Assessing the meridional atmosphere and ocean energy transport in a varying climate

Abstract

Assessing the meridional atmosphere and ocean energy transport is one of the most classical problems in climate research. The meridional energy transport plays a critical role in maintaining the equilibrium of the earth system. Although the principle to calculate the meridional energy transport is simple, many fundamental questions remain unsolved. For example, what are the intrinsic mechanisms to maintain the hemispherically antisymmetric structure in the total energy transport? How on earth does the meridional energy transport partition between the atmosphere and ocean and, is there really a so-called "Bjerknes compensation" relationship between them? This relationship would provide us deep insight into the coupling mechanisms between the ocean and atmosphere in global scale. In this review we try to come out some important problems that are deserved in-depth investigations in current climate studies. © 2013 The Author(s).