NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Strengthening of Ocean Heat Uptake Efficiency Associated with the Recent Climate HiatusThe rate of increase of global-mean surface air temperature (SAT(sub g)) has apparently slowed during the last decade. We investigated the extent to which state-of-the-art general circulation models (GCMs) can capture this hiatus period by using multimodel ensembles of historical climate simulations. While the SAT(sub g) linear trend for the last decade is not captured by their ensemble means regardless of differences in model generation and external forcing, it is barely represented by an 11-member ensemble of a GCM, suggesting an internal origin of the hiatus associated with active heat uptake by the oceans. Besides, we found opposite changes in ocean heat uptake efficiency (k), weakening in models and strengthening in nature, which explain why the models tend to overestimate the SAT(sub g) trend. The weakening of k commonly found in GCMs seems to be an inevitable response of the climate system to global warming, suggesting the recovery from hiatus in coming decades.
Document ID
20150019767
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Watanabe, Masahiro
(Tokyo Univ. Kashiwa, Japan)
Kamae, Youichi
(National Inst. of Environmental Studies Tsukuba, Japan)
Yoshimori, Masakazu
(Tokyo Univ. Kashiwa, Japan)
Oka, Akira
(Tokyo Univ. Kashiwa, Japan)
Sato, Makiko
(NASA Goddard Inst. for Space Studies New York, NY, United States)
Ishii, Masayoshi
(Japan Meteorological Agency Tsukuba, Japan)
Mochizuki, Takashi
(Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology Kanagawa, Japan)
Kimoto, Masahide
(Tokyo Univ. Kashiwa, Japan)
Date Acquired
October 27, 2015
Publication Date
June 17, 2013
Publication Information
Publication: Geophysical Research Letters
Publisher: Wiley
Volume: 40
Issue: 12
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN27086
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
Climate hiatus
Ocean heat uptake
GCM
Surface temperature
Energy budget

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available