An Introduction to Three-Dimensional Climate Modeling

Preface xi CHAPTER 1 Introduction and Historical Development 1(6) CHAPTER 2 Physical Description of the Climate System 7(42) 2.1 Atmosphere 7(13) 2.1.1 Atmospheric composition 7(1) 2.1.2 Temperature profiles 8(1) 2.1.3 Energy balances 9(3) 2.1.4 Average surface temperature patterns 12(2) 2.1.5 Large-scale hemispheric circulation patterns: Three-cell structure 14(5) 2.1.6 Land/sea breezes and monsoons 19(1) 2.2 Oceans 20(10) 2.2.1 Seawater composition 22(1) 2.2.2 Ocean temperatures 23(3) 2.2.3 Ocean circulation 26(4) 2.3 Sea Ice 30(7) 2.3.1 Global sea ice distributions 30(3) 2.3.2 Sea ice formation and growth 33(1) 2.3.3 Sea ice ablation 34(1) 2.3.4 Sea ice composition and properties 34(1) 2.3.5 Sea ice topography 35(1) 2.3.6 Sea ice concentration and velocity 35(2) 2.4 Atmosphere/Ocean/Ice Interconnections 37(12) 2.4.1 Impacts of the atmosphere 37(2) 2.4.2 Impacts of the ocean 39(1) 2.4.3 An example of atmosphere/ocean interconnections: The El Niño/Southern Oscillation 40(2) 2.4.4 North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) 42(2) 2.4.5 Impacts of the ice 44(5) CHAPTER 3 Basic Model Equations 49(100) 3.1 Fundamental Equations 49(13) 3.1.1 Conservation of momentum 50(8) 3.1.2 Conservation of mass 58(2) 3.1.3 First law of thermodynamics 60(1) 3.1.4 Equation of state 60(2) 3.2 Summary of the Basic Predictive Equations for the Atmosphere 62(1) 3.3 Vertical Coordinate Systems 63(6) 3.4 Atmospheric and Ocean Dynamics 69(4) 3.4.1 Vorticity and divergence equations 69(3) 3.4.2 Baroclinic models 72(1) 3.5 Early General Atmospheric Circulation Model of the Atmosphere 73(1) 3.6 Radiative and Cloud Processes 74(35) 3.6.1 Radiation: Basic principles 76(3) 3.6.2 Radiation: Physical laws 79(8) 3.6.3 Solar radiation 87(3) 3.6.4 Radiation: Effect of aerosols 90(1) 3.6.5 Net heating/cooling rates 90(2) 3.6.6 Moisture and precipitation 92(5) 3.6.7 Clouds 97(1) 3.6.8 Cumulus parameterization, general theory 98(3) 3.6.9 Convective adjustment parameterization 101(1) 3.6.10 More refined schemes for cumulus convection 102(7) 3.7 Surface Processes 109(7) 3.7.1 Boundary fluxes at the Earth's surface 109(4) 3.7.2 Computation of surface temperature and hydrology 113(3) 3.8 Ocean Models 116(12) 3.8.1 Ocean model fundamentals 116(8) 3.8.2 Parameterization of ocean eddies 124(1) 3.8.3 Generalized coordinate systems for ocean modeling 125(2) 3.8.4 Isopycnal ocean model 127(1) 3.9 Sea Ice Models 128(18) 3.9.1 Ice thermodynamics 129(9) 3.9.2 Ice dynamics 138(8) 3.10 River Transport 146(3) CHAPTER 4 Basic Methods of Solving Model Equations 149(44) 4.1 Finite Differences 150(5) 4.2 Finite Differencing in Two Dimensions 155(10) 4.3 Spectral Method 165(6) 4.3.1 Vibrating string example 165(3) 4.3.2 Gibbs phenomenon 168(1) 4.3.3 More general considerations of Fourier series and integrals 169(2) 4.4 Spherical Representation 171(3) 4.5 Spectral Transform Technique 174(10) 4.6 Vertical Representation 184(3) 4.7 Lagrangian and Semi-Lagrangian Methods 187(2) 4.8 Spectral Element Method 189(4) CHAPTER 5 Examples of Simulations of Present-Day Climate 193(30) 5.1 Simulations of the Atmosphere 197(9) 5.2 Simulations of the Ocean 206(4) 5.3 Simulations of Sea Ice 210(6) 5.4 Coupled Atmosphere, Land/Vegetation, Ocean, and Sea Ice Simulations 216(2) 5.5 El Niño Simulations 218(1) 5.6 Regional Climate Modeling 218(2) 5.7 Modeling Groups 220(3) CHAPTER 6 Climate Sensitivity Experiments 223(40) 6.1 Sample Early Paleoclimate Simulations 225(7) 6.2 Sample Later Paleoclimate Simulations 232(4) 6.3 Sample Simulation of the Last Millennium 236(2) 6.4 Sample Early Simulations of the El Niño/ Southern Oscillation 238(3) 6.5 Sample Later Simulation of the El Niño/ Southern Oscillation 241(2) 6.6 Research on the Climatic Effects of Increasing Greenhouse Gases and Aerosols 243(2) 6.7 Sample Early Climate Model Simulations of the Effects of Greenhouse Gases 245(6) 6.8 Later Simulations of the Effects of Greenhouse Gases, Aerosols, and Other Climate Forcings 251(6) 6.9 Climate Modeling with the Carbon Cycle 257(1) 6.10 Possible Climatic Effects Due to Nuclear War 258(2) 6.11 Overview of Climate Sensitivity Studies 260(3) CHAPTER 7 Outlook for Future Developments 263(12) 7.1 Climate Model Evolution and Status 263(3) 7.2 Issues Involved in Coupling 266(1) 7.3 Continuing Needs 267(2) 7.4 Two Further Potential Uses of Climate Models 269(2) 7.5 National Research Council Assessment 271(1) 7.6 Concluding Remarks 272(3) APPENDIX A Vector Calculus 275(10) A.1 Vector Operations in a Cartesian Coordinate System 276(2) A.1.1 Vector addition and subtraction 276(1) A.1.2 Vector multiplication 276(1) A.1.3 Vector differentiation 277(1) A.1.4 Gradient (del) operator 277(1) A.2 Vector Operations in Generalized and Spherical Coordinates 278(3) A.3 Vectors on a Rotating Sphere 281(4) APPENDIX B Legendre Polynomials and Gaussian Quadrature 285(6) APPENDIX C Derivation of Energy Equations 291(2) APPENDIX D Unit Abbreviations 293(2) APPENDIX E Physical Constants in Système International (SI) Units, and Typical Surface Albedos 295(2) APPENDIX F Conversions and Prefixes 297(2) APPENDIX G Greek Alphabet 299(2) APPENDIX H Acronyms 301(2) APPENDIX I Aerosols 303(2) APPENDIX J Solar Radiation, Including Effects of Aerosols 305(4) APPENDIX K Internet Sites for Climate Modeling and Climate Data 309(4) APPENDIX L Computer Architectures Used in Climate Modeling: Definition of Terms 313(4) Bibliography 317(26) Index 343(12) About the Authors 355