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The Response to Stratospheric Forcing and Its Dependence on the State

Author(s)
Chan, Cegeon J.; Plumb, R. Alan
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Abstract
In simple GCMs, the time scale associated with the persistence of one particular phase of the model’s leading mode of variability can often be unrealistically large. In a particularly extreme example, the time scale in the Polvani–Kushner model is about an order of magnitude larger than the observed atmosphere. From the fluctuation–dissipation theorem, one implication of these simple models is that responses are exaggerated, since such setups are overly sensitive to any external forcing. Although the model’s equilibrium temperature is set up to represent perpetual Southern Hemisphere winter solstice, it is found that the tropospheric eddy-driven jet has a preference for two distinct regions: the subtropics and midlatitudes. Because of this bimodality, the jet persists in one region for thousands of days before “switching” to another. As a result, the time scale associated with the intrinsic variability is unrealistic. In this paper, the authors systematically vary the model’s tropospheric equilibrium temperature profile, one configuration being identical to that of Polvani and Kushner. Modest changes to the tropospheric state to either side of the parameter space removed the bimodality in the zonal-mean zonal jet’s spatial distribution and significantly reduced the time scale associated with the model’s internal mode. Consequently, the tropospheric response to the same stratospheric forcing is significantly weaker than in the Polvani and Kushner case.
Date issued
2009-07
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/52010
Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Journal
Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences
Publisher
American Meteorological Society
Citation
Chan, Cegeon J, and R. Alan Plumb. “The Response to Stratospheric Forcing and Its Dependence on the State of the Troposphere.” Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences (2009): 2107-2115. © 2009 American Meteorological Society
Version: Final published version
ISSN
0022-4928

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