Collaborative Research: Tropical Marine Climate Feedback to Mid- and High-Latitude Climate Change

Texas A&M Research Foundation, College Station TX

Investigators

Abstract

This project will further research into the potential extratropical controls of the marine Intertropical Convergence Zone and consequences to the tropical marine climate and global climate. The working hypothesis is that the marine tropics are sensitive to extratropical influences, in particular through mechanisms similar to those controlling interannual variability of the Atlantic Intertropical Convergence Zone. Four specific questions are identified: What are the mechanisms of the extratropical communication to the tropics from changes to extratropical ice and topography? What are the tropical thermodynamic and dynamic ocean-atmosphere feedbacks to this linkage (e.g., the tropical Pacific annual cycle and El Nino-Southern Oscillation)? What are the resulting global climate impacts to the tropical feedback? What are the potential applications of this study to past and future climate change scenarios? These investigations will primarily be pursued as model studies using the Community Climate Model, version 3, coupled to various simplified surface ocean configurations, including a reduced-gravity tropical ocean model. This is a collaborative effort between research groups at the University of California, Berkeley and Texas A&M. Two graduate students and a postdoctoral associate will receive support, and the project will provide opportunities for undergraduate research. Advances in the understanding of abrupt climate change are anticipated from this work.