We investigate the sensitivity of the thermohaline circulation (THC) with respect to a subpolar salinity perturbation. Such perturbation simulates a fresh water release caused by retreating glaciers or anomalous sea ice. The feedback mechanisms amplifying or damping the initial anomaly are analyzed in the coupled ocean-atmospheresea ice model. Their understanding is essential for modelling clim...

[1] Since iron is an important micronutrient, deposition of iron in mineral aerosols can impact the carbon cycle and atmospheric CO2. This paper reviews our current understanding of the global dust cycle and identifies future research needs. The global distribution of desert dust is estimated from a combination of observations of dust from in situ concentration, optical depth, and deposition da...

The large-scale tropical atmospheric circulation is analyzed in idealized aquaplanet simulations using an atmospheric general circulation model. Idealized sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are used as lowerboundary conditions to provoke modifications of the atmospheric general circulation. Results show that 1) an increase in the meridional SST gradients of the tropical region drastically strength...

1 ABSTRACT Atmospheric deposition is important to nutrient loadings to coastal estuaries. Atmospheric emissions of nitrogen travel hundreds of kilometers as they are removed via atmospheric deposition. Long-range transport from outside the Neuse/Pamlico system in North Carolina is an important contributor to the total (wet + dry) deposition of nitrogen to the watershed, estuary and Sound. We ne...

[1] Phosphorus (P) availability constrains both carbon uptake and loss in some of the world’s most productive ecosystems. In some of these regions, atmospheric aerosols appear to be an important, if not dominant, source of new P inputs. For example, previous work suggests that mineral aerosols from North Africa bring significant amounts of new phosphorus to the P-impoverished soils of the Amazo...

Atmospheric collapse is likely to be of fundamental importance to tidally locked rocky exoplanets but remains understudied. Here, general results on the heat transport and stability of tidally locked terrestrial-type atmospheres are reported. First, the problem is modeled with an idealized 3D general circulation model (GCM) with gray gas radiative transfer. It is shown that over a wide range of...

Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) has substantial stratospheric ozone depletion potential and its consumption is controlled under the Montreal Protocol and its amendments. We implement a Kalman filter using atmospheric CCl4 measurements and a 3-dimensional chemical transport model to estimate the interannual regional industrial emissions and seasonal global oceanic uptake of CCl4 for the period of 19...

Two-dimensionat studies of streamers fn gases" (1987). We present the results of two-dimensional computer simulations of streamer initiation and propagation in atmospheric pressure N2. The simulation algorithm makes use of flux-corrected transport techniques and was used as a tool to study the solutions of the transport equations under conditions suitable for streamers, for which realistic anal...

[1] Recent attention has focused on the impact of black carbon (BC) on Arctic climate. Here, idealized equilibrium climate experiments are conducted to explore the dependence of Arctic temperature change on the altitude and season of local BC forcing. BC residing in the lowest atmospheric layer produces very strong Arctic warming per unit mass and forcing [2.8 ̇ 0.5 K (W m–2)–1] because of low c...

[1] Satellite observations of CO2 offer new opportunities to improve our understanding of the global carbon cycle. Using such observations to infer global maps of atmospheric CO2 and their associated uncertainties can provide key information about the distribution and dynamic behavior of CO2, through comparison to atmospheric CO2 distributions predicted from biospheric, oceanic, or fossil fuel ...