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Abstract:

The Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) in sea surface temperature (SST) has been shown to influence the climate of the surrounding continents. However, it is unclear to what extent the observed impact of the AMO is related to the thermodynamical influence of the SST variability or the changes in large-scale atmospheric circulation. Here, an analog method is used to decompose the observed impact of the AMO into dynamical and residual components of surface air temperature (SAT) and precipitation over the adjacent continents. Over Europe the influence of the AMO is clearest during the summer, when the warm SAT anomalies are interpreted to be primarily thermodynamically driven by warm upstream SST anomalies but also amplified by the anomalous atmospheric circulation. The overall precipitation response to the AMO in summer is generally less significant than the SAT but is mostly dynamically driven. The decomposition is also applied to the North American summer and the Sahel rainy season. Both dynamical and residual influences on the anomalous precipitation over the Sahel are substantial, with the former dominating over the western Sahel region and the latter being largest over the eastern Sahel region. The results have potential implications for understanding the spread in AMO variability in coupled climate models and decadal prediction systems.

Abstract:

© 2017 Porta Mana and Zanna (2014) recently proposed a subgrid-scale parameterization for eddy-permitting quasigeostrophic models. In this model the large-scale fluid is represented as a non-Newtonian viscoelastic medium, with a subgrid-stress closure that involves the Lagrangian derivative of large-scale quantities. This note derives this parameterization, including the nondimensional proportionality coefficient, using only two statistical assumptions: that the subgrid-scale term is locally homogeneous and decorrelates rapidly in space. The parameterization is then verified by comparing against eddy-resolving quasigeostrophic simulations, independently reproducing the results of Porta Mana and Zanna in a simpler model.

Abstract:

© 2017 The Authors Ocean mesoscale eddies strongly affect the strength and variability of large-scale ocean jets such as the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio Extension. Their spatial scales are too small to be fully resolved in many current climate models and hence their effects on the large-scale circulation need to be parametrized. Here we propose a parametrization of mesoscale eddy momentum fluxes based on large-scale flow deformation. The parametrization is argued to be suitable for use in eddy-permitting ocean general circulation models, and is motivated by an analogy between turbulence in Newtonian fluids (such as water) and laminar flow in non-Newtonian fluids. A primitive-equations model in an idealised double-gyre configuration at eddy-resolving horizontal resolution is used to diagnose the relationship between the proposed closure and the eddy fluxes resolved by the model. Favourable correlations suggest the closure could provide an appropriate deterministic parametrization of mesoscale eddies. The relationship between the closure and different representations of the Reynolds stress tensor is also described. The parametrized forcing possesses the key quasi-geostrophic turbulence properties of energy conservation and enstrophy dissipation, and allows for upgradient fluxes leading to the sharpening of vorticity gradients. The implementation of the closure for eddy-permitting ocean models requires only velocity derivatives and a single parameter that scales with model resolution.