Climate of the Past Discussions www.clim-past-discuss.net 1814-9340 1814-9359 4 2 2008 10.5194/cpd-4-459-2008 http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/4/459/2008/ http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/4/459/2008/cpd-4-459-2008.html http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/4/459/2008/cpd-4-459-2008.pdf 459 493 2008-04-21 Monsoon response to changes in Earth's orbital parameters: comparisons between simulations of the Eemian and of the Holocene P. Braconnot pascale.braconnot@cea.fr C. Marzin L. Grégoire E. Mosquet O. Marti Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Unité mixte CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Orme des Merisiers, bât. 712, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France School of Geographical Sciences, Univ. of Bristol, University Road – Bristol BS8 1SS, UK Monsoon is the major manifestation of the seasonal cycle in the tropical regions, and there is a wide range of evidence from marine and terrestrial data that monsoon characteristics are affected by changes in the Earth's orbital parameters. We consider 3 periods in the Eemian and in the Holocene that present some analogy in the Earth's orbital configuration in terms of obliquity and precession. Simulations with the IPSL_CM4 ocean-atmosphere coupled model allow us to discuss the response of the Indian and African monsoon in terms of amplitude and response to the insolation forcing. Results show that precession plays a large role in shaping the seasonal timing of the monsoon system. Differences are found in the response of the two sub-systems. They result from the phase relationship between the insolation forcing and the seasonal characteristics of each sub-system. Also the response of the Indian Ocean is very different in terms of temperature and salinity when the change in insolation occurs at the summer solstice or later in the year. Monsoon has a large contribution to heat and water transports. It is shown that the relative importance of monsoon on the change in the energetic of the tropical regions also vary with precession. Berger, A.: Long-Term Variations of Caloric Solar Radiation Resulting from the Earth's Orbital Elements, Quaternary Res., 9, 139–167, 1978. Berger, A.: Milankovitch Theory and Climate, Rev. Geophysics, 26, 624–657, 1988. Braconnot, P., Joussaume, S., Marti, O., and de Noblet, N.: Synergistic Feedbacks from Ocean and Vegetation on the African Monsoon Response to Mid-Holocene Insolation, Geophys. Res. Lett., 26, 2481–2484, 1999. Braconnot, P., Marti, O., Joussaume, S., and Leclainche, Y.: Ocean Feedback in Response to 6 Kyr BP Insolation, J. Climate, 13, 1537–1553, 2000. Braconnot, P. and Marti, O.: Impact of Precession on Monsoon Characteristics from Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Experiments: Changes in Indian Monsoon and Indian Ocean Climatology, Mar. Geol., 201, 23–34, 2003. Braconnot, P.: Modeling the Last Glacial Maximum and Mid-Holocene, C. R. Geosci., 336, 711–719, 2004. Braconnot, P., Harrison, S., Joussaume, J., Hewitt, C., Kitoh, A., Kutzbach, J., Liu, Z., Otto-Bleisner, B. L., Syktus, J., and Weber, S. L.: Evaluation of Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Simulations of the Mid-Holocene, Past Climate Variability through Europe and Africa, edited by: Bartabee, R. W., Gasse, F., and Stieckley, C. E., Kluwer Academic publisher, 515–533, 2004. Braconnot, P., Otto-Bliesner, B., Harrison, S., Joussaume, S., Peterchmitt, J. Y., Abe-Ouchi, A., Crucifix, M., Driesschaert, E., Fichefet, T., Hewitt, C. D., Kageyama, M., Kitoh, A., Laine, A., Loutre, M. F., Marti, O., Merkel, U., Ramstein, G., Valdes, P., Weber, S. L., Yu, Y., and Zhao, Y.: Results of Pmip2 Coupled Simulations of the Mid-Holocene and Last Glacial Maximum – Part 1: Experiments and Large-Scale Features, Clim. Past, 3, 261–277, 2007a. Braconnot, P., Otto-Bliesner, B., Harrison, S., Joussaume, S., Peterchmitt, J. Y., Abe-Ouchi, A., Crucifix, M., Driesschaert, E., Fichefet, T., Hewitt, C. D., Kageyama, M., Kitoh, A., Loutre, M. F., Marti, O., Merkel, U., Ramstein, G., Valdes, P., Weber, L., Yu, Y., and Zhao, Y.: Results of Pmip2 Coupled Simulations of the Mid-Holocene and Last Glacial Maximum – Part 2: Feedbacks with Emphasis on the Location of the Itcz and Mid- and High Latitudes Heat Budget, Clim. Past, 3, 279–296, 2007b. Cane, M. A., Braconnot, P., Clement, A., Gildor, H., Joussaume, S., Kageyama, M., Khodri, M., Paillard, D., Tett, S., and Zorita, E.: Progress in Paleoclimate Modeling, J. Climate, 19, 5031–5057, 2006. Clement, A. C., Seager, R., and Cane, M. A.: Suppression of El Nino During the Mid-Holocene by Changes in the Earth's Orbit, Paleoceanography, 15, 731–737, 2000. Crucifix, M., Braconnot, P., and Otto-Bleisner, B. L.: New Targets for the Paleo Modeling Intercomparison Project, EOS, 86, 2005. de Noblet, N., Prentice, I. C., Joussaume, S., Texier, D., Botta, A., and Haxeltine, A.: Possible Role of Atmosphere-Biosphere Interactions in Triggering the Last Glaciation, Geophys. Res. Lett., 23, 3191–3194, 1996. Dufresne, J., Quaas, J., Boucher, O., Denvil, S., and Fairhead, L.: Contrasts in the Effects on Climate of Anthropogenic Sulfate Aerosols between the 20th and the 21st Century, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L21703, doi:10.1029/2005GL023619, 2005. Fichefet, T. and Morales Maqueda, M. A.: Sensitivity of a Global Sea Ice Model to the Treatment of Ice Thermodynamics and Dynamics, J. Geophys. Res., 102(C6), 12 609–12 646, 1997. Hewitt, C. D. and Mitchell, J. F. B.: Gcm Simulations of the Climate of 6 Kyr BP: Mean Changes and Interdecadal Variability, J. Climate, 9, 3505–3529, 1996. Hourdin, F., Musat, I., Bony, S., Braconnot, P., Codron, F., Dufresne, J. L., Fairhead, L., Filiberti, M. A., Friedlingstein, P., Grandpeix, J. Y., Krinner, G., Levan, P., Li, Z. X., and Lott, F.: The Lmdz4 General Circulation Model: Climate Performance and Sensitivity to Parametrized Physics with Emphasis on Tropical Convection, Clim. Dynam., 27, 787–813, 2006. Joussaume, S. and Braconnot, P.: Sensitivity of Paleoclimate Simulation Results to Season Definitions, J. Geophys. Res., 102, 1943–1956, 1997. Joussaume, S., Taylor, K. E., Braconnot, P., Mitchell, J. F. B., Kutzbach, J. E., Harrison, S. P., Prentice, I. C., Broccoli, A. J., Abe-Ouchi, A., Bartlein, P. J., Bonfils, C., Dong, B., Guiot, J., Herterich, K., Hewitt, C. D., Jolly, D., Kim, J. W., Kislov, A., Kitoh, A., Loutre, M. F., Masson, V., McAvaney, B., McFarlane, N., de Noblet, N., Peltier, W. R., Peterschmitt, J. Y., Pollard, D., Rind, D., Royer, J. F., Schlesinger, M. E., Syktus, J., Thompson, S., Valdes, P., Vettoretti, G., Webb, R. S., and Wyputta, U.: Monsoon Changes for 6000 Years Ago: Results of 18 Simulations from the Paleoclimate Modeling Intercomparison Project (PMIP), Geophys. Res. Lett., 26, 859–862, 1999. Khodri, M., Leclainche, Y., Ramstein, G., Braconnot, P., Marti, O., and Cortijo, E.: Simulating the Amplification of Orbital Forcing by Ocean Feedbacks in the Last Glaciation, Nature, 410, 570–574, 2001. Khodri, M., Ramstein, G., de Noblet-Ducoudre, N., and Kageyama, M.: Sensitivity of the Northern Extratropics Hydrological Cycle to the Changing Insolation Forcing at 126 and 115 Ky BP, Clim. Dynam., 21, 273–287, 2003. Krinner, G., Viovy, N., de Noblet-Ducoudre, N., Ogee, J., Polcher, J., Friedlingstein, P., Ciais, P., Sitch, S., and Prentice, I. C.: A Dynamic Global Vegetation Model for Studies of the Coupled Atmosphere-Biosphere System, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 19, GB1015, doi:10.1029/2003GB002199, 2005. Kutzbach, J. E. and Liu, Z.: Response of the African Monsoon to Orbital Forcing and Ocean Feedbacks in the Middle Holocene, Science, 278, 440–443, 1997. Levitus, S.: Climatological Atlas of the World Ocean13, 1982. Liu, Z., Brady, E. C., and Lynch-Stieglitz, J.: Global Ocean Response to Orbital Foring in the Holocene, Paleoceanography, 18, 1041, doi:10.1029/2002PA000819, 2003a. Liu, Z., Otto-Bliesner, B., Kutzbach, J., Li, L., and Shields, C.: Coupled Climate Simulation of the Evolution of Global Monsoons in the Holocene, J. Climate, 16, 2472–2490, 2003b. Liu, Z., Harrison, S. P., Kutzbach, J., and Otto-Bliesner, B.: Global Monsoons in the Mid-Holocene and Oceanic Feedback, Clim. Dynam., 22, 157–182, 2004. Madec, G., Delecluse, P., Imbart, M., and Levy, C.: Opa 8.1 Ocean General Circulation Model Reference Manual., Note du Pôle de modélisation, Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, 11, 94 pp., 1998. Marti, O., Braconnot, P., Bellier, J., Benshila, R., Bony, S., Brockmann, P., Cadule, P., Caubel, A., Denvil, S., Dufresne, J. L., Fairhead, L., Filiberti, M. A., Foujols, M.-A., Fichefet, T., Friedlingstein, P., Goosse, H., Grandpeix, J. Y., Hourdin, F., Krinner, G., Lévy, C., Madec, G., Musat, I., deNoblet, N., Polcher, J., and Talandier, C.: The New IPSL Climate System Model: IPSL-Cm4, Note du Pôle de Modélisation, n 26, ISSN 1288-1619, 2005. % %Marzin, C. and Braconnot, P.: Variations of Indian and African Monsoons %Induced by Insolation Changes 6 Kyr BP and 9.5 Kyr BP, Clim. Dynam., %submitted, 2008.\blackbox\bf status? if still submitted it has to be a footnote Masson, V. and Joussaume, S.: Energetics of the 6000 BP Atmospheric Circulation in Boreal Summer, from Large Scale to Monsoon Areas: A Study with Two Versions of the Lmd Agcm, J. Climate, 10, 2888–2903, 1997. Prell, W. L. and Kutzbach, J. E.: Monsoon Variability over the Past 150,000 Years, J. Geophys. Res., 92, 8411–8425, 1987. Rao, R. R., Molinari, R. L., and Festa, J. F.: Evolution of the Climatological near-Surface Thermal Structure of the Tropical Indian Ocean.1. Description of Mean Monthly Mixed Layer Depth, and Sea Surface Temperature, Surface Current, and Surface Meteorological Fields, J. Geophys. Res., 94, 10 801–10 815, 1989. Rao, R. R. and Sivakumar, R.: On the Possible Mechanisms of the Evolution of a Mini-Warm Pool During the Pre-Summer Monsoon Season and the Genesis of Onset Vortex in the South-Eastern Arabian Sea, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 125, 787–809, 1999. Swingedouw, D., Braconnot, P., and Marti, O.: Sensitivity of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation to the Melting from Northern Glaciers in Climate Change Experiments, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L07711, doi:10.1029/2006GL025765, 2006. Terray, L., Sevault, E., Guilyardi, E., and Thual, O.: The Oasis Coupler User Guide Version 2.0, Cerfacs technical report TR/CMGC, 95–46, 1995. Wang, P. X., Clemens, S., Beaufort, L., Braconnot, P., Ganssen, G., Jian, Z. M., Kershaw, P., and Sarnthein, M.: Evolution and Variability of the Asian Monsoon System: State of the Art and Outstanding Issues, Quatenary Sci. Rev., 24, 595–629, 2005. Zhao, Y., Braconnot, P., Marti, O., Harrison, S. P., Hewitt, C., Kitoh, A., Liu, Z., Mikolajewicz, U., Otto-Bliesner, B., and Weber, S. L.: A Multi-Model Analysis of the Role of the Ocean on the African and Indian Monsoon During the Mid-Holocene, Clim. Dynam., 25, 777–800, 2005. Zheng, W., Braconnot, P., Guilyardi, E., Merkel, U., and Yu, Y.: Enso at 6ka and 21 ka from Ocean-Atmosphere Coupled Model Simulations, Clim. Dynam., doi:10.1997/s00382-007-0320-3, 2007.