Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

The simulation of SST, sea ice extents and ocean heat transports in a version of the Hadley Centre coupled model without flux adjustments

Climate Dynamics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Results are presented from a new version of the Hadley Centre coupled model (HadCM3) that does not require flux adjustments to prevent large climate drifts in the simulation. The model has both an improved atmosphere and ocean component. In particular, the ocean has a 1.25° × 1.25° degree horizontal resolution and leads to a considerably improved simulation of ocean heat transports compared to earlier versions with a coarser resolution ocean component. The model does not have any spin up procedure prior to coupling and the simulation has been run for over 400 years starting from observed initial conditions. The sea surface temperature (SST) and sea ice simulation are shown to be stable and realistic. The trend in global mean SST is less than 0.009 °C per century. In part, the improved simulation is a consequence of a greater compatibility of the atmosphere and ocean model heat budgets. The atmospheric model surface heat and momentum budget are evaluated by comparing with climatological ship-based estimates. Similarly the ocean model simulation of poleward heat transports is compared with direct ship-based observations for a number of sections across the globe. Despite the limitations of the observed datasets, it is shown that the coupled model is able to reproduce many aspects of the observed heat budget.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

Received: 1 October 1998 / Accepted: 20 July 1999

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gordon, C., Cooper, C., Senior, C. et al. The simulation of SST, sea ice extents and ocean heat transports in a version of the Hadley Centre coupled model without flux adjustments. Climate Dynamics 16, 147–168 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s003820050010

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s003820050010

Keywords

Navigation