• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.34 no.15
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• pp.6335-6353
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• 2021

This study examines the temporal evolution of the extratropically forced tropical response in an idealized aquaplanet model under equinox condition. We apply a surface thermal forcing in the northern extratropics that oscillates periodically in time. It is shown that tropical precipitation is unaltered by sufficiently high-frequency extratropical forcing. This sensitivity to the extratropical forcing periodicity arises from the critical time required for sea surface temperature (SST) adjustment. Low-frequency extratropical forcing grants sufficient time for atmospheric transient eddies to diffuse moist static energy to perturb the midlatitude SSTs outside the forcing region, as demonstrated by a one-dimensional energy balance model with a fixed diffusivity. As the transient eddies weaken in the subtropics, a further equatorward advection is accomplished by the Hadley circulation. The essential role of Hadley cell advection in connecting the subtropical signal to the equatorial region is supported by an idealized thermodynamical-advective model. Associated with the SST changes in the tropics is a meridional shift of the intertropical convergence zone. Since the time needed for SST adjustment increases with increasing mixed layer depth, the critical forcing period at which the extratropical forcing can affect the tropics scales linearly with the mixed layer depth. Our results highlight the important role of decadal-and-longer extratropical climate variability in shaping the tropical climate system. We also raise the possibility that the transient behavior of a tropical response forced by extratropical variability may be strongly dependent on cloud radiative effects.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.239-247
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• 2011

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the corresponding national low-carbon policy should be grounded on the scientific understanding of climate sensitivity to the increase in CO2 concentration. This is, however, precluded by the fact that current estimates of the climate sensitivity highly vary. To understand the scientific background, limitations, and prospects of the climate sensitivity study, this paper reviews, as objectively as possible, the most recent results on the sensitivity issue. Theoretically, the climate sensitivity hinges on climate feedbacks from various atmospheric and surface physical processes. Especially cloud and sea-ice processes associated with shortwave radiation are known to have largest uncertainty, resulting in an inaccurate estimation of climate sensitivity. For this reason, recent observational studies using satellite data suggest sensitivity lower than or similar to those estimated by climate models (2-5 K per doubled CO2).