Collaborative Research: Towards an Understanding of the Role of the Atlantic Theremohaline and Wind Driven Circuluation in Tropical Atlantic Variability (TAV)

合作研究：了解大西洋 Theremohaline 和风驱动环流在热带大西洋变率 (TAV) 中的作用

• 批准号: 0623364
• 负责人: Ping Chang
• 金额: $ 39.66万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M Research Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-09-15 至 2010-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0623364&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Towards; Understanding; Role

ABSTRACTOCE-0623364Recent coupled climate model simulations show that changes in thermohaline circulation in the Atlantic Ocean can lead to a substantial response in the tropical Atlantic coupled climate system, which in turn can have an impact on global climate. If this proves correct, these modeling results can have tremendous implications on our understanding of the role of the ocean in global climate change. For this reason, it is critically important for us to gain a comprehensive understanding of the dynamical processes that link the changes in high latitudes to those in the tropics. The focus of this project is on the oceanic linkage. In particular, the investigators will explore how changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Cell (MOC) can affect the pathways of the Sub-Tropical Cells (STCs), and how these changes in the STCs can affect the Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs), and finally how these SST changes can affect the coupled climate variability in the tropical Atlantic. The investigation will be conducted via a hierarchy of coupled climate models in conjunction with observational analysis. An atmospheric model coupled to a 2.5-layer reduced-gravity-ocean model, perhaps the simplest and yet most efficient coupled model suited to investigate MOC/STC interaction and its effect on coupled climate variability, will be used to conduct extensive process-oriented experiments by varying the strength of the imposed MOC to shed light on the effect of the MOC on the Tropical Atlantic Variability (TAV). Then , an atmospheric circulation model coupled to a regional high resolution ocean circulation model capable of resolving mesoscale features in the tropical Atlantic circulation will be forced through its northern and southern open boundaries to allow a more complete look at the effect of the MOC/STCs on coupled feedback. Finally, the output of a comprehensive global coupled climate model used for IPCC assessment will be analyzed and used in conjunction with the other two model experiments to gain further understanding of the impact of Atlantic MOC change on global climate.INTELLECTUAL MERIT: The anticipated outcome of this research will make an important contribution to the understanding of the fundamental ocean circulation physics in Atlantic climate variability and global climate change. A more refined theory of the connection between the different components of the Atlantic ocean circulation is expected to emerge from this study through hypothesis testing and systematic examination of the coupled model experiments. The modeling tools developed in this study will be valuable for future climate studies. BROADER IMPACT: The proposed research addresses the issues pertinent to debates and discussions in climate change sciences. The proposed research will enhance our understanding of long-term climate variability in the tropical Atlantic sector, which has important social and economic impacts on countries in the region. The findings from this study will help educate the general public about the importance of the oceans in global climate change. The project will also help train the next generation of physical oceanographers and climate scientists by directly involving graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in research endeavors with faculty. Some of research results from this project will be integrated into the graduate courses at TAMU.

Abstractoce-0623364的重耦合气候模型模拟表明，大西洋中热盐循环的变化可能会导致热带大西洋耦合气候系统的实质性反应，这又会对全球气候产生影响。如果这是正确的，那么这些建模结果可能会对我们对海洋在全球气候变化中的作用的理解产生巨大影响。因此，对于我们来说，对将高纬度变化与热带地区的变化联系起来的动态过程至关重要。该项目的重点是海洋联系。特别是，研究人员将探讨大西洋子午倾覆细胞（MOC）的变化如何影响亚热带细胞（STC）的途径，以及STC中的这些变化如何影响海面温度（SSTS），并且最后，这些SST变化如何影响热带大西洋的气候变化。该研究将通过与观察分析结合使用的气候模型的层次结构进行。大气模型与2.5层降低的重态 - 海洋模型，也许是适合研究MOC/STC相互作用及其对耦合气候变化的影响的最简单但最有效的耦合模型，将用于进行广泛的面向过程实验通过改变施加的MOC的强度，以阐明MOC对热带大西洋变异性（TAV）的影响。然后，将通过其北部和南部的开放式界限，将强迫在热带大西洋循环中解决中尺度的大气循环模型，以解决热带大西洋循环中的中尺度特征耦合反馈。最后，将分析用于IPCC评估的综合全球耦合气候模型的输出，并与其他两个模型实验结合使用，以进一步了解大西洋MOC变化对全球气候的影响。这项研究将为理解大西洋气候变化和全球气候变化的基本海洋循环物理学做出重要贡献。预计通过假设测试和对耦合模型实验的系统检查，预计大西洋循环的不同组成部分之间的联系更精致的理论。本研究中开发的建模工具对于未来的气候研究很有价值。更广泛的影响：拟议的研究解决了与气候变化科学中的辩论和讨论有关的问题。拟议的研究将增强我们对热带大西洋部门长期气候变化的理解，该部门对该地区的国家产生了重要的社会和经济影响。这项研究的发现将有助于教育公众有关海洋在全球气候变化中的重要性。该项目还将通过直接涉及研究生和博士后研究人员参与教师的研究，帮助培训下一代的物理海洋学和气候科学家。该项目的一些研究结果将集成到TAMU的研究生课程中。