Equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS) — defined as the near-surface air temperature change that would eventually result from a doubling of atmospheric CO2 — is a key metric of climate change. New findings suggest that the value of ECS estimated from global energy budget constraints is actually in agreement with values derived from other methods and simulated by global climate models.
In a new paper from Journal of Climate, researchers show that changes in the Indian Ocean subsurface heat content over the last 50 years can be linked to Pacific Ocean variability associated with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation/Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation.
A new study shows that the AMOC is more sensitive to warming, including changes in the atmospheric hydrological cycle, than Greenland Ice Sheet melting. However, Greenland Ice Sheet melt further increases the projected AMOC weakening.
New research looking at glacial-interglacial climate variability during the last 784,000 years finds that Earth's climate sensitivity is strongly dependent on the climate background state with significantly larger values attained during warm phases. Because the Earth is currently in a warm state, the associated increased climate sensitivity has to be taken into account for future warming projections.
New research finds that changes in the strength of the Agulhas Current, since the early 1990s, has not increased, despite expectations based on rapidly warming sea surface temperatures. Instead, its flow has broadened due to more meanders and eddies.
Research shows that decadal shifts of subsurface Atlantic Water temperatures, along the North Atlantic Current, are associated with a progression of heat anomalies from the Gulf Stream region that coincide with sea surface temperatures extending to cover most of the subpolar and tropical North Atlantic; a signal similar to that of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation.
A new study using a high-resolution stalagmite record from Australia with cave sites in southern China reveal a close coupling of monsoon rainfall on both continents, with numerous synchronous pluvial and drought periods, suggesting that the tropical rain belt expanded and contracted numerous times at multidecadal to centennial scales.
It is well known that ENSO strongly affects the interannual variability of tropical cyclones in the western North Pacific. New research shows that models can reproduce interannual variability, but none can capture the distinction between eastern Pacific and central Pacific El Niño events that is found in observations.
The Pacific Ocean has a significant influence on global mean surface temperature, as recently demonstrated during the 2015/16 El Niño. New research shows a new way to quantify the role of the Pacific Ocean using sea level information rather than traditional sea surface temperature data.
New research focused on determining how well the occurrence of an ice-free Arctic can be predicted. What the researchers found is that the uncertainty for the prediction of an ice-free Arctic, caused by internal climate variability, amounts to around two decades.
Funding for US CLIVAR provided by
