Ra. Colman et al., ANNUAL MEAN MERIDIONAL ENERGY-TRANSPORT MODELED BY A GENERAL-CIRCULATION MODEL FOR PRESENT AND 2-X-CO2 EQUILIBRIUM CLIMATES, Climate dynamics, 10(4-5), 1994, pp. 221-229
The meridional energy flux modelled by the Bureau of Meteorology Resea
rch Centre general circulation model is examined. It is divided into a
tmospheric and oceanic components, and the resolved atmospheric compon
ents in turn into mean and eddy circulations. Comparison with observat
ions shows the modelled total planetary meridional energy transport to
be low, but shows better agreement for the resolved atmospheric compo
nent alone. The overall patterns of the individual circulation and ene
rgy components of the model also agree well, although strengths and lo
cations do show some discrepancies. The doubled CO2 climate change is
analyzed in terms of the changes in each of the circulation and energy
components. It is found that the changes are the relatively small res
idual of larger, and generally opposing changes in sensible heat and p
otential energy fluxes. Despite the general decrease in poleward energ
y flux, the poleward latent heat flux is found to increase. The reduct
ion in poleward transport is found to be dominated by changes in the m
ean meridional circulation at low southern latitudes, and changes in b
oth mean circulations and eddy fluxes elsewhere.