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1.
The twentieth century record of the annual count of Atlantic tropical cyclones (TCs) is analyzed to develop consistent estimates of its natural variability and secular change components. The analysis scheme permits development of multidecadal trends from natural variability alone, reducing aliasing of the variability and change components. The scheme is rooted in recurrent variability modes of the influential SST field and cognizant of Pacific-Atlantic links. The origin of increased cyclone counts in the early 1930s, suppressed counts in 1950?C1960s, and the recent increase (since 1990s) is investigated using the count data set developed by Landsea et al. (J Clim 23: 2508?C2519, 2010). We show that annual TC counts can be more closely reconstructed from Pacific and Atlantic SSTs than SST of the main development region (MDR) of Atlantic TCs; the former accounting for ~60% of the decadal count variance as opposed to ~30% for MDR SST. Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) dominates the reconstruction, accounting for ~55% of the natural decadal count variance, followed by the ENSO Non-Canonical and Pan-Pacific decadal variability contributions. We argue for an expansive view of the domain of influential SSTs??extending much beyond the MDR. The additional accounting of count variance by SSTs outside the MDR suggests a role for remotely-forced influences over the tropical Atlantic: the Pan-Pacific decadal mode is linked with decreased westerly wind shear (200?C850?hPa) in its warm phase, much as the AMO impact itself. Non-canonical ENSO variability, in contrast, exerts little influence on decadal timescales. Interestingly, the secular but non-uniform warming of the oceans is linked with increased westerly shear, leading to off-setting dynamical and thermodynamical impacts on TC activity! The early-1930s increase in smoothed counts can be partially (~50%) reconstructed from SST natural variability. The 1950?C1960s decrease, in contrast, could not be reconstructed at all, leading, deductively, to the hypothesis that it results from increased aerosols in this period. The early-1990s increase is shown to arise both from the abatement of count suppression maintained by SST natural variability and the increasing SST secular trend contribution; the abatement is related to the AMO phase-change in early-1990s. Were it not for this suppression, TC counts would have risen since the early 1970s itself, tracking the secular change contribution. The analysis suggests that when SST natural variability begins to significantly augment counts in the post-1990 period??some evidence for which is present in the preceding decade??Atlantic TC counts could increase rapidly on decadal timescales unless offset by SST-unrelated effects which apparently account for a non-trivial amount (~40%) of the decadal count variance. 相似文献
2.
国际上针对海洋-大气系统的观测、理论和模拟方面已经开展了广泛而深入的研究,为短期气候预测水平的不断提升奠定了坚实基础,这其中中国学者做出了许多重要贡献。文中简要回顾了中国学者70年来在热带海-气相互作用与ENSO动力学及预测方面的研究进展。其中,热带海-气相互作用部分主要涉及4个方面的内容:热带太平洋气候特征与ENSO现象、热带印度洋海温主要模态及其与太平洋相互作用、热带大西洋海温主要模态及与海盆的相互作用、中高纬度海-气系统对ENSO的影响;ENSO动力学包括7个方面的内容:基本理论的相关研究、ENSO相关的诊断与模拟研究、两类ENSO相关研究、ENSO触发机制相关研究、ENSO与其他现象的相互作用、外部强迫与大气遥相关、气候变化与ENSO响应;ENSO预测主要包括2个方面的内容:动力-统计ENSO预测方法、ENSO预测系统与应用。最后,还讨论了上述相关方面亟待解决的问题。 相似文献
3.
Most, if not all forests in the Caribbean are subject to occasional disturbances from hurricanes. If current general circulation model (GCM) predictions are correct, with doubled atmospheric CO2 (2 × CO2), the tropical Atlantic will be between 1 °C and 4 °C warmer than it is today. With such a warming, more than twice as many hurricanes per year could be expected in the Caribbean. Furthermore, Emanuael (1987) indicates that in a warmed world the destructive potential of Atlantic hurricanes could be increased by 40% to 60%. While speculative, these increases would dramatically change the disturbance regimes affecting tropical forests in the region and might alter forest structure and composition. Global warming impacts through increased hurricane damage on Caribbean forests are presented.An individual tree, gap dynamics forest ecosystem model was used to simulate the range of possible hurricane disturbance regimes which could affect the Luquillo Experimental Forest in Puerto Rico. Model storm frequency ranged from no storms at all up to one storm per year; model storm intensity varied from no damage up to 100% mortality of trees. The model does not consider the effects of changing temperature and rainfall patterns on the forest. Simulation results indicate that with the different hurricane regimes a range of forest types are possible, ranging from mature forest with large trees, to an area in which forest trees are never allowed to reach maturity. 相似文献
4.
The influence of sea-surface temperatures on six measures of tropical cyclone activity in the Eastern North Pacific is examined using historical sea-surface temperature and tropical cyclone data spanning from 1971 to 2002. Relationships are evaluated using methods of trend analysis, extreme year analysis, and bivariate correlation. Results suggest that in order to understand the climatological factors affecting topical cyclone activity in the Eastern North Pacific, the main development region must be divided into two sub-regions of development to the east and west of 112°W longitude. Increasing trends of sea-surface temperature are not accompanied by increasing trends in tropical cyclone activity. In the western development region, sea-surface temperatures are significantly correlated with all measures of tropical cyclone activity during extreme years. In this region, sea-surface temperatures are on average below the threshold for tropical cyclone development. In the Eastern development region, the only significant correlation with sea-surface temperatures is for the more intense measures of hurricane activity. In this region, sea-surface temperatures are on average above the threshold for cyclone formation. This leads to the hypothesis that the proximity to the cyclone formation temperature threshold in the WDR enhances the sensitivity of tropical cyclone activity to SSTs. This may have application to other tropical cyclone basins such as the North Atlantic. 相似文献
5.
We examine the role of local and remote sea surface temperature (SST) on the tropical cyclone potential intensity in the North Atlantic using a suite of model simulations, while separating the impact of anthropogenic (external) forcing and the internal influence of Atlantic Multidecadal Variability. To enable the separation by SST region of influence we use an ensemble of global atmospheric climate model simulations forced with historical, 1856–2006 full global SSTs, and compare the results to two other simulations with historical SSTs confined to the tropical Atlantic and to the tropical Indian Ocean and Pacific. The effects of anthropogenic plus other external forcing and that of internal variability are separated by using a linear, “signal-to-noise” maximizing EOF analysis and by projecting the three model ensemble outputs onto the respective external forcing and internal variability time series. Consistent with previous results indicating a tampering influence of global tropical warming on the Atlantic hurricane potential intensity, our results show that non-local SST tends to reduce potential intensity associated with locally forced warming through changing the upper level atmospheric temperatures. Our results further indicate that the late twentieth Century increase in North Atlantic potential intensity, may not have been dominated by anthropogenic influence but rather by internal variability. 相似文献
6.
The influence of tropical sea surface temperatures and precipitation on north Pacific atmospheric blocking 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
Blocking is a major component of the extratropical climate and any changes in it would be a very important aspect of climate
change there. Previous studies have shown that mid-latitude variability such as blocking is sensitive to tropical sea surface
temperature (SST) anomalies and to variations in tropical precipitation. Climate models exhibit a wide range of skill in representing
blocking, with all models having deficiencies in certain respects. In addition, coupled climate models often exhibit significant
biases in both tropical precipitation and tropical and extratropical SSTs. This suggests that tropical systematic biases in
coupled climate models may influence the representation of blocking and its sensitivity to climate change. We examine the
relationship between winter north Pacific blocking and tropical precipitation and tropical SSTs through the use of idealised
SST anomaly experiments. We find that interannual variations in convection over the Maritime Continent and eastern equatorial
Pacific regions both influence the central and eastern Pacific winter blocking frequency. In addition, systematic underestimation
of tropical rainfall over the Maritime Continent region in climate models can lead to underestimation of time-mean winter
Pacific blocking. Finally, the sign, magnitude and variability of tropical SST biases in a coupled model, and their associated
effects on tropical precipitation, could influence its representation of northern hemisphere blocking, and thus affect its
ability to represent this mode of remotely-forced mid-latitude variability. These results have important implications for
model development. 相似文献
7.
Results from nine coupled ocean-atmosphere simulations have been used to investigate changes in the relationship between the
variability of monsoon precipitation over western Africa and tropical sea surface temperatures (SSTs) between the mid-Holocene
and the present day. Although the influence of tropical SSTs on the African monsoon is generally overestimated in the control
simulations, the models reproduce aspects of the observed modes of variability. Thus, most models reproduce the observed negative
correlation between western Sahelian precipitation and SST anomalies in the eastern tropical Pacific, and many of them capture
the positive correlation between SST anomalies in the eastern tropical Atlantic and precipitation over the Guinea coastal
region. Although the response of individual model to the change in orbital forcing between 6 ka and present differs somewhat,
eight of the models show that the strength of the teleconnection between SSTs in the eastern tropical Pacific and Sahelian
precipitation is weaker in the mid-Holocene. Some of the models imply that this weakening was associated with a shift towards
longer time periods (from 3–5 years in the control simulations toward 4–10 years in the mid-Holocene simulations). The simulated
reduction in the teleconnection between eastern tropical Pacific SSTs and Sahelian precipitation appears to be primarily related
to a reduction in the atmospheric circulation bridge between the Pacific and West Africa but, depending on the model, other
mechanisms such as increased importance of other modes of tropical ocean variability or increased local recycling of monsoonal
precipitation can also play a role. 相似文献
8.
We assess the responses of North Atlantic, North Pacific, and tropical Indian Ocean Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs) to natural forcing and their linkage to simulated global surface temperature (GST) variability in the MPI-Earth System Model simulation ensemble for the last millennium. In the simulations, North Atlantic and tropical Indian Ocean SSTs show a strong sensitivity to external forcing and a strong connection to GST. The leading mode of extra-tropical North Pacific SSTs is, on the other hand, rather resilient to natural external perturbations. Strong tropical volcanic eruptions and, to a lesser extent, variability in solar activity emerge as potentially relevant sources for multidecadal SST modes’ phase modulations, possibly through induced changes in the atmospheric teleconnection between North Atlantic and North Pacific that can persist over decadal and multidecadal timescales. Linkages among low-frequency regional modes of SST variability, and among them and GST, can remarkably vary over the integration time. No coherent or constant phasing is found between North Pacific and North Atlantic SST modes over time and among the ensemble members. Based on our assessments of how multidecadal transitions in simulated North Atlantic SSTs compare to reconstructions and of how they contribute characterizing simulated multidecadal regional climate anomalies, past regional climate multidecadal fluctuations seem to be reproducible as simulated ensemble-mean responses only for temporal intervals dominated by major external forcings. 相似文献
9.
Using a suite of lateral boundary conditions, we investigate the impact of domain size and boundary conditions on the Atlantic tropical cyclone and african easterly Wave activity simulated by a regional climate model. Irrespective of boundary conditions, simulations closest to observed climatology are obtained using a domain covering both the entire tropical Atlantic and northern African region. There is a clear degradation when the high-resolution model domain is diminished to cover only part of the African continent or only the tropical Atlantic. This is found to be the result of biases in the boundary data, which for the smaller domains, have a large impact on TC activity. In this series of simulations, the large-scale Atlantic atmospheric environment appears to be the primary control on simulated TC activity. Weaker wave activity is usually accompanied by a shift in cyclogenesis location, from the MDR to the subtropics. All ERA40-driven integrations manage to capture the observed interannual variability and to reproduce most of the upward trend in tropical cyclone activity observed during that period. When driven by low-resolution global climate model (GCM) integrations, the regional climate model captures interannual variability (albeit with lower correlation coefficients) only if tropical cyclones form in sufficient numbers in the main development region. However, all GCM-driven integrations fail to capture the upward trend in Atlantic tropical cyclone activity. In most integrations, variations in Atlantic tropical cyclone activity appear uncorrelated with variations in African easterly wave activity. 相似文献
10.
Evaluation and Preprocess of Chinese Fengyun-3A Sea Surface Temperature Experimental Product for Data Assimilation 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1 
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下载免费PDF全文 Validated satellite-derived sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are widely used for climate monitoring and ocean data assimilation systems. In this study, the Fengyun-3A (FY-3A) SST experimental product is evaluated using Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR)-merged and in situ SSTs. A comparison of AVHRR-merged SSTs reveals a negative bias of more than 2K in FY-3A SSTs in most of the tropical Pacific and low-latitude Indian and Atlantic Oceans. The error variance of FY-3A SSTs is estimated using three-way error analysis. FY-3A SSTs show regional error variance in global oceans with a maximum error variance of 2.2 K in the Pacific Ocean. In addition, a significant seasonal variation of error variance is present in FY-3A SSTs, which indicates that the quality of FY-3A SST could be improved by adjusting the parameters in the SST retrieval algorithm and by applying regional and seasonal algorithms, particularly in key areas such as the tropical Pacific Ocean. An objective analysis method is used to merge FY-3A SSTs with the drifter buoy data. The errors of FY-3A SSTs are decreased to-0.45K comparing with SST observations from GTSPP. 相似文献
11.
SST errors in the tropical Atlantic are large and systematic in current coupled general-circulation models. We analyse the growth of these errors in the region of the south-eastern tropical Atlantic in initialised decadal hindcasts integrations for three of the models participating in the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project 5. A variety of causes for the initial bias development are identified, but a crucial involvement is found, in all cases considered, of ocean-atmosphere coupling for their maintenance. These involve an oceanic “bridge” between the Equator and the Benguela-Angola coastal seas which communicates sub-surface ocean anomalies and constitutes a coupling between SSTs in the south-eastern tropical Atlantic and the winds over the Equator. The resulting coupling between SSTs, winds and precipitation represents a positive feedback for warm SST errors in the south-eastern tropical Atlantic. 相似文献
12.
Atlantic Basin Hurricanes: Indices of Climatic Changes 总被引：7，自引：0，他引：7
Christopher W. Landsea Roger A. Pielke Jr. Alberto M. Mestas-Nuñez John A. Knaff 《Climatic change》1999,42(1):89-129
Accurate records of basinwide Atlantic and U.S. landfalling hurricanes extend back to the mid 1940s and the turn of the century, respectively, as a result of aircraft reconnaissance and instrumented weather stations along the U.S. coasts. Such long-term records are not exceeded elsewhere in the tropics. The Atlantic hurricanes, U.S. landfalling hurricanes and U.S. normalized damage time series are examined for interannual trends and multidecadal variability. It is found that only weak linear trends can be ascribed to the hurricane activity and that multidecadal variability is more characteristic of the region. Various environmental factors including Caribbean sea level pressures and 200mb zonal winds, the stratospheric Quasi-Biennial Oscillation, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, African West Sahel rainfall and Atlantic sea surface temperatures, are analyzed for interannual links to the Atlantic hurricane activity. All show significant, concurrent relationships to the frequency, intensity and duration of Atlantic hurricanes. Additionally, variations in the El Niño-Southern Oscillation are significantly linked to changes in U.S. tropical cyclone-caused damages. Finally, much of the multidecadal hurricane activity can be linked to the Atlantic Multidecadal Mode - an empirical orthogonal function pattern derived from a global sea surface temperature record. Such linkages may allow for prediction of Atlantic hurricane activity on a multidecadal basis. These results are placed into the context of climate change and natural hazards policy. 相似文献
13.
Climate Dynamics - This study compares the impacts of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean and the tropical... 相似文献
14.
Hong-Li Ren Fei Zheng Jing-Jia Luo Run Wang Minghong Liu Wenjun Zhang Tianjun Zhou Guangqing Zhou 《Acta Meteorologica Sinica》2020,34(1):43-62
Remarkable progress has been made in observations, theories, and simulations of the ocean-atmosphere system, laying a solid foundation for the improvement of short-term climate prediction, among which Chinese scientists have made important contributions. This paper reviews Chinese research on tropical air-sea interaction, ENSO dynamics, and ENSO prediction in the past 70 years. Review of the tropical air-sea interaction mainly focuses on four aspects: characteristics of the tropical Pacific climate system and ENSO; main modes of tropical Indian Ocean SSTs and their interactions with the tropical Pacific; main modes of tropical Atlantic SSTs and inter-basin interactions; and influences of the mid-high-latitude air-sea system on ENSO. Review of the ENSO dynamics involves seven aspects: fundamental theories of ENSO; diagnosis and simulation of ENSO; the two types of ENSO; mechanisms of ENSO initiation; the interactions between ENSO and other phenomena; external forcings and teleconnections; and climate change and the ENSO response. The ENSO prediction part briefly summarizes the dynamical-statistical methods used in ENSO prediction, as well as the operational ENSO prediction systems and their applications. Lastly, we discuss some of the issues in these areas that are in need of further study. 相似文献
15.
Current projections of long-term trends in Atlantic hurricane activity due to climate change are deeply uncertain, both in magnitude and sign. This creates challenges for adaptation planning in exposed coastal communities. We present a framework to support the interpretation of current long-term tropical cyclone projections, which accommodates the nature of the uncertainty and aims to facilitate robust decision making using the information that is available today. The framework is populated with projections taken from the recent literature to develop a set of scenarios of long-term hurricane hazard. Hazard scenarios are then used to generate risk scenarios for Florida using a coupled climate–catastrophe modeling approach. The scenarios represent a broad range of plausible futures; from wind-related hurricane losses in Florida halving by the end of the century to more than a four-fold increase due to climate change alone. We suggest that it is not possible, based on current evidence, to meaningfully quantify the relative confidence of each scenario. The analyses also suggest that natural variability is likely to be the dominant driver of the level and volatility of wind-related risk over the coming decade; however, under the highest scenario, the superposition of this natural variability and anthropogenic climate change could mean notably increased levels of risk within the decade. Finally, we present a series of analyses to better understand the relative adequacy of the different models that underpin the scenarios and draw conclusions for the design of future climate science and modeling experiments to be most informative for adaptation. 相似文献
16.
1—3月北极涛动对北半球热带太平洋和大西洋对流活动的可能影响 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
利用1979—2008年日分辨率的向外长波辐射资料以及NCEP再分析资料,去除ENSO影响后,分析了1—3月北极涛动对热带太平洋和热带大西洋对流活动及降水的可能影响。结果表明北极涛动偏强(弱)时,热带太平洋和大西洋对流活动显著偏强(弱)。北半球热带大洋冬季平均向外长波辐射与北极涛动指数的相关系数存在两个显著负相关区:一个位于中太平洋区,大致包括13°—20°N、160°E—170°W;另外一个位于热带大西洋,显著区覆盖的范围大体包括5°—20°N、15°—70°W。这些区域的降水量也表现出显著的正相关。向外长波辐射、强对流面积指数、强对流强度指数、平均降水量等指标与北极涛动指数的相关均以冬季同期最高,随时间滞后相关迅速减弱。与此对应的对流层低层大气环流也有显著变化,850hPa风场的变化表现为热带太平洋有异常的气旋性环流,气旋中心区与显著强对流和降水异常区一致。而热带大西洋有显著的经向环流辐合和风切变,与异常对流和降水区吻合。海洋模式的模拟结果表明,与北极涛动有关联的海温分布,很大程度上与大气强迫有关,说明热带1—3月降水和对流活动与海温的关联较弱。北极涛动与热带太平洋、大西洋对流和降水活动之间主要是通过大气环流的变动产生联系的。 相似文献
17.
A number of recent studies have used model projections to investigate how the North Atlantic environment in which tropical storms develop, as well as hurricane activity itself, might change in a warming world. However, accurate projection of the North Atlantic environment in the future requires, at a minimum, accurate representation of its mean state and variability in the current climate. Here we examine one metric of Atlantic basin tropical cyclone variability—its well-documented association with the El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)—in reanalyses and Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) 4th Assessment Report (AR4) twentieth century and Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project simulations. We find that no individual model provides consistently good representation of ENSO-related variability in the North Atlantic for variables relevant to hurricane activity (e.g. vertical wind shear, genesis potential). Model representation of the ENSO influence is biased due to both inaccurate representation of ENSO itself and inaccurate representation of the response to ENSO within the North Atlantic. Among variables examined, ENSO impacts on vertical wind shear and potential intensity were most poorly simulated. The multi-model ensemble mean representation of North Atlantic environmental response to ENSO is better matched with reanalysis than most individual AR4 models; however, this mean response still possesses some considerable bias. A few models do provide comparable or slightly better simulation of these ENSO-North Atlantic teleconnections than the multi-model ensemble average; however, for both the multi-model mean and the well performing models, good simulation of the ENSO-related variability of genesis potential within portions of the North Atlantic does not stem from accurate representation of the ENSO-related variability of the individual environmental variables that comprise genesis potential (e.g. vertical wind shear, potential intensity). 相似文献
18.
M. P. Hoerling J. W. Hurrell T. Xu G. T. Bates A. S. Phillips 《Climate Dynamics》2004,23(3-4):391-405
Ensembles of atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) experiments are used in an effort to understand the boreal winter Northern Hemisphere (NH) extratropical climate response to the observed warming of tropical sea surface temperatures (SSTs) over the last half of the twentieth Century. Specifically, we inquire about the origins of unusual, if not unprecedented, changes in the wintertime North Atlantic and European climate that are well described by a linear trend in most indices of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The simulated NH atmospheric response to the linear trend component of tropic-wide SST change since 1950 projects strongly onto the positive polarity of the NAO and is a hemispheric pattern distinguished by decreased (increased) Arctic (middle latitude) sea level pressure. Progressive warming of the Indian Ocean is the principal contributor to this wintertime extratropical response, as shown through additional AGCM ensembles forced with only the SST trend in that sector. The Indian Ocean influence is further established through the reproducibility of results across three different models forced with identical, idealized patterns of the observed warming. Examination of the transient atmospheric adjustment to a sudden “switch-on” of an Indian Ocean SST anomaly reveals that the North Atlantic response is not consistent with linear theory and most likely involves synoptic eddy feedbacks associated with changes in the North Atlantic storm track. The tropical SST control exerted over twentieth century regional climate underlies the importance of determining the future course of tropical SST for regional climate change and its uncertainty. Better understanding of the extratropical responses to different, plausible trajectories of the tropical oceans is key to such efforts. 相似文献
19.
Boreal winter North Atlantic climate change since 1950 is well described by a trend in the leading spatial structure of variability, known as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Through diagnoses of ensembles of atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) experiments, we demonstrate that this climate change is a response to the temporal history of sea surface temperatures (SSTs). Specifically, 58 of 67 multi-model ensemble members (87%), forced with observed global SSTs since 1950, simulate a positive trend in a winter index of the NAO, and the spatial pattern of the multi-model ensemble mean trend agrees with that observed. An ensemble of AGCM simulations with only tropical SST forcing further suggests that variations in these SSTs are of primary importance. The probability distribution function (PDF) of 50-year NAO index trends from the forced simulations are, moreover, appreciably different from the PDF of a control simulation with no interannual SST variability, although chaotic atmospheric variations are shown to yield substantial 50-year trends. Our results thus advance the view that the observed linear trend in the winter NAO index is a combination of a strong tropically forced signal and an appreciable noise component of the same phase. The changes in tropical rainfall of greatest relevance include increased rainfall over the equatorial Indian Ocean, a change that has likely occurred in nature and is physically consistent with the observed, significant warming trend of the underlying sea surface. 相似文献
20.
This study analyzes a three-member ensemble of experiments, in which 0.1 Sv of freshwater was applied to the North Atlantic for 100 years in order to address the potential for large freshwater inputs in the North Atlantic to drive abrupt climate change. The model used is the GFDL R30 coupled ocean–atmosphere general circulation model. We focus in particular on the effects of this forcing on the tropical Atlantic region, which has been studied extensively by paleoclimatologists. In response to the freshwater forcing, North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation is reduced to roughly 40% by the end of the 100 year freshwater pulse. Consequently, the North Atlantic region cools by up to 8°C. The extreme cooling of the North Atlantic increases the pole-to-equator temperature gradient and requires more heat be provided to the high latitude Atlantic from the tropical Atlantic. To accommodate the increased heat requirement, the ITCZ shifts southward to allow for greater heat transport across the equator. Accompanying this southward ITCZ shift, the Northeast trade winds strengthen and precipitation patterns throughout the tropical Atlantic are altered. Specifically, precipitation in Northeast Brazil increases, and precipitation in Africa decreases slightly. In addition, we find that surface air temperatures warm over the tropical Atlantic and over Africa, but cool over northern South America. Sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic warm slightly with larger warm anomalies developing in the thermocline. These responses are robust for each member of the ensemble, and have now been identified by a number of freshwater forcing studies using coupled OAGCMs. The model responses to freshwater forcing are generally smaller in magnitude, but have the same direction, as paleoclimate data from the Younger Dryas suggest. In certain cases, however, the model responses and the paleoclimate data directly contradict one another. Discrepancies between the model simulations and the paleoclimate data could be due to a number of factors, including inaccuracies in the freshwater forcing, inappropriate boundary conditions, and uncertainties in the interpretation of the paleoclimate data. Despite these discrepancies, it is clear from our results that abrupt climate changes in the high latitude North Atlantic have the potential to significantly impact tropical climate. This warrants further model experimentation into the role of freshwater forcing in driving climate change. 相似文献