Bibliography - Pu Lin

1. Geng, L, L T Murray, L J Mickley, and Pu Lin, et al., June 2017: Isotopic evidence of multiple controls on atmospheric oxidants over climate transitions. Nature, 546(7656), DOI:10.1038/nature22340 .
   [ Abstract ]

   The abundance of tropospheric oxidants, such as ozone (O3) and hydroxyl (OH) and peroxy radicals (HO2 + RO2), determines the lifetimes of reduced trace gases such as methane and the production of particulate matter important for climate and human health. The response of tropospheric oxidants to climate change is poorly constrained owing to large uncertainties in the degree to which processes that influence oxidants may change with climate1 and owing to a lack of palaeo-records with which to constrain levels of atmospheric oxidants during past climate transitions2. At present, it is thought that temperature-dependent emissions of tropospheric O3 precursors and water vapour abundance determine the climate response of oxidants, resulting in lower tropospheric O3 in cold climates while HOx (= OH + HO2 + RO2) remains relatively buffered3. Here we report observations of oxygen-17 excess of nitrate (a proxy for the relative abundance of atmospheric O3 and HOx) from a Greenland ice core over the most recent glacial–interglacial cycle and for two Dansgaard–Oeschger events. We find that tropospheric oxidants are sensitive to climate change with an increase in the O3/HOx ratio in cold climates, the opposite of current expectations. We hypothesize that the observed increase in O3/HOx in cold climates is driven by enhanced stratosphere-to-troposphere transport of O3, and that reactive halogen chemistry is also enhanced in cold climates. Reactive halogens influence the oxidative capacity of the troposphere directly as oxidants themselves and indirectly4 via their influence on O3 and HOx. The strength of stratosphere-to-troposphere transport is largely controlled by the Brewer–Dobson circulation5, which may be enhanced in colder climates owing to a stronger meridional gradient of sea surface temperatures6, with implications for the response of tropospheric oxidants7 and stratospheric thermal and mass balance8. These two processes may represent important, yet relatively unexplored, climate feedback mechanisms during major climate transitions.

2. Hardiman, S C., and Pu Lin, et al., March 2017: The influence of dynamical variability on the observed Brewer-Dobson circulation trend. Geophysical Research Letters, 44(6), DOI:10.1002/2017GL072706 .
   [ Abstract ]

   The strength of the Brewer-Dobson circulation (BDC) is predicted to increase due to climate change. However, this increase has yet to be robustly detected in observational analyses. In this study a long control simulation is used to calculate the Time of Emergence of the BDC trend and how much of that trend may be masked by dynamical variability in current observations. A Time of Emergence of around 30 years is found (assuming a 2%/decade trend in the BDC), similar to the length of current reanalysis data sets. However, the discrepancies in vertical velocities between different reanalysis products remain far larger than any predicted trend. Furthermore, dynamical variability can completely mask the BDC trend on time scales shorter than around 12 years. Thus, more robust observational analyses of vertical velocity are likely to be needed for at least the next decade before detection of a statistically significant trend can be expected.

3. Jia, Liwei, Xiaosong Yang, Gabriel A Vecchi, Richard G Gudgel, Thomas L Delworth, Stephan Fueglistaler, Pu Lin, A A Scaife, Seth D Underwood, and Shian-Jiann Lin, June 2017: Seasonal Prediction Skill of Northern Extratropical Surface Temperature Driven by the Stratosphere. Journal of Climate, 30(12), DOI:10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0475.1 .
   [ Abstract ]

   This study explores the role of the stratosphere as a source of seasonal predictability of surface climate over Northern Hemisphere extra-tropics both in the observations and climate model predictions. A suite of numerical experiments, including climate simulations and retrospective forecasts, are set up to isolate the role of the stratosphere in seasonal predictive skill of extra-tropical near surface land temperature. We show that most of the lead-0 month spring predictive skill of land temperature over extra-tropics, particularly over northern Eurasia, stems from stratospheric initialization. We further reveal that this predictive skill of extra-tropical land temperature arises from skillful prediction of the Arctic Oscillation (AO). The dynamical connection between the stratosphere and troposphere is also demonstrated by the significant correlation between the stratospheric polar vortex and sea level pressure anomalies, as well as the migration of the stratospheric zonal wind anomalies to the lower troposphere.

4. Lin, Pu, David J Paynter, Yi Ming, and V Ramaswamy, February 2017: Changes of the Tropical Tropopause Layer under Global Warming. Journal of Climate, 30(4), DOI:10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0457.1 .
   [ Abstract ]

   This paper investigates changes in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) in response to carbon dioxide increase and surface warming separately in an atmospheric general circulation model, finding that both effects lead to a warmer tropical tropopause. Surface warming also results in an upward shift of the tropopause. A detailed heat budget analysis is performed to quantify the contributions from different radiative and dynamic processes to changes in the TTL temperature. When carbon dioxide increases with fixed surface temperature, a warmer TTL mainly results from the direct radiative effect of carbon dioxide increase. With surface warming, the largest contribution to the TTL warming comes from the radiative effect of the warmer troposphere, which is partly canceled by the radiative effect of the moistening at the TTL. Strengthening of the stratospheric circulation following surface warming cools the lower stratosphere dynamically and radiatively via changes in ozone. These two effects are of comparable magnitudes. This circulation change is the main cause of temperature changes near 63 hPa but is weak near 100 hPa. Contributions from changes in convection and clouds are also quantified. These results illustrate the heat budget analysis as a useful tool to disentangle the radiative–dynamical–chemical–convective coupling at the TTL and to facilitate an understanding of intermodel difference.

5. Lin, Pu, David J Paynter, L M Polvani, G Correa, Yi Ming, and V Ramaswamy, June 2017: Dependence of model-simulated response to ozone depletion on stratospheric polar vortex climatology. Geophysical Research Letters, 44(12), DOI:10.1002/2017GL073862 .
   [ Abstract ]

   We contrast the responses to ozone depletion in two climate models: CAM3 and GFDL AM3. Although both models are forced with identical ozone concentration changes, the stratospheric cooling simulated in CAM3 is 30% stronger than in AM3 in annual mean, and twice as strong in December. We find that this difference originates from the dynamical response to ozone depletion, and its strength can be linked to the timing of the climatological springtime polar vortex breakdown. This mechanism is further supported by a variant of the AM3 simulation in which the Southern stratospheric zonal wind climatology is nudged to be CAM3-like. Given that the delayed breakdown of the Southern polar vortex is a common bias among many climate models, previous model-based assessments of the forced responses to ozone depletion may have been somewhat overestimated.

6. Pan, Fang, X Huang, S S Leroy, Pu Lin, L Larrabee Strow, Yi Ming, and V Ramaswamy, August 2017: The stratospheric changes inferred from 10 years of AIRS and AMSU-A radiances. Journal of Climate, 30(15), DOI:10.1175/JCLI-D-17-0037.1 .
   [ Abstract ]

   We analyze global-mean radiances observed by AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder) and AMSU-A (Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit) from 2003 to 2012. We focus on channels sensitive to emission and absorption in the stratosphere. Optimal fingerprinting is used to obtain estimates of changes of stratospheric temperature in five vertical layers due to external forcing in the presence of natural variability. Natural variability is estimated using synthetic radiances based on the 500-year GFDL CM3 and 240-year HADGEM2-CC control runs. The results show a cooling rate of 0.65±0.11(2σ) K decade-1 in the upper stratosphere above 6hPa, ~0.46±0.24 K decade-1 in two middle stratospheric layers between 6hPa and 30hPa, and 0.39±0.32 K decade-1 in the lower stratosphere (30-60hPa). The cooling rate in the lowest part of the stratosphere (60-100hPa) is -0.014±0.22 K decade-1, which is smallest among all five layers and statistically insignificant. The synergistic use of well-calibrated passive infrared and microwave radiances permits disambiguation of trends of carbon dioxide and stratospheric temperature, increases vertical resolution of detected stratospheric temperature trends, and effectively reduces uncertainties of estimated temperature trends.

7. Lin, Pu, Yi Ming, and V Ramaswamy, February 2015: Tropical Climate Change Control of the Lower Stratospheric Circulation. Geophysical Research Letters, 42(3), DOI:10.1002/2014GL062823 .
   [ Abstract ]

   The behavior of the Brewer-Dobson circulation is investigated using a suite of global climate model simulations with different forcing agents, in conjunction with observation-based analysis. We find that the variations in the Brewer-Dobson circulationare strongly correlated with those in the tropical-mean surface temperature through changes in the upper tropospheric temperature and zonal winds. This correlation is seen on both interannual and multi-decadal timescales, and holds for natural and forced variations alike. The circulation change is relatively insensitive to the spatial pattern of the forcings. Consistent changes in the Brewer-Dobson circulation with respect to those in the tropical-mean surface temperature prevail across timescales and forcings, and constitute an important attribution element of the atmospheric adjustment to global climate change.

8. Fueglistaler, Stephan, M Abalos, Thomas J Flannaghan, Pu Lin, and W J Randel, December 2014: Variability and trends in dynamical forcing of tropical lower stratospheric temperatures. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 14(24), DOI:10.5194/acp-14-13439-2014 .
   [ Abstract ]

   We analyse the relation between tropical lower stratospheric temperatures and dynamical forcing over the period 1980–2011 using NCEP, MERRA and ERA-Interim reanalyses. The tropical mean thermodynamic energy equation with Newtonian cooling for radiation is forced with two dynamical predictors: (i) the average eddy heat flux of both hemispheres; and (ii) tropical upwelling estimated from momentum balance following Randel et al. (2002). The correlation (1995–2011) for deseasonalised tropical average temperatures at 70 hPa with the eddy heat flux based predictor is 0.84 for ERA-Interim (0.77 for the momentum balance calculation), and 0.87 for MERRA. The eddy heat flux based predictor indicates a dynamically forced cooling of the tropics of ∼−0.1 K decade−1 (∼−0.2 K decade−1 excluding volcanic periods) for the period 1980–2011 in MERRA and ERA-Interim. ERA-Interim eddy heat fluxes drift slightly relative to MERRA in the 2000's, possibly due to onset of GPS temperature data assimilation. While NCEP gives a small warming trend, all 3 reanalyses show a similar seasonality, with strongest cooling in January/February (∼−0.4 K decade−1, from northern hemispheric forcing) and October (∼−0.3 K decade−1, from southern hemispheric forcing). Months preceding and following the peaks in cooling trends show pronounced smaller, or even warming, trends. Consequently, the seasonality in the trends arises in part due to a temporal shift in eddy activity. Over all months, the Southern Hemisphere contributes more to the tropical cooling in both MERRA and ERA-Interim. The residual time series (observed minus estimate of dynamically forced temperature) are well correlated between ERA-Interim and MERRA, with differences largely due to temperature differences. The residual time series is dominated by the modification of the radiative balance by volcanic aerosol following the eruption of El Chichon (maximum warming of ∼3 K at 70 hPa) and Pinatubo (maximum warming of ∼4 K at 70 hPa), with a strong dynamical response during Pinatubo partially masking the aerosol heating.

Direct link to page: http://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/bibliography/results.php?author=4174