SENSITIVITY OF NORTHERN-HEMISPHERE AIR TEMPERATURES AND SNOW EXPANSION TO NORTH PACIFIC SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURES IN THE GODDARD-INSTITUTE-FOR-SPACE-STUDIES GENERAL-CIRCULATION MODEL

Circum-Pacific marine and terrestrial records indicate a series of tem perature-inferred oscillations during the late glacial. While many pre vious studies have Probed the role of the North Atlantic in these osci llations, we test the sensitivity of the northern hemisphere air tempe ratures to North Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) oscillation in the Goddard Institute for Space Studies general circulation model. The effect of a colder North Pacific is to cool air temperatures over Nor th America, as well as parts of Europe and Asia. The colder SSTs resul t in a large hemispheric response due to the loss of water vapor as a greenhouse gas. The large sensitivity of the northern hemisphere to a North Pacific SST change has implications for the ice age climate as w ell as the late glacial interval. The results of this experiment provi de a rapid mechanism for widespread cooling which has not been previou sly addressed.