Collaborative Research, Type 1, L02170206: Climate Sensitivity, Stochastic Models and GCM-EaSM Optimization

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Ghil, 1049253Bracco, 1049095Wang, 1049114Zaliapin, 1049092 The project team is made up of climate dynamicists and of applied mathematicians. The investigators (a) formulate a mathematical theory of climate sensitivity and (b) devise a set of optimization algorithms for general circulation models and Earth System Models. The team brings together strengths in dynamical systems, partial differential equations, and numerical methods, with depth and broad coverage in the study of atmospheric, oceanic, and climate dynamics. The project's three main objectives are to: (i) continue developing powerful new methods for the fundamental understanding of climate sensitivity and predictability; (ii) extend earlier work of the investigators on modes of low-frequency variability associated with the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), interannual as well as decadal; and (iii) combine items (i) and (ii) in analyzing the sensitivity and predictability of these modes when subjected to climate change. All three objectives are pursued across a full hierarchy of models, from conceptual "toy" models through intermediate climate models and on to Earth system Models of Intermediate Complexity. Ghil and his associates have recently worked on extending the theory of random dynamical systems and applying it to the climate system. This theory allows one to (1) investigate the effect of random perturbations ("weather") on nonlinear dynamical systems ("climate variability"); (2) evaluate the robustness and sensitivity of a random dynamical system to changes in either the system or its forcing, whether deterministic (e.g., slow, anthropogenic changes in greenhouse gas or aerosol concentrations) or stochastic (e.g., volcanic eruptions); and (3) obtain sharper results on the system's predictability by accounting for the effect of the random perturbations. Methods developed for the systematic study of parameter dependence in a streamlined global circulation model, the ICTP-AGCM, have promising parallels to results published by the PIs and co-workers on idealized models. The team obtains rigorous results on the latter kinds of models, as well as on random dynamical system bifurcations, sensitivity, and predictability, while extending the ICTP-AGCM results to models of intermediate complexity like SPEEDO, and eventually to full Earth System Models like the Community Climate System Model (CCSM). This work leads to a deeper understanding of the causes and mechanisms of climate sensitivity. It also provides efficient ways to evaluate and improve the ability of global circulation models and Earth System Models to simulate past and present climate, and to predict our environment's future evolution. It helps strengthen the basis for robust climate projections on decade-to-century time scales, and it provides a systematic way to evaluate and improve both deterministic and stochastic parameterizations in such models. The results of this work have implications for other areas in which complex deterministic dynamics interacts with external forcing, deterministic as well as random. This situation characterizes the life and socio-economic sciences, as well as climate science and the geosciences. Strong interactions across disciplinary boundaries -- among team members themselves and with colleagues in other areas -- help accelerate the transfer of new methods and results to other disciplines.