On account of the large thermal capacity of seawater and the slowly varying oceanic currents, the surface conditions of the world’s oceans typically fluctuate on timescales that are much longer than those of the atmosphere. Meteorologists have long regarded the surface properties of the oceans (in particular, sea surface temperature, or SST) as a prime candidate for inciting low-frequency atmos...

This review paper discusses the physical basis and the potential for decadal climate predictability over the Atlantic and its adjacent land areas. Many observational and modeling studies describe pronounced decadal and multidecadal variability in the Atlantic Ocean. However, it still needs to be quantified to which extent the variations in the ocean drive variations in the atmosphere and over l...

Characterizing typical meteorological conditions associated with extreme pollution events helps to better understand the role of local meteorology in governing the transport and distribution of pollutants in the atmosphere. The knowledge of their co-variability could further help to evaluate and constrain chemistry transport models. Hence, in this study, we investigate the statistical linkages ...

Introduction Conclusions References Tables Figures ◭ ◮ ◭ ◮ Back Close Full Screen / Esc Abstract Introduction Conclusions References Tables Figures ◭ ◮ ◭ ◮ Back Close Full Screen / Esc Printer-friendly Version Interactive Discussion EGU Abstract Large-scale atmospheric patterns are examined on orbital timescales using the ECHO-G which explicitly resolves the atmosphere – ocean – sea ice dynamic...

We investigate in this paper the dominant intraseasonal signals in both convection and circulation data using the nonlinear Laplacian spectral analysis (NLSA) method. Three Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO) indices are constructed based on temporal modes extracted from pure cloudiness, lowerand upper-level zonal wind anomalies. All three indices reveal strong intermittency and capture well – thro...

The regional climate model HIRHAM has been applied over the Asian continent from 0oN to 50oN and 42oE to 110oE to simulate the Indian monsoon circulation under past and present-day conditions. The model is driven at the lateral and lower boundaries by the atmospheric output fields of the global coupled Earth system model ECHAM5JSBACH/MPIOM for 44-years-long time slices during the mid-Holocene a...

The dominant pattern of tropical and subtropical North Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies simulated in the GFDL coupled ocean-atmosphere model is identified and compared to observations. The spatial pattern and temporal variability of that pattern resemble observational results. On interannual time scales it is shown that anomalous surface heat fluxes, consistent with variations i...

We compared the temporal variability of the heat content of the world ocean, of the global atmosphere, and of components of Earth's cryosphere during the latter half of the 20th century. Each component has increased its heat content (the atmosphere and the ocean) or exhibited melting (the cryosphere). The estimated increase of observed global ocean heat content (over the depth range from 0 to 3...