[1] The ability of the models contributing to the fifth Coupled Models Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) to represent the Southern Ocean hydrological properties and its overturning is investigated in a water mass framework. Models have a consistent warm and light bias spread over the entire water column. The greatest bias occurs in the ventilated layers, which are volumetrically dominated by mode and intermediate layers.The ventilated layers have been observed to have a strong fingerprint of climate change and to impact climate by sequestrating a significant amount of heat and carbon dioxide. The mode water layer is poorly represented in the models and both mode and intermediate water have a significant fresh bias. Under increased radiative forcing, models simulate a warming and lightening of the entire water column, which is again greatest in the ventilated layers, highlighting the importance of these layers for propagating the climate signal into the deep ocean. While the intensity of the water mass overturning is relatively consistent between models, when compared to observation-based reconstructions, they exhibit a slightly larger rate of overturning at shallow to intermediate depths, and a slower rate of overturning deeper in the water column. Under increased radiative forcing, atmospheric fluxes increase the rate of simulated upper cell overturning, but this increase is counterbalanced by diapycnal fluxes, including mixed-layer horizontal mixing, and mostly vanishes.

[1] The development of the deep Southern Ocean winter mixed layer in the climate models participating in the fifth Coupled Models Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) is assessed. The deep winter convection regions are key to the ventilation of the ocean interior, and changes in their properties have been related to climate change in numerous studies. Their simulation in climate models is consistently too shallow, too light and shifted equatorward compared to observations. The shallow bias is mostly associated with an excess annual-mean freshwater input at the sea surface that over-stratifies the surface layer and prevents deep convection from developing in winter. In contrast, modeled future changes are mostly associated with a reduced heat loss in winter that leads to even shallower winter mixed layers. The mixed layers shallow most strongly in the Pacific basin under future scenarios, and this is associated with a reduction of the ventilated water volume in the interior. We find a strong state dependency for the future change of mixed-layer depth, with larger future shallowing being simulated by models with larger historical mixed-layer depths. Given that most models are biased shallow, we expect that most CMIP5 climate models might underestimate the future winter mixed-layer shallowing, with important implications for the sequestration of heat, and gases such as carbon dioxide, and therefore for climate.

[1] An assessment of the fifth Coupled Models Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) models' simulation of the near-surface westerly wind jet position and strength over the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific sectors of the Southern Ocean is presented. Compared with reanalysis climatologies there is an equatorward bias of 3.3 (inter-model standard deviation of AE 1.9 ) in the ensemble mean position of the zonal mean jet. The ensemble mean strength is biased slightly too weak, with the largest biases over the Pacific sector (À1.4 AE 1.2 m/s, À19%). An analysis of atmosphere-only (AMIP) experiments indicates that 28% of the zonal mean position bias comes from coupling of the ocean/ice models to the atmosphere. The response to future emissions scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) is characterized by two phases: (i) the period of most rapid ozone recovery during which there is insignificant change in summer; and (ii) the period 2050-2098 during which RCP4.5 simulations show no significant change but RCP8.5 simulations show poleward shifts (0.33, 0.18 and 0.27 /decade over the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific sectors, respectively), and increases in strength (0.07, 0.08 and 0.15 m/s/decade, respectively). The models with larger equatorward position biases generally show larger poleward shifts (i.e. state dependence). This inter-model relationship is strongest over the Pacific sector (r = À0.91) and weakest over the Atlantic sector (r = À0.39). An assessment of jet structure shows that over the Atlantic sector jet shift is not clearly linked to indices of jet structure whereas over the Pacific sector the distance between the sub-polar and sub-tropical westerly jets appears to be important.

.[1] The representation of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) in the fifth Coupled Models Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) is generally improved over CMIP3. The range of modeled transports in the historical scenario is reduced (90-264 Sv) compared with CMIP3 (33-337 Sv) with a mean of 155 AE 51 Sv. The large intermodel range is associated with significant differences in the ACC density structure. The ACC position is accurately represented at most longitudes, with a small (1.27 ) standard deviation in mean latitude. The westerly wind jet driving the ACC is biased too strong and too far north on average. Unlike CMIP3 there is no correlation between modeled ACC latitude and the position of the westerly wind jet. Under future climate forcing scenarios (2070-2099 mean) the modeled ACC transport changes by between À26 to +17 Sv and the ACC shifts polewards (equatorwards) in models where the transport increases (decreases). There is no significant correlation between the ACC position change and that of the westerly wind jet, which shifts polewards and strengthens. The subtropical gyres strengthen and expand southwards, while the change in subpolar gyre area varies between models. An increase in subpolar gyre area corresponds with a decreases in ACC transport and an equatorward shift in the ACC position, and vice versa for a contraction of the gyre area. There is a general decrease in density in the upper 1000 m, particularly equatorwards of the ACC core.

The Southern Ocean is a pivotal component of the global climate system yet it is poorly represented in climate models, with significant biases in upper-ocean temperatures, clouds and winds. Combining Atmospheric and Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project (AMIP5/CMIP5) simulations, with observations and equilibrium heat budget theory, we show that across the CMIP5 ensemble variations in sea surface temperature biases in the 40–60°S Southern Ocean are primarily caused by AMIP5 atmospheric model net surface flux bias variations, linked to cloud-related short-wave errors. Equilibration of the biases involves local coupled sea surface temperature bias feedbacks onto the surface heat flux components. In combination with wind feedbacks, these biases adversely modify upper-ocean thermal structure. Most AMIP5 atmospheric models that exhibit small net heat flux biases appear to achieve this through compensating errors. We demonstrate that targeted developments to cloud-related parameterisations provide a route to better represent the Southern Ocean in climate models and projections.