lmd_Li1994_abstracts.html

1994 .

H. Le Treut, Z. X. Li, and M. Forichon. Sensitivity of the LMD General Circulation Model to Greenhouse Forcing Associated with Two Different Cloud Water Parameterizations. Journal of Climate, 7:1827-1841, December 1994. [ bib | DOI | ADS link ]

The atmospheric general circulation model of the Laboratoire de Météorologic Dynamique is coupled to a slab ocean model and is used to investigate the climatic impact of a C0₂ doubling. Two versions of the model are used with two different representations of the cloud-radiation interaction. Both of them contain a prognostic equation for the cloud liquid water content, but they differ in the treatment of the precipitation mechanism. The annual and global mean of the surface warming is similar in the two experiments in spite of regional differences. To understand the behavior of the model versions, the total climate change is split into a direct C0₂ forcing and different feedback effects (water vapor. cloud, and surface albedo). The results show that, in the second model version, the cloud feedback decreases significantly, especially at high latitudes, due to an increase of low-level clouds in the 2×C0₂ simulation. The modification of the cloud scheme influences also the water vapor variation and the associated feedback is reduced, in particular, over the subtropical regions. The surface albedo feedback is increased. This is due to the fact that the cloudiness is smaller over high latitudes and the surface snow is more directly exposed to incoming radiation. Although the results are qualitatively similar to the results obtained with other models, the occurrence of such compensations between different feedback mechanisms leads to a different evaluation of the overall climate sensitivity.

Z. X. Li and D. Gambis. Relationship between the astrometric z-term, the Earth rotation and the southern oscillation index. Astronomy Astrophysics, 290:1001-1008, October 1994. [ bib | ADS link ]

The z-term series derived from astronomical observations is related to plumb-line deflection. Its analysis over the interval 1962-1982 reveals interannual variations with amplitudes of about 0.01”. These variations appear to be significantly correlated with both the length-of-day variations and the Southern Oscillation Index characterizing El Nino events, and this with a time lag of about 12 months. This z-term series appears to be of great interest in the study of relationships between Earth rotation and geophysical process like in particular oceano-atmospheric phenomena.