Anthropogenic forcing and decadal climate variability in sensitivity experiments of twentieth- and twenty-first-century climate

Abstract

A methodology is formulated to evaluate the possible changes in decadal-timescale (10-20-yr period) surface temperature variability and associated low-frequency fluctuations of anthropogenic forcing and changes in climate base state due to the forcing in simulations of twentieth- and twenty-first century climate in a global coupled climate model without flux adjustment. The two climate change experiments both start in the year 1900. The first uses greenhouse gas radiative forcing (represented by equivalent CO2) observed during the twentieth century, and extends greenhouse gas forcing to the year 2035 by increasing CO2 1% yr-1 compound after 1990 (CO2-only experiment). The second includes the same greenhouse gas forcing as the first, but adds the effects of time-varying geographic distributions of monthly sulfate aerosol radiative forcing represented by a change in surface albedo (CO2 + sulfates experiment). The climate change experiments are compared with a 135-yr control experiment with no change in external forcing. Climate system responses in the CO2-only and CO2 + sulfates experiments in this particular model are marked not only by greater warming at high latitudes in the winter hemisphere, but also by a global El Nino-like pattern in surface temperature, precipitation, and sea level pressure. This pattern is characterized by a relatively greater increase of SST in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific in comparison with the west, a shift of precipitation maxima from the western Pacific to the central Pacific, mostly decreases of Asian-Australian monsoon strength, lower pressure over the eastern tropical Pacific, deeper midlatitude troughs in the North and South Pacific, and higher pressure over Australasia. Time series analysis of globally averaged temperature and an EOF analysis of surface temperature are consistent with previous results in that enhanced low-frequency variability with periods greater than around 20 yr is introduced into the model coupled climate system with a comparable timescale to the forcing. To examine the possible effects of the associated changes in base state on decadal timescale variability (10-20-yr periods), the surface temperature time series are filtered to retain only variability on that timescale. The El Nino-like pattern of decadal variability seen in the observations is present in each of the model experiments (control, CO2 only, and CO2 + sulfates), but the magnitude decreases significantly in the CO2-only experiment. This decrease is associated with changes in the base-state climate that include a reduction in the magnitude (roughly 5%-20% or more) of wind stress and ocean currents in the upper 100 m in most ocean basins and a weakening of meridional overturning (about 50%) in the Atlantic. These weakened circulation features contribute to decreasing the amplitude of global decadal surface temperature variability as seen in a previous sea-ice sensitivity study with this model. Thus the superposition of low-frequency variability patterns in the radiative forcing increases climate variability for periods comparable to those of the forcing (greater than about 20 yr). However, there are decreases in the amplitude of future decadal (10-20-yr period) variability in these experiments due to changes of the base-state climate as a consequence of increases in that forcing.