水球世界气候态与经向热量输送的数值模拟试验

利用完全耦合的气候模式(FOAM), 通过两组理想的水球试验, 研究水球气候系统中的平均气候态和经向热量输送。两组水球试验分别是Aqua和Ridge, 前者整个星球完全被水覆盖, 没有任何陆地, 后者与前者的唯一区别是从南极到北极有一道连续的地脊。相比于现实世界, 水球世界的气候更加温暖, 极地几乎没有海冰。北半球的经向温度梯度较现实世界弱, 导致北半球的大气经向热量输送较小。这些差别主要来源于海陆分布改变造成的行星反照率的改变, 而云量的增加部分抵消了这种改变。尽管在两个水球试验中海洋环流和平均温度场差别很大, 但大气平均气候态差别不大。不同于Ridge, 在Aqua中赤道区域出现“反”哈德雷环流, 使得低纬度大气向赤道方向输送热量。尽管水球世界的海洋环流与现实世界相比发生了巨大改变, 但总的经向热量输送及其在大气和海洋之间的分配依然保持稳定。中小尺度的涡旋和扩散引起的经向热量输送部分抵消了大尺度环流引起的经向热量输送, 尤其在中纬度起着重要作用。     

青藏高原对全球大气温度和水汽分布的影响

利用耦合的气候模式CESM, 定量研究青藏高原对全球大气温度和水汽分布的影响。通过对比采用真实地形的参考实验(Real)和去掉青藏高原的敏感性实验(NoTibet)发现, 去掉青藏高原会使北半球大气变冷、变干, 对南半球的影响不明显。北半球中高纬度从地表至平流层均有强烈降温, 地表的降温中心在北大西洋, 年平均降温幅度达5ºC, 高空的降温中心在100 hPa的平流层, 年平均降温幅度达2ºC。北大西洋和南亚地区湿度减少, 南大西洋和东非地区湿度增加。北半球变冷主要是海洋向北经向热量输送减少的结果, 一方面增强了北半球的经向温度梯度, 导致Hadley环流增强, 加强了中低纬地区向北的大气热量输送, 部分补偿了海洋向北减少的热量输送, 维持了北半球中低纬度的能量平衡; 另一方面, 使得北半球中高纬度蒸发作用减弱, 大气中水汽含量减少, 北半球变得寒冷干燥。初步的研究表明, 青藏高原对北半球气候有重大影响, 影响范围可达北半球高纬度地区。     

干、湿大气环流模式中地表增温的经向分布及其机制

使用耦合了平板海洋的三维大气环流模式, 探究理想条件下极地增温放大现象的产生机制。实验中关闭海冰和云的辐射效应, 固定地表反照率, 并将海洋经向热量输送设置为零。通过控制地表蒸发的有无, 模拟湿大气和干大气两种情形。模拟结果显示, CO₂浓度加倍后, 湿大气环流模式中存在极地增温放大的现象, 而干大气环流模式中不存在这种现象。在干大气环流模式中, 地表增温幅度基本上不随纬度变化, 即均匀增温。湿大气环流模式中, CO₂浓度加倍导致的直接辐射强迫和水汽反馈导致的辐射效应都是热带比极地更强, 唯一能够解释湿大气中极地增温放大原因的是从赤道向极地的大气能量传输增强。在干大气环流模式中, 从赤道向极地的热量输送及其变化比湿大气弱很多, 因此无法支持极地增温放大现象。干大气中的均匀增温是CO₂的直接辐射强迫和普朗克效应相互竞争的结果。研究结果表明, 与水汽相关的经向热量输送是地球极地增温放大的关键因素, 而在基本上没有水汽的火星上, 可能不会出现极地增温放大现象。     

Great progress in study on aerosol and its impact on the global environment

The transport from atmosphere is a more important pathway than that from rivers for certain elements and compounds in the remote ocean. The desert and those arid/semi-arid areas in the northwest of China and the Loess Plateau are the sources of those aerosols over the Pacific. Atmospheric iron is the limiting factor of the productivity in certain ocean regions. The dust storms must now be seen as repeated sources of pollution elements as well as soil elements to the East China Sea and, farther out, to the North Pacific Ocean and even to the USA. The long-range transport of aerosols, especially the dust storm, from China and the positive feedbacks of iron coupled with sulfur in atmosphere might be one of the important mechanisms that would affect the primary productivity in the Pacific and/or the global climate change and deserve to be further studied. It can be seen clearly that the dust storms would affect not only the health of human beings and the local or regional climate, but also the global climate change that has been the focus of environmental study internationally.     

Entropy budget of the earth, atmosphere and ocean system

The energy budget in the system of the earth, atmosphere and ocean conforms to the first law of thermodynamics, namely the law of conservation of energy, and it is balanced when the system is in a steady-state condition. However, the entropy budget following the second law of thermodynamics is unbalanced. In this paper, we deduce the expressions of entropy flux and re-estimate the earth, atmosphere and ocean annual mean entropy budget with the updated climatologically global mean energy budget and the climatologically air-sea flux data. The calculated results show that the earth system obtains a net influx of negative entropy (-1179.3 mWm-2K-1) from its surroundings, and the atmosphere and the ocean systems obtain a net input of negative entropy at about -537.4 mWm-2K-1 and -555.6 mWm-2K-1, respectively. Calculations of the entropy budget can provide some guidance for further understanding the spatial-temporal change of the local entropy flux, and the entropy production resulting from all kinds of irreversible processes inside these systems.     

Reversed flow of Atlantic deep water during the Last Glacial Maximum

The meridional overturning circulation (MOC) of the Atlantic Ocean is considered to be one of the most important components of the climate system. This is because its warm surface currents, such as the Gulf Stream, redistribute huge amounts of energy from tropical to high latitudes and influence regional weather and climate patterns, whereas its lower limb ventilates the deep ocean and affects the storage of carbon in the abyss, away from the atmosphere. Despite its significance for future climate, the operation of the MOC under contrasting climates of the past remains controversial. Nutrient-based proxies and recent model simulations indicate that during the Last Glacial Maximum the convective activity in the North Atlantic Ocean was much weaker than at present. In contrast, rate-sensitive radiogenic (231)Pa/(230)Th isotope ratios from the North Atlantic have been interpreted to indicate only minor changes in MOC strength. Here we show that the basin-scale abyssal circulation of the Atlantic Ocean was probably reversed during the Last Glacial Maximum and was dominated by northward water flow from the Southern Ocean. These conclusions are based on new high-resolution data from the South Atlantic Ocean that establish the basin-scale north to south gradient in (231)Pa/(230)Th, and thus the direction of the deep ocean circulation. Our findings are consistent with nutrient-based proxies and argue that further analysis of (231)Pa/(230)Th outside the North Atlantic basin will enhance our understanding of past ocean circulation, provided that spatial gradients are carefully considered. This broader perspective suggests that the modern pattern of the Atlantic MOC-with a prominent southerly flow of deep waters originating in the North Atlantic-arose only during the Holocene epoch.     

Movement of earth rotation and activities of atmosphere and ocean

The rotation of the earth, including the variation of the rotational rate and polar motion, represents the statement of the earth’s overall movement and interactions among the solid earth, atmosphere and ocean on a variety of space-time scales. They make the earth’s complex dynamical system under the conservation of angular momentum. The application and development of recent space geodetic techniques greatly promote the researches on the interactions between the earth rotation and the activities of atmosphere and ocean. This review will mainly report the progress in researches on the earth rotation and the activities of atmosphere and ocean as well as the air-sea interaction in the tropics, and prospect the direction for future theoretical investigations.     

Increase in observed net carbon dioxide uptake by land and oceans during the past 50 years

One of the greatest sources of uncertainty for future climate predictions is the response of the global carbon cycle to climate change. Although approximately one-half of total CO(2) emissions is at present taken up by combined land and ocean carbon reservoirs, models predict a decline in future carbon uptake by these reservoirs, resulting in a positive carbon-climate feedback. Several recent studies suggest that rates of carbon uptake by the land and ocean have remained constant or declined in recent decades. Other work, however, has called into question the reported decline. Here we use global-scale atmospheric CO(2) measurements, CO(2) emission inventories and their full range of uncertainties to calculate changes in global CO(2) sources and sinks during the past 50 years. Our mass balance analysis shows that net global carbon uptake has increased significantly by about 0.05 billion tonnes of carbon per year and that global carbon uptake doubled, from 2.4?±?0.8 to 5.0?±?0.9 billion tonnes per year, between 1960 and 2010. Therefore, it is very unlikely that both land and ocean carbon sinks have decreased on a global scale. Since 1959, approximately 350 billion tonnes of carbon have been emitted by humans to the atmosphere, of which about 55 per cent has moved into the land and oceans. Thus, identifying the mechanisms and locations responsible for increasing global carbon uptake remains a critical challenge in constraining the modern global carbon budget and predicting future carbon-climate interactions.     

A change in the freshwater balance of the Atlantic Ocean over the past four decades

The oceans are a global reservoir and redistribution agent for several important constituents of the Earth's climate system, among them heat, fresh water and carbon dioxide. Whereas these constituents are actively exchanged with the atmosphere, salt is a component that is approximately conserved in the ocean. The distribution of salinity in the ocean is widely measured, and can therefore be used to diagnose rates of surface freshwater fluxes, freshwater transport and local ocean mixing--important components of climate dynamics. Here we present a comparison of salinities on a long transect (50 degrees S to 60 degrees N) through the western basins of the Atlantic Ocean between the 1950s and the 1990s. We find systematic freshening at both poleward ends contrasted with large increases of salinity pervading the upper water column at low latitudes. Our results extend a growing body of evidence indicating that shifts in the oceanic distribution of fresh and saline waters are occurring worldwide in ways that suggest links to global warming and possible changes in the hydrologic cycle of the Earth.     

Interannual atmospheric variability forced by the deep equatorial Atlantic Ocean

Climate variability in the tropical Atlantic Ocean is determined by large-scale ocean-atmosphere interactions, which particularly affect deep atmospheric convection over the ocean and surrounding continents. Apart from influences from the Pacific El Ni?o/Southern Oscillation and the North Atlantic Oscillation, the tropical Atlantic variability is thought to be dominated by two distinct ocean-atmosphere coupled modes of variability that are characterized by meridional and zonal sea-surface-temperature gradients and are mainly active on decadal and interannual timescales, respectively. Here we report evidence that the intrinsic ocean dynamics of the deep equatorial Atlantic can also affect sea surface temperature, wind and rainfall in the tropical Atlantic region and constitutes a 4.5-yr climate cycle. Specifically, vertically alternating deep zonal jets of short vertical wavelength with a period of about 4.5?yr and amplitudes of more than 10?cm?s(-1) are observed, in the deep Atlantic, to propagate their energy upwards, towards the surface. They are linked, at the sea surface, to equatorial zonal current anomalies and eastern Atlantic temperature anomalies that have amplitudes of about 6?cm?s(-1) and 0.4?°C, respectively, and are associated with distinct wind and rainfall patterns. Although deep jets are also observed in the Pacific and Indian oceans, only the Atlantic deep jets seem to oscillate on interannual timescales. Our knowledge of the persistence and regularity of these jets is limited by the availability of high-quality data. Despite this caveat, the oscillatory behaviour can still be used to improve predictions of sea surface temperature in the tropical Atlantic. Deep-jet generation and upward energy transmission through the Equatorial Undercurrent warrant further theoretical study.     

Decline of the marine ecosystem caused by a reduction in the Atlantic overturning circulation

Reorganizations of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation were associated with large and abrupt climatic changes in the North Atlantic region during the last glacial period. Projections with climate models suggest that similar reorganizations may also occur in response to anthropogenic global warming. Here I use ensemble simulations with a coupled climate-ecosystem model of intermediate complexity to investigate the possible consequences of such disturbances to the marine ecosystem. In the simulations, a disruption of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation leads to a collapse of the North Atlantic plankton stocks to less than half of their initial biomass, owing to rapid shoaling of winter mixed layers and their associated separation from the deep ocean nutrient reservoir. Globally integrated export production declines by more than 20 per cent owing to reduced upwelling of nutrient-rich deep water and gradual depletion of upper ocean nutrient concentrations. These model results are consistent with the available high-resolution palaeorecord, and suggest that global ocean productivity is sensitive to changes in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation.     

Collapse and rapid resumption of Atlantic meridional circulation linked to deglacial climate changes

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation is widely believed to affect climate. Changes in ocean circulation have been inferred from records of the deep water chemical composition derived from sedimentary nutrient proxies, but their impact on climate is difficult to assess because such reconstructions provide insufficient constraints on the rate of overturning. Here we report measurements of 231Pa/230Th, a kinematic proxy for the meridional overturning circulation, in a sediment core from the subtropical North Atlantic Ocean. We find that the meridional overturning was nearly, or completely, eliminated during the coldest deglacial interval in the North Atlantic region, beginning with the catastrophic iceberg discharge Heinrich event H1, 17,500 yr ago, and declined sharply but briefly into the Younger Dryas cold event, about 12,700 yr ago. Following these cold events, the 231Pa/230Th record indicates that rapid accelerations of the meridional overturning circulation were concurrent with the two strongest regional warming events during deglaciation. These results confirm the significance of variations in the rate of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation for abrupt climate changes.     

人类影响引起全球变暖的证据

 按照归因分析的研究方法和工具，综述了近些年有关人类影响引起全球变暖证据的科学研究成果。利用全球气候模式考虑人类影响，采用指纹法检测和归因证实，发现人类影响几乎肯定是引起近百年特别是近50年全球变暖的主因。地球系统5个圈层（大气、海洋、陆地、冰雪、生物）与全球变暖有关的证据，如热浪增加、寒潮减弱、低层大气变暖、陆地和海洋变暖、受海水热膨胀和冰融化引起全球海平面上升、冰雪和永冻土融化加速、海洋酸度增加、植物生长季延长等，都与人类影响有密切联系。     

全球地形影响大气和海洋经圈环流的耦合模式研究

利用气候系统模式(CESM1.0)研究陆地地形改变对大气?海洋经圈环流的影响。模式首先给出真实海陆分布及陆地地形情况下的大气?海洋气候态, 然后给出平板陆地情况下(陆地海拔均匀10 m)的气候态。与真实世界相比, 平板陆地情形下大气?海洋经圈环流发生重大改变: 首先, 年平均大气对流中心南移到赤道附近, 使得大气哈德雷环流相对于赤道对称; 其次, 海洋的经向翻转流变强, 大西洋经向翻转流完全消失, 取而代之的是在太平洋出现强大的经向翻转流及热盐环流。在平板陆地情形下, 北半球中高纬度大气抬升减弱, 向北的大气热量输送减少, 北半球温度降低, 大气对流中心因而向赤道迁移; 同时, 海洋向极地的热量输送也减弱, 中高纬度海洋变冷, 北太平洋海水密度增加很多, 北大西洋海水密度降低, 导致海洋经向翻转流从大西洋转移到太平洋。     

The cause of the fragile relationship between the Pacific El Niño and the Atlantic Niño

El Ni?o, the most prominent climate fluctuation at seasonal-to-interannual timescales, has long been known to have a remote impact on climate variability in the tropical Atlantic Ocean, but a robust influence is found only in the northern tropical Atlantic region. Fluctuations in the equatorial Atlantic are dominated by the Atlantic Ni?o, a phenomenon analogous to El Ni?o, characterized by irregular episodes of anomalous warming during the boreal summer. The Atlantic Ni?o strongly affects seasonal climate prediction in African countries bordering the Gulf of Guinea. The relationship between El Ni?o and the Atlantic Ni?o is ambiguous and inconsistent. Here we combine observational and modelling analysis to show that the fragile relationship is a result of destructive interference between atmospheric and oceanic processes in response to El Ni?o. The net effect of El Ni?o on the Atlantic Ni?o depends not only on the atmospheric response that propagates the El Ni?o signal to the tropical Atlantic, but also on a dynamic ocean-atmosphere interaction in the equatorial Atlantic that works against the atmospheric response. These results emphasize the importance of having an improved ocean-observing system in the tropical Atlantic, because our ability to predict the Atlantic Ni?o will depend not only on our knowledge of conditions in the tropical Pacific, but also on an accurate estimate of the state of the upper ocean in the equatorial Atlantic.     

Observed and modelled stability of overflow across the Greenland-Scotland ridge

Across the Greenland-Scotland ridge there is a continuous flow of cold dense water, termed 'overflow', from the Nordic seas to the Atlantic Ocean. This is a main contributor to the production of North Atlantic Deep Water that feeds the lower limb of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, which has been predicted to weaken as a consequence of climate change. The two main overflow branches pass the Denmark Strait and the Faroe Bank channel. Here we combine results from direct current measurements in the Faroe Bank channel for 1995-2005 with an ensemble hindcast experiment for 1948-2005 using an ocean general circulation model. For the overlapping period we find a convincing agreement between model simulations and observations on monthly to interannual timescales. Both observations and model data show no significant trend in volume transport. In addition, for the whole 1948-2005 period, the model indicates no persistent trend in the Faroe Bank channel overflow or in the total overflow transport, in agreement with the few available historical observations. Deepening isopycnals in the Norwegian Sea have tended to decrease the pressure difference across the Greenland-Scotland ridge, but this has been compensated for by the effect of changes in sea level. In contrast with earlier studies, we therefore conclude that the Faroe Bank channel overflow, and also the total overflow, did not decrease consistently from 1950 to 2005, although the model does show a weakening total Atlantic meridional overturning circulation as a result of changes south of the Greenland-Scotland ridge.     

Slowing of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation at 25 degrees N

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation carries warm upper waters into far-northern latitudes and returns cold deep waters southward across the Equator. Its heat transport makes a substantial contribution to the moderate climate of maritime and continental Europe, and any slowdown in the overturning circulation would have profound implications for climate change. A transatlantic section along latitude 25 degrees N has been used as a baseline for estimating the overturning circulation and associated heat transport. Here we analyse a new 25 degrees N transatlantic section and compare it with four previous sections taken over the past five decades. The comparison suggests that the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation has slowed by about 30 per cent between 1957 and 2004. Whereas the northward transport in the Gulf Stream across 25 degrees N has remained nearly constant, the slowing is evident both in a 50 per cent larger southward-moving mid-ocean recirculation of thermocline waters, and also in a 50 per cent decrease in the southward transport of lower North Atlantic Deep Water between 3,000 and 5,000 m in depth. In 2004, more of the northward Gulf Stream flow was recirculating back southward in the thermocline within the subtropical gyre, and less was returning southward at depth.     

Evidence for enhanced mixing over rough topography in the abyssal ocean

The overturning circulation of the ocean plays an important role in modulating the Earth's climate. But whereas the mechanisms for the vertical transport of water into the deep ocean--deep water formation at high latitudes--and horizontal transport in ocean currents have been largely identified, it is not clear how the compensating vertical transport of water from the depths to the surface is accomplished. Turbulent mixing across surfaces of constant density is the only viable mechanism for reducing the density of the water and enabling it to rise. However, measurements of the internal wave field, the main source of energy for mixing, and of turbulent dissipation rates, have typically implied diffusivities across surfaces of equal density of only approximately 0.1 cm2 s(-1), too small to account for the return flow. Here we report measurements of tracer dispersion and turbulent energy dissipation in the Brazil basin that reveal diffusivities of 2-4 cm2 s(-1) at a depth of 500 m above abyssal hills on the flank of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and approximately 10 cm2 s(-1) nearer the bottom. This amount of mixing, probably driven by breaking internal waves that are generated by tidal currents flowing over the rough bathymetry, may be large enough to close the buoyancy budget for the Brazil basin and suggests a mechanism for closing the global overturning circulation.     

Slowdown of the meridional overturning circulation in the upper Pacific Ocean

Decadal temperature fluctuations in the Pacific Ocean have a significant effect on marine ecosystems and the climate of North America. The physical mechanisms responsible for these fluctuations are poorly understood. Some theories ascribe a central role to the wind-driven meridional overturning circulation between the tropical and subtropical oceans. Here we show, from observations over the past 50 years, that this overturning circulation has been slowing down since the 1970s, causing a decrease in upwelling of about 25% in an equatorial strip between 9 degrees N and 9 degrees S. This reduction in equatorial upwelling of relatively cool water, from 47 x 10(6) to 35 x 10(6) m3 s(-1), is associated with a rise in equatorial sea surface temperatures of about 0.8 degrees C. Another effect of the slowing circulation is a reduction in the outgassing of CO2 from the equatorial Pacific Ocean-at present the largest oceanic source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.     

Bacterial growth and primary production along a north-south transect of the Atlantic Ocean

The oceanic carbon cycle is mainly determined by the combined activities of bacteria and phytoplankton, but the interdependence of climate, the carbon cycle and the microbes is not well understood. To elucidate this interdependence, we performed high-frequency sampling of sea water along a north-south transect of the Atlantic Ocean. Here we report that the interaction of bacteria and phytoplankton is closely related to the meridional profile of water temperature, a variable directly dependent on climate. Water temperature was positively correlated with the ratio of bacterial production to primary production, and, more strongly, with the ratio of bacterial carbon demand to primary production. In warm latitudes (25 degrees N to 30 degrees S), we observed alternating patches of predominantly heterotrophic and autotrophic community metabolism. The calculated regression lines (for data north and south of the Equator) between temperature and the ratio of bacterial production to primary production give a maximum value for this ratio of 40% in the oligotrophic equatorial regions. Taking into account a bacterial growth efficiency of 30%, the resulting area of net heterotrophy (where the bacterial carbon demand for growth plus respiration exceeds phytoplankton carbon fixation) expands from 8 degrees N (27 degrees C) to 20 degrees S (23 degrees C). This suggests an output of CO2 from parts of the ocean to the atmosphere.