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Natural Air-Sea Flux of CO2 in Simulations of the NASA-GISS Climate Model: Sensitivity to the Physical Ocean Model FormulationResults from twin control simulations of the preindustrial CO2 gas exchange (natural flux of CO2) between the ocean and the atmosphere are presented here using the NASA-GISS climate model, in which the same atmospheric component (modelE2) is coupled to two different ocean models, the Russell ocean model and HYCOM. Both incarnations of the GISS climate model are also coupled to the same ocean biogeochemistry module (NOBM) which estimates prognostic distributions for biotic and abiotic fields that influence the air-sea flux of CO2. Model intercomparison is carried out at equilibrium conditions and model differences are contrasted with biases from present day climatologies. Although the models agree on the spatial patterns of the air-sea flux of CO2, they disagree on the strength of the North Atlantic and Southern Ocean sinks mainly because of kinematic (winds) and chemistry (pCO2) differences rather than thermodynamic (SST) ones. Biology/chemistry dissimilarities in the models stem from the different parameterizations of advective and diffusive processes, such as overturning, mixing and horizontal tracer advection and to a lesser degree from parameterizations of biogeochemical processes such as gravitational settling and sinking. The global meridional overturning circulation illustrates much of the different behavior of the biological pump in the two models, together with differences in mixed layer depth which are responsible for different SST, DIC and nutrient distributions in the two models and consequently different atmospheric feedbacks (in the wind, net heat and freshwater fluxes into the ocean).
Document ID
20150002122
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
doi:10.1016/j.ocemod.2013.01.008
Authors
Romanou, A. (Columbia Univ. New York, NY, United States)
Gregg, Watson W. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Romanski, J. (Columbia Univ. New York, NY, United States)
Kelley, M. (NASA Goddard Inst. for Space Studies New York, NY, United States)
Bleck, R. (Columbia Univ. New York, NY, United States)
Healy, R. (Columbia Univ. New York, NY, United States)
Nazarenko, L. (Columbia Univ. New York, NY, United States)
Russell, G. (NASA Goddard Inst. for Space Studies New York, NY, United States)
Schmidt, G. A. (Columbia Univ. New York, NY, United States)
Sun, S. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Boulder, CO, United States)
Tausnev, N. (Columbia Univ. New York, NY, United States)
Date Acquired
February 25, 2015
Publication Date
February 24, 2013
Publication Information
Publication: Ocean Modelling
Publisher: Science Direct
Volume: 66
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN20084
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX14AB99A
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG12HP07C
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
Gas exchange
Carbon
Ocean models

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