Discrepancies in Simulated Ocean Net Surface Heat Fluxes over the North Atlantic

• Published in: Advances in atmospheric sciences Vol. 39; no. 11; pp. 1941 - 1955
• Main Authors: Liu, Chunlei, Yang, Yazhu, Liao, Xiaoqing, Cao, Ning, Liu, Jimmy, Ou, Niansen, Allan, Richard P., Jin, Liang, Chen, Ni, Zheng, Rong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Science Press 01.11.2022; Springer Nature B.V; South China Sea Institute of Marine Meteorology, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang 524088, China; CMA-GDOU Joint Laboratory for Marine Meteorology, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang 524088, China; National Centre for Earth Observation, Reading RG66BB, UK; College of Ocean and Meteorology, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang 524088, China%Department of Mathematics, Trinity College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB21TQ, UK%Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading RG66BB, UK; Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading RG66BB, UK%South China Sea Institute of Marine Meteorology, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang 524088, China
• Subjects: Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC); Atmosphere; Atmospheric circulation; Atmospheric Sciences; Climate change; Climate models; Climate system; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Enthalpy; Fluctuations; Geophysics/Geodesy; Global climate; Heat; Heat content; Heat flux; Heat loss; Heat transfer; Heat transport; Meteorology; Ocean surface; Oceans; Original Paper; Resolution; Sea ice; Simulation; Temperature; 模拟; discrepancy; ocean net surface heat flux; 海表净热通量; observations; 观测; ocean heat transport; 海洋热能传输; simulations; 差异
• ISSN: 0256-1530; 1861-9533
• DOI: 10.1007/s00376-022-1360-7

The change in ocean net surface heat flux plays an important role in the climate system. It is closely related to the ocean heat content change and ocean heat transport, particularly over the North Atlantic, where the ocean loses heat to the atmosphere, affecting the AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation) variability and hence the global climate. However, the difference between simulated surface heat fluxes is still large due to poorly represented dynamical processes involving multiscale interactions in model simulations. In order to explain the discrepancy of the surface heat flux over the North Atlantic, datasets from nineteen AMIP6 and eight highresSST-present climate model simulations are analyzed and compared with the DEEPC (Diagnosing Earth’s Energy Pathways in the Climate system) product. As an indirect check of the ocean surface heat flux, the oceanic heat transport inferred from the combination of the ocean surface heat flux, sea ice, and ocean heat content tendency is compared with the RAPID (Rapid Climate Change-Meridional Overturning Circulation and Heat flux array) observations at 26°N in the Atlantic. The AMIP6 simulations show lower inferred heat transport due to less heat loss to the atmosphere. The heat loss from the AMIP6 ensemble mean north of 26°N in the Atlantic is about 10 W m −2 less than DEEPC, and the heat transport is about 0.30 PW (1 PW = 10 15 W) lower than RAPID and DEEPC. The model horizontal resolution effect on the discrepancy is also investigated. Results show that by increasing the resolution, both surface heat flux north of 26°N and heat transport at 26°N in the Atlantic can be improved.