Atmospheric Teleconnection Dynamics of North Atlantic Cooling to the Tropical Climate

该项目试图了解北大西洋温带地区的降温导致北非和亚洲季风减弱的过程。北大西洋降温导致季风减弱，这是上一次冰川时期的古气候证据所表明的，也与20世纪的气候变化有关，包括长达数十年的萨赫勒干旱。该奖项的工作将通过简化气候模型的模拟来研究北大西洋冷却和季风系统之间的遥相关，在简化的气候模型中，海洋成分模型被代表海洋热力学而不是动力学的“板条海洋”所取代。初步工作表明，该模式能够再现遥相关，研究将包括对模式输出的诊断分析，结合一系列模式实验，以确定北大西洋冷却的影响传递到季风区的主要机制。除了科学意义外，这里讨论的问题还具有社会意义，因为生活在亚洲和北非季风区的人口众多。此外，该项目将支持和培训一名研究生，从而为从事这一研究领域的下一代科学家提供支持。

This project seeks to understand the processes through which the cooling of the extratropical North Atlantic results in a weakening of the North African and Asian monsoons. The weakening of the monsoons in response to North Atlantic cooling is suggested in paleoclimate evidence from the last glacial period, and is also relevant to 20th century climate change including the decades-long Sahel drought. Work under this award will examine the teleconnection between North Atlantic cooling and the monsoon systems through simulations with a simplified climate model, in which the ocean component model is replaced with a "slab ocean" which represents ocean thermodynamics but not dynamics. Preliminary work shows that the model is capable of reproducing the teleconnection, and the research will consist of diagnostic analysis of model output, combined with a suite of model experiments, to identify the primary mechanisms through which the influence of North Atlantic cooling is communicated to the monsoon regions.In addition to its scientific interest, the question addressed here has societal relevance due to the large number of people who live in the monsoon regions of Asia and North Africa. In addition, the project will support and train a graduate student, thereby providing for the next generation of scientists engaged in this research area.