models, although attribution of the cause of these differences
is unclear.
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