Explicitly simulating tropical cyclones of the mid-Piacenzian in an atmosphere-ocean coupled model

Abstract:

The Mid-Piacenzian (~3.205 Ma, MP) has widely been considered as an analogue for future climate. During the MP, the global geography and topography are similar to present-day, and the CO2 level is between 350 to 450 ppm. Nonetheless, tropical climate structure is known to be different from present-day with enhanced warming in the equatorial and coastal upwelling regions of the eastern Pacific, and weaker warming in the western equatorial Pacific and equatorial Indian Ocean. Here we explore how hurricane genesis and intensity change in such a warmer climate with an ultrahigh resolution coupled Community Earth System Model (CESM1.3) at 0.23×0.31° atmosphere and land, and 1° ocean resolution. This high resolution simulation allows physically consistent constraints on the dynamics of tropical cyclones with simulated atmosphere and ocean energetics. Specifically, the ongoing experiments will reveal relative changes in contributions of meridional heat transport to high latitude warming, and hurricane landfall to terrestrial precipitation from tropical cyclones of the MP relative to preindustrial.