caa a22 4500 60547365X CHVBK 20210128100344.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150401xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s00382-014-2308-0 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s00382-014-2308-0 The ocean's role in the transient response of climate to abrupt greenhouse gas forcing [Elektronische Daten] [John Marshall, Jeffery Scott, Kyle Armour, J.-M. Campin, Maxwell Kelley, Anastasia Romanou] We study the role of the ocean in setting the patterns and timescale of the transient response of the climate to anthropogenic greenhouse gas forcing. A novel framework is set out which involves integration of an ocean-only model in which the anthropogenic temperature signal is forced from the surface by anomalous downwelling heat fluxes and damped at a rate controlled by a ‘climate feedback' parameter. We observe a broad correspondence between the evolution of the anthropogenic temperature ( $$T_{anthro}$$ T a n t h r o ) in our simplified ocean-only model and that of coupled climate models perturbed by a quadrupling of $$\hbox {CO}_{2}$$ CO 2 . This suggests that many of the mechanisms at work in fully coupled models are captured by our idealized ocean-only system. The framework allows us to probe the role of the ocean in delaying warming signals in the Southern Ocean and in the northern North Atlantic, and in amplifying the warming signal in the Arctic. By comparing active and passive temperature-like tracers we assess the degree to which changes in ocean circulation play a role in setting the distribution and evolution of $$T_{anthro}$$ T a n t h r o . The background ocean circulation strongly influences the large-scale patterns of ocean heat uptake and storage, such that $$T_{anthro}$$ T a n t h r o is governed by an advection/diffusion equation and weakly damped to the atmosphere at a rate set by climate feedbacks. Where warming is sufficiently small, for example in the Southern Ocean, changes in ocean circulation play a secondary role. In other regions, most noticeably in the North Atlantic, changes in ocean circulation induced by $$T_{anthro}$$ T a n t h r o are central in shaping the response. The Author(s), 2014 Climate change nationallicence Ocean nationallicence Climate feedbacks nationallicence Greenhouse gas warming nationallicence Arctic nationallicence Antarctic nationallicence Marshall John Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA aut Scott Jeffery Center for Global Change Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA aut Armour Kyle Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA aut Campin J.-M Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA aut Kelley Maxwell Goddard Institute for Space Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA aut Romanou Anastasia Goddard Institute for Space Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA aut Climate Dynamics Springer Berlin Heidelberg 44/7-8(2015-04-01), 2287-2299 0930-7575 44:7-8<2287 2015 44 382 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-014-2308-0 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-014-2308-0 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Marshall John Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Scott Jeffery Center for Global Change Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Armour Kyle Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Campin J.-M Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Kelley Maxwell Goddard Institute for Space Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Romanou Anastasia Goddard Institute for Space Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Climate Dynamics Springer Berlin Heidelberg 44/7-8(2015-04-01), 2287-2299 0930-7575 44:7-8<2287 2015 44 382