C. Gordon 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, CLIM DYNAM, 16(2-3), 2000, pp. 147-168
Results are presented from a new version of the Hadley Centre coupled model
(HadCM3) that does not require flux adjustments to prevent large climate d
rifts in the simulation. The model has both an improved atmosphere and ocea
n component. In particular, the ocean has a 1.25 degrees x 1.25 degrees deg
ree horizontal resolution and leads to a considerably improved simulation o
f ocean heat transports compared to earlier versions with a coarser resolut
ion 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 S
ST is less than 0.009 degrees C per century. In part, the improved simulati
on 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. Simila
rly 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 coup
led model is able to reproduce many aspects of the observed heat budget.