We investigate the causes for a strong high latitude imposed ice (land or sea) influence on the marine Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in the Community Climate Model version 3 coupled to a 50-m slab ocean. The marine ITCZ in all the ocean basins shift meridionally away from the hemisphere with an imposed added ice cover, altering the global Hadley circulation with an increased tropical su...

Errors of coupled general circulation models (CGCMs) limit their utility for climate prediction and projection. Origins of and feedback for tropical biases are investigated in the historical climate simulations of eighteen CGCMs from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5), together with the available Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP) simulations. Based on an in...

While the zonal-mean position of intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is well explained using energetic framework, regional variations ITCZ have been more difficult to characterize. We show a simple metric, interhemispheric tropical sea surface temperature (SST) contrast, useful for estimating local over seasonal and interannual timescales in modern observations. demonstrate linear corresponde...

[1] Climate simulations, using models with different levels of complexity, indicate that the north-south position of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) responds to changes in interhemispheric temperature contrast. Paleoclimate data on a variety of timescales suggest a similar behavior, with southward displacements of the ITCZ and associated changes in tropical atmospheric circulation dur...

Satellite multi-sensor data is used to derive sensible heat flux (SHF), Bowen ratio (Bo), and thus latent heat flux (LHF) in the tropical Pacific. The temperature differences at the air–sea interface are determined empirically for regions where strong deep air convection is present due to the buoyancy force. The vertical airflow results in surface wind divergence, which is estimated from scatte...

[1] African climate is changing at rates unprecedented in the Late Holocene with profound implications for tropical ecosystems and the global hydrologic cycle. Understanding the specific climate drivers behind tropical ecosystem change is critical for both future and paleomodeling efforts. However, linkages between climate and vegetation in the tropics have been extremely controversial. The Nor...

A coupled atmosphere–ocean–coastline model driven by solar radiation is advanced to understand the essential physics determining the annual cycle of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ)–equatorial cold tongue (ECT) complex and associated latitudinal climate asymmetry. With a thermocline depth similar to that of the western Pacific, the aquaplanet climate is latitudinal symmetric and stable...

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Ocean, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in OEAS Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Repository Citation Schmidt, Matthew W. and Spero, Howard J., "Meridional Shifts in the Marine...

tropical southern Pacific Authors: Jennifer C. Wei, V. R. Kotamarthi, D. J. Wuebbles Abstract. Significant seasonal variations in the concentrations of ozone, NOx, nonmethane hydrocarbons and other trace gases were observed in the southern tropical Pacific during the PEM-TROPICS-A (PT-A, Sep/Oct 1996) and PEM-TROPICS-B (PT-B, Mar/Apr 1999). Making these data sets more useful would require devel...