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Atlantic meridional overturning circulation in the global warming (doubled CO2) scenario using GISS/HYCOM coupled climate model
Shan Sun
NASA/GISS
(Abstract received 07/20/2007 for session X)
ABSTRACT
We carried out century scale integrations of a global coupled model consisting of the GISS atmospheric model and HYCOM. The control run uses an atmospheric composition fixed at pre-industrial level; and the global warming run assumes a 1% rise up to doubling of CO2. The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) is steady at around 20 Sv in the control run. In the global warming scenario, the global surface air temperature increases by 2 deg at year 70 and stabilizes at 2.7 deg by year 200. The Irminger and Labrador Seas are getting fresher and colder, resulting in a surface density decrease. Consistent with this, the MOC starts to decline after a few decades, and ends up at roughly half the strength in the control run at year 70, with a small reduction after that. The mechanism for the MOC reduction and the impact of poleward heat transport will be discussed.
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2007 LOM Workshop, Bergen, Norway, August 20-22, 2007