Climate of the Past Discussions
www.clim-past-discuss.net
1814-9340
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5
3
2009
10.5194/cpd-5-1367-2009
http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/5/1367/2009/
http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/5/1367/2009/cpd-5-1367-2009.html
http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/5/1367/2009/cpd-5-1367-2009.pdf
1367
1414
2009-05-13
High resolution climate and vegetation simulations of the Mid-Pliocene, a model-data comparison over western Europe and the Mediterranean region
A. Jost
S. Fauquette
M. Kageyama
G. Krinner
G. Ramstein
J.-P. Suc
S. Violette
UPMC Univ. Paris 06, UMR 7619, Sisyphe, France
CNRS, UMR 7619, Sisyphe, France
Univ. Montpellier 2, UMR CNRS 5554, ISE, France
UMR CEA-CNRS-UVSQ 1572, LSCE/IPSL, France
UJF Univ. Grenoble 1, UMR CNRS 5183, LGGE, France
UCB Univ. Lyon 1, UMR CNRS 5125, PEPS, France
The Middle Pliocene (around 3 Ma) is a period characterized by a
climate significantly warmer than today, at the global scale, as attested
by abundant paleoclimate archives as well as several climate modelling studies.
There we perform a detailed comparison between climate model results
and climate reconstructions in western Europe and the Mediterranean area.
This region is particularly well suited for such a comparison as several
climate reconstructions from local pollen records covering the
Mid-Pliocene provide quantitative terrestrial climate estimates.
They show evidence for temperatures significantly warmer than today
over the whole area, mean annual precipitation higher in northwestern Europe
and equivalent to modern values in its southwestern part.
To improve our comparison, we have performed high resolution
simulations of the Mid-Pliocene climate using the LMDz atmospheric
general circulation model (AGCM) with a stretched grid which allows a
finer resolution over Europe.
In a first step, we applied the PRISM2 (Pliocene Research, Interpretation,
and Synoptic Mapping) boundary conditions except that we used modern
terrestrial vegetation.
Second, we simulated the vegetation for this period by forcing the Dynamic
Global Vegetation Model ORCHIDEE with the climatic outputs from the
AGCM. We then supplied this simulated terrestrial vegetation cover
as an additional boundary condition in a second AGCM run.
This gives us the opportunity not only to compare the generated
vegetation cover to pollen records but also to investigate the model's
sensitivity to the simulated vegetation changes in a global warming
context.
<br>
Model results and data show a great consistency for mean annual
temperatures, indicating increases by up to 4°C in the
study area.
<br>
Comparison of the simulated winter and summer temperatures to pollen-based
estimates show some disparities, in particular in the northern
Mediterranean sector.
<br>
The latitudinal distribution of precipitation depicted by pollen data
over land is not reproduced by the model. Most excess Mid-Pliocene
precipitation occurs over the North Atlantic but a slight weakening of
the atmospheric transport does not allow for wetter conditions to
establish in northwestern Europe, as suggested by the data.
Continental moisture patterns predicted by the model are similar to
those of the mean annual precipitation. Model results broadly
underestimate the levels of available moisture indicated by the data.
<br>
The biogeophysical effects due to the changes in vegetation simulated
by ORCHIDEE, are weak, both in terms of the hydrological cycle and of
the temperatures, at the regional scale of the European and
Mediterranean mid-latitudes. In particular, they do not contribute to
improve the model-data comparison.
<br>
Their main influence concerns seasonal temperatures, with a decrease of
the temperatures of the warmest month, and an overall reduction of the
intensity of the continental hydrological cycle.
<br>
Predicted climatic changes do not only arise from local processes but
also result from an altered large-scale circulation initiated by
regional-scale land cover changes.
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