General circulation model CO2sensitivity experiments: Snow-sea ice albedo parameterizations and globally averaged surface air temperature
✍ Scribed by Warren M. Washington; Gerald A. Meehl
- Book ID
- 104649622
- Publisher
- Springer
- Year
- 1986
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 640 KB
- Volume
- 8
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0165-0009
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✦ Synopsis
Two experiments are performed with the NCAR Community Climate Model (CCM) coupled to a swamp ocean with annually averaged solar forcing. A swamp ocean model is one in which the ocean temperature is computed from a surface energy balance. Both experiments are run with present (1 x CO2) and doubled (2 x CO:) amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2). The first tests the sensitivity of the model to a snow and sea-ice-albedo formulation which facilitates relatively greater ice melt. The second assesses the model response when the basic state of the model in the control run is colder due to a 2% decrease in solar constant. Both are compared to a previous experiment with the same model using a different snow and sea-ice-albedo formulation and the present value of the solar constant. It is found that the globally averaged surface air temperature increase due to a doubling of Co~ is highly dependent on (1) the type of snow-sea-ice-albedo formulation used such that the parameterization which better facilitates relatively greater ice melt exhibits a greater sensitivity to increased COz, and (2) the basic state of the control run such that the colder the basic state, the greater the warming due to increased CO~.