Last Updated:
February 28, 2007

GCRIO Program Overview

Library 
Our extensive collection of documents.

Privacy Policy

Archives of the
Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 6, NUMBER 6, JUNE 1993

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
GLOBAL AND REGIONAL MODELING

Item #d93jun33

Two items from J. Geophys. Res., 98(D4) Apr. 20, 1993:

"How Well Can Regional Fluxes Be Derived from Smaller-Scale Estimates?" K.E. Moore (Atmos. Sci. Res. Ctr., State Univ. of New York, Albany NY 12205), D.R. Fitzjarrald, J.A. Ritter, 7187-7198. In this field study, simultaneous aircraft and tower data obtained in relatively simple tundra terrain were used to determine the extent to which surface type variation can be related to regional-scale fluxes of heat, moisture and other properties.

"Tropical Deforestation: Modeling Local- to Regional-Scale Climate Change," A. Henderson-Sellers (Clim. Impacts Ctr., Macquarie Univ., North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia), R.E. Dickinson et al., 7289-7315. Tropical moist forest throughout the Amazon River and southeast Asia were replaced by scrub grassland in a version of the NCAR climate model.

Item #d93jun34

"An Accurate Parameterization of the Radiative Properties of Water Clouds Suitable for Use in Climate Models," Y.X. Hu, K. Stamnes (Geophys. Inst., Univ. Alaska, Fairbanks AK 99775), J. Clim., 6(4), 728-742, Apr. 1993. The parameterization separates the dependence of cloud optical properties on droplet size and on liquid water content, and produces accurate results several thousand times faster than exact Mie scattering calculations.

Item #d93jun35

Two survey articles from Physics Today, 46(3), Mar. 1993:

"Special issue: High-Performance Computing and Physics," S.A. Orszag, N.J. Zabusky, 22-23. Concurrent computation and high-speed communication offer opportunities for simulations of more realistic physics.

"Modeling Oceanic and Atmospheric Vortices," D. Dritschel (St. Catherine's Coll., Cambridge, UK), B. Legras, 44-51. The ozone hole is one of various problems in planetary fluid dynamics that challenge our most powerful computers.

Item #d93jun36

Two items from J. Clim., 6(3), Mar. 1993:

"Carbon Dioxide and Climate: The Impact of Cloud Parameterization," C.A. Senior (Hadley Ctr. Clim. Pred., London Rd., Bracknell RG12 2SY, UK), J.F.B. Mitchell, 393-418. Four different cloud parameterization schemes were compared in the Hadley Centre model, and sensitivity to a doubling of CO₂ investigated.

"Sensitivity of Climate Simulations to Land-Surface and Atmospheric Boundary-Layer Treatments: A Review," J.R. Garratt (CSIRO, Div. Atmos. Res., Priv. Bag 1, Mordialloc 3195, Australia). This extensive review concludes with needs for the development and validation of atmospheric boundary layer and surface schemes in GCMs.

Item #d93jun37

"Are Autoregressive Models Sensitive to Initial Conditions?" Eos, pp. 132, 134, Mar. 23, 1993. Comment on previous discussion of the sensitivity of climate models to initial conditions.

Item #d93jun38

Three items from J. Geophys. Res., 98(D3), Mar. 20, 1993:

"New Parameterizations and Sensitivities for Simple Climate Models," C.E. Graves (Dept. Atmos. Sci., St. Louis Univ., St. Louis, Mo.), W.-H. Lee, G.R. North, 5025-5036. Reexamines radiation budget parameterizations of energy balance climate models in light of data collected over the last 12 years.

"Incorporating Landscape Heterogeneity in Land Surface Albedo Models," C.M. Rowe (Dept. Geog., Univ. Nebraska, Lincoln NE 68588), 5037-5043. Demonstrates that substantial errors in the representation of vegetation-atmosphere interactions can arise from the assumption of landscape homogeneity.

"Interactive Coupling of a Lake Thermal Model with a Regional Climate Model," S.W. Hostetler (U.S. Geolog. Surv., 3215 Marine St., Boulder CO 80307), G.T. Bates, F. Giorgi, 5045-5057. The combination of a 1-D lake model with the NCAR/Penn State regional model produces realistic simulations and is suitable for evaluating regional climate change.

Item #d93jun39

"Vegetation Responses and Feedbacks to Climate: A Review of Models and Processes," P. Martin (Joint Res. Ctr., TP 440, Commission of the European Communities, I-21020 Ispra, Italy), Climate Dynamics, 8(4), 201-210, Mar. 1993.

Concludes that the ratio of climate and vegetation space scales should be about five orders of magnitude less than the ratio of climate and vegetation time scales.

Item #d93jun40

Three items from J. Clim., 6(2), Feb. 1993:

"A Factorial Assessment of the Sensitivity of the BATS Land-Surface Parameterization Scheme," A. Henderson-Sellers (Sch. Earth Sci., Macquarie Univ., North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia), 227-247. Compared to simple one-at-a-time changes, factorial experiments such as the ones described here are more powerful for evaluating interactions between parameters, and could serve as the basis for intercomparison of parameterization schemes and for field experiments and satellite-based observation programs.

"SECHIBA, a New Set of Parameterizations of the Hydrologic Exchanges at the Land-Atmosphere Interface within the LMD Atmospheric General Circulation Model," N.I. Ducourdré (Lab. Modélisation du Climat, Orme des Merisiers Bát-709, C.E. Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France), K. Laval, A. Perrier, 248-273. The new scheme, which is simple and requires prescription of a restricted number of parameters, is comparable to the Biosphere-Atmosphere Transfer Scheme and other techniques.

"The Impact of Clouds on the Shortwave Radiation Budget of the Surface-Atmosphere System: Interfacing Measurements and Models," R.D. Cess (Inst. Terr. Plan. Atmos., State Univ. New York, Stony Brook NY 11794), S. Nemesure et al., 308-316. Combines two datasets to demonstrate how the availability of more comprehensive datasets could elucidate the shortwave radiative impact of clouds on both the atmospheric column and the surface.

Item #d93jun41

"Paleoclimatic Tracers: An Investigation Using an Atmospheric General Circulation Model Under Ice Age Conditions," J. Geophys. Res., 98(D2), Feb. 20, 1993. "1. Desert Dust," S. Joussaume (Lab. de Modélization du Clim. & Environ., Comm. l'Energie Atomique, Gif-sur-Yvette, France), 2767-2805; "2. Water Isotopes," S. Joussaume, J. Jouzel, 2807-2830.

In a new approach, these studies use a model to investigate the link between tracer cycles (dust deposits and water isotopes in ice core layers) and climate. Examines whether the tracers are global or local features, and consistency of the model simulations.

Item #d93jun42

"Greenhouse Gases in the Stratosphere," W. Zhong (Blackett Lab., Imperial Coll. Sci., Tech. & Med., London SW7 2BZ, UK), J.D. Haigh, J.A. Pyle, ibid., 2995-3004.

Simulations with a radiative-photochemical-dynamical 2-D model show that the radiative forcings of changing concentrations of ozone, methane, nitrous oxide and CFCs 11 and 12 lead to significant heating rates in the lower stratosphere.

Item #d93jun43

"Sea-Ice Interaction with the Thermohaline Circulation," J. Yang (Dept. Atmos. Sci., Univ. Calif., Los Angeles CA 90024), J.D. Neelin, Geophys. Res. Lett., 20(2), 217-220, Feb. 5, 1993.

Simulations with a zonally-averaged thermohaline circulation model suggest a plausible mechanism for observed interdecadal variability between sea ice and salinity in the North Atlantic.

Item #d93jun44

Three items from J. Clim., 6(1), Jan. 1993:

"Climate Variability in a Coupled GCM. Part 1: The Tropical Pacific," M. Latif (M. Planck Inst. Meteor., D-2000 Hamburg 13, Ger.), A. Sterl et al., 5-21. A 26-year integration with the coupled model exhibits an irregular ENSO with a preferred time scale of about three years. Additional experiments with a simplified coupled model show that even modest changes in the background conditions can push the coupled system from one flow regime to another.

"Tropical Pacific Interannual Variability and CO₂ Climate Change," G.A. Meehl (NCAR, POB 3000, Boulder CO 80307), G.W. Branstator, W.M. Washington, 42-63. Estimates the sensitivity of ENSO-related effects in a doubled CO₂ climate, using two different interactive ocean-atmosphere model configurations.

Comments and reply on "Two Stable Equilibria of a Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Model," 175-179.

Item #d93jun45

"Simulation of the Effect of Carbon Dioxide Doubling on Stratospheric Ozone," J.F. Mahfouf (Ctr. Natl. Res. Meteor., F-31057 Toulouse, France), D. Cariolle, J.F. Royer, Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sci. Ser. II, 316(1), 61-68, Jan. 7, 1993. In French.

Five-year climate simulations with a doubled level of CO₂ show a cooling increasing with height in the stratosphere, and an increase of ozone due to modified photochemical reaction rates. Results confirm those with 2-D models and emphasize the importance of heterogeneous processes.

Item #d93jun46

Three items from Climate Dynamics, 8(3), Jan. 1993:

"Century-Scale Variability in a Randomly Forced, 2-Dimensional Thermohaline Ocean Circulation Model," L.A. Mysak (Dept. Atmos. Sci., McGill Univ., Montreal PQ H3A 2K6, Can.), T.F. Stocker, F. Huang, 103-116. Shows that for a wide range of vertical and horizontal diffusivities and a box geometry that approximates the Atlantic Ocean, 200-300 year oscillations exist in the basic-state, meridional overturning circulation.

"Low-Frequency Variability and CO₂ Transient Climate Change. 1. Time-Averaged Differences," G.A. Meehl (NCAR, POB 3000, Boulder CO 80307), W.M. Washington, T.R. Karl, 117-133. Results from a coupled ocean-atmosphere GCM underscore the difficulty of identifying a "fingerprint" of greenhouse warming from short-term records, and point to the need to understand the mechanisms of decade-scale variability.

"The Dynamics of Uncertainty: Application to Parameterization Constants in Climate Models," R.J. Fleming (address immed. above), 135-150. Using a series of dynamical systems of increasing complexity, investigates a range of uncertainties related to the parameterization constants for various forcing terms, and outlines a framework for dealing with the problem in complex GCMs.

Item #d93jun47

Six items from J. Geophys. Res., 97(D18), Dec. 20, 1992:

"Comparison of General Circulation Models to Earth Radiation Budget Experiment Data: Computation of Clear-Sky Fluxes," R.D. Cess (Inst. Terr. Plan. Atmos., State Univ. New York, Stony Brook NY 11974), G.L. Potter et al., 20,421-20,426. Provides a clear-sky computation method that solves the problem of computing a model diagnostic consistent with processed satellite data.

"The Effects of Sampling Frequency on the Climate Statistics of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts," T.J. Phillips (Lawrence-Livermore Nat. Lab., POB 808, Livermore CA 94550), W.L. Gates, K. Arpe, 20,427-20,436.

"Seasonal Cycle and Second-Moment Statistics of a Simple Coupled Climate System," K.-Y. Kim (Appl. Res. Corp., College Sta., Texas), G.R. North, 20,437-20,448. Examines a 2-D energy balance model with a deep ocean.

"An Analysis of the Relationships Between Cloud Anomalies and Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies in a Global Circulation Model," T.C. Peterson (NCDC, Fed. Bldg., Asheville NC 28801), T.P. Barnett et al., 20,497-20,506. Statistically Relates cloud cover and radiation characteristics to sea surface temperature anomalies, for both observed data and output from the Hamburg GCM.

"A Modeling Perspective on Cloud Radiative Forcing," G.L. Potter (Lawrence-Livermore Nat. Lab., POB 808, Livermore CA 94550), J.M. Slingo et al., 20,507-20,518. Radiation fields from a perpetual July integration of the ECMWF operational model were used to identify the most appropriate way to diagnose cloud radiative forcing for the purpose of comparing GCMs.

"Three-Dimensional Simulations of Atmospheric Methyl Chloroform: Effect of an Ocean Sink," X. Tie (NCAR, POB 3000, Boulder CO 80307), C.-Y. Kao et al., 20,751-20,769. Model simulations of the distribution and seasonal cycle of the surface concentration of methyl chloroform are compared with data from the Atmospheric Lifetime Experiment for 1980-1985. Effects of the recently discovered ocean sink on these features and on OH distributions are investigated.

Item #d93jun48

"Assessing the Sensitivity of a Land-Surface Scheme to Parameters Used in Tropical-Deforestation Experiments," A. Henderson-Sellers (Sch. Earth Sci., Macquarie Univ., North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia), Quart. J. Royal Meteor. Soc., 118(508), 1101-1116, Oct. 1992.

Factorial experiments show difficulties in the use of the Biosphere-Atmosphere Transfer Scheme, particularly in representations of future climate.

Item #d93jun49

"Seasonal River Runoff Calculated from a Global Atmospheric Model," S.C. Kuhl (Dept. Meteor., State Univ. New Jersey, New Brunswick NJ 08903), J.R. Miller, Water Resources Res., 28(8), 2029-2039, Aug. 1992.

Examines the success of the NASA-GISS GCM in simulating seasonal and other characteristics of river runoff, as a means of diagnosing model performance under present or future climate conditions.