Keywords
Climate variability, El Niño, Atlantic zonal and meridional modes, conceptual models
Location
Session A1: Environmental Fluid Mechanics - Theoretical, Modelling and Experimental Approaches
Start Date
12-7-2016 11:50 AM
End Date
12-7-2016 12:10 PM
Abstract
Understanding climate variability in the tropical Pacific and Atlantic oceans is a considerable challenge for climate scientists. Interannual to decadal climate variability is dominated in these regions by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the North Atlantic Oscillation, the tropical Atlantic zonal and meridional modes. These climatic modes are mainly driven by competing positive and negative feedback processes that involve ocean-atmosphere interactions. The delayed oscillator, a conceptual model that include these processes, has been developed to explain the cyclic nature of ENSO in the Pacific Ocean. We review its successful applications in the Atlantic Ocean and present our own application of this model to the tropical Atlantic meridional mode. After identifying key climatic variables and main feedbacks involved, we estimate model parameters and find that the delayed oscillator model can explain the main periodicity of this climatic mode.
Included in
Civil Engineering Commons, Data Storage Systems Commons, Environmental Engineering Commons, Hydraulic Engineering Commons, Other Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons
The delayed oscillator model for climate variability: A review and an application to the Atlantic meridional mode
Session A1: Environmental Fluid Mechanics - Theoretical, Modelling and Experimental Approaches
Understanding climate variability in the tropical Pacific and Atlantic oceans is a considerable challenge for climate scientists. Interannual to decadal climate variability is dominated in these regions by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the North Atlantic Oscillation, the tropical Atlantic zonal and meridional modes. These climatic modes are mainly driven by competing positive and negative feedback processes that involve ocean-atmosphere interactions. The delayed oscillator, a conceptual model that include these processes, has been developed to explain the cyclic nature of ENSO in the Pacific Ocean. We review its successful applications in the Atlantic Ocean and present our own application of this model to the tropical Atlantic meridional mode. After identifying key climatic variables and main feedbacks involved, we estimate model parameters and find that the delayed oscillator model can explain the main periodicity of this climatic mode.
