Didier Swingedouw Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement France Projections of the thermohaline circulation in OAGCMs: toward an understanding of uncertainties
Thermohaline circulation THC : a system with complex feedbacks Coupled with the atmosphere : an AOGCM is necessary Uncertainty for the future
Greenland melting impact on the THC WIS2 CTRL NIS2 Scenario of CO2 doubling, stabilised during 430 ans Temps (années) CO2 ( ppm ) CTL Scénario Temps (année s) CTRL WIS2 NIS2 Mean global Temperature Snow Land Ocean Glacier Two different IPSL-CM4 models: one with land-ice melting, the other without
Impact of the THC on global warming after 500 years NIS2 - CTRLWIS2 - CTRL Années de simulation WIS2 CTRL NIS2
Feedback quantification + - t=0 Sans-CTL Avec-CTL with Density budget at the convection sites :
Main THC feedbacks Dynamical gain of the THC system Climate system Density flux of Température Density flux of salinity THCeTHCs + -
CNRS project : understanding THC uncertainties in IPCC projections Apply feedback model to « water hosing » CMIP : quantification of differences in feedback processes among IPCC models Comparison of models with ocean « observations » in transient phase : Last decades Paleoclimate 8.2 event Role played by atmospheric forcing and ocean resolution in scenarios
Models High resolution simulation of last decades (MERCATOR, DRAKKAR) Analysis of« water-hosing » = evaluate differences in ocean processes among IPCC models Coupling ice-sheet model GREMLINS with IPSL-CM4 Simulation of paleoclimatic event 8.2. Observations OVIDE and RAPID section Paleoclimate record of 8.2 event Representation of existing processes (feedbacks …) Missing process : Greenland melting Paléoclimatical constrain on IPSL-CM4 Dynamical constrain of last 50 years High resolution constrain on key sections Uncertainty 2 years
Models Observations Uncertainty Atmospheric forcing uncertainty Ocean resolution impact Paleoclimate constrain for all IPCC models Climatic impact of THC NEMO with 4 different atmospheric model different oceanic resolution Analysis of PMIP2 database of 8.2 event OVIDE and RAPID section Paleoclimate record of 8.2 event High resolution simulation of last decades (MERCATOR, DRAKKAR) 4 years
Conclusions Better evaluation of: IPCC models against different observation datasets Ice-sheet melting interaction with THC in IPSL-CM4 Ocean resolution issues in coupled models with NEMO Uncertainty related to atmospherical forcing of NEMO
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