Taking the Pulse of the Planet

Cheng, Lijing; Trenberth, Kevin E.; Fasullo, John T.; Abraham, John; Boyer, Tim; Schuckmann, Karina von; Zhu, Jiang Miao

doi:10.1029/2017eo081839

Cited by 42 publications

(55 citation statements)

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“…As such, the record of the global ocean heat content robustly represents the signature of global warming, as it is less impacted by weather-related noise and climate variability such as El Niño and La Niña events (Cheng et al, 2018). The IPCC (2013) has concluded that it is very likely that anthropogenic forcings have made a substantial contribution to the increase of global upper ocean heat content (0-700 m) since the 1970s.…”

Section: Discussion and Summarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Increasing persistent haze in Beijing: potential impacts of weakening East Asian winter monsoons associated with northwestern Pacific sea surface temperature trends

et al. 2018

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Abstract. Over the past decades, Beijing, the capital city of China, has encountered increasingly frequent persistent haze events (PHE). While the increased pollutant emissions are considered as the most important reason, changes in regional atmospheric circulations associated with large-scale climate warming also play a role. In this study, we find a significant positive trend of PHE in Beijing for the winters from 1980 to 2016 based on updated daily observations. This trend is closely related to an increasing frequency of extreme anomalous southerly episodes in North China, a weakened East Asian trough in the mid-troposphere and a northward shift of the East Asian jet stream in the upper troposphere. These conditions together depict a weakened East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) system, which is then found to be associated with an anomalous warm, high-pressure system in the middle-lower troposphere over the northwestern Pacific. A practical EAWM index is defined as the seasonal meridional wind anomaly at 850 hPa in winter over North China. Over the period 1900-2016, this EAWM index is positively correlated with the sea surface temperature anomalies over the northwestern Pacific, which indicates a wavy positive trend, with an enhanced positive phase since the mid-1980s. Our results suggest an observation-based mechanism linking the increase in PHE in Beijing with large-scale climatic warming through changes in the typical regional atmospheric circulation.

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Section: Discussion and Summarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Increasing persistent haze in Beijing: potential impacts of weakening East Asian winter monsoons associated with northwestern Pacific sea surface temperature trends

et al. 2018

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“…A consequence is an energy imbalance at the top of the atmosphere (Trenberth et al, ; von Schuckmann et al, ) of which about 92% goes into the ocean, increasing OHC. Primary indicators of a changing climate include increases in global mean surface temperature, sea level, and OHC (Cheng et al, , ; Figure a). Moreover, OHC and sea level changes are more robust climate indicators with less weather noise, both for global averages (Cheng et al, ) and regional changes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hurricane Harvey Links to Ocean Heat Content and Climate Change Adaptation

et al. 2018

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While hurricanes occur naturally, human‐caused climate change is supercharging them and exacerbating the risk of major damage. Here using ocean and atmosphere observations, we demonstrate links between increased upper ocean heat content due to global warming with the extreme rainfalls from recent hurricanes. Hurricane Harvey provides an excellent case study as it was isolated in space and time. We show that prior to the beginning of northern summer of 2017, ocean heat content was the highest on record both globally and in the Gulf of Mexico, but the latter sharply decreased with hurricane Harvey via ocean evaporative cooling. The lost ocean heat was realized in the atmosphere as moisture, and then as latent heat in record‐breaking heavy rainfalls. Accordingly, record high ocean heat values not only increased the fuel available to sustain and intensify Harvey but also increased its flooding rains on land. Harvey could not have produced so much rain without human‐induced climate change. Results have implications for the role of hurricanes in climate. Proactive planning for the consequences of human‐caused climate change is not happening in many vulnerable areas, making the disasters much worse.

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“…This heat imbalance is manifested by the increase of ocean heat content (OHC). Therefore, from the energy point of view, the most fundamental metric for global warming is EEI and OHC [17,18,27,28]. Also OHC is a robust metric for global warming since it is much less impacted by the natural fluctuations of the climate system than is GMST on inter-annual scales [27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decadal Ocean Heat Redistribution Since the Late 1990s and Its Association with Key Climate Modes

Cheng

Wang

Abraham

et al. 2018

Climate

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Ocean heat content (OHC) is the major component of the earth’s energy imbalance. Its decadal scale variability has been heavily debated in the research interest of the so-called “surface warming slowdown” (SWS) that occurred during the 1998–2013 period. Here, we first clarify that OHC has accelerated since the late 1990s. This finding refutes the concept of a slowdown of the human-induced global warming. This study also addresses the question of how heat is redistributed within the global ocean and provides some explanation of the underlying physical phenomena. Previous efforts to answer this question end with contradictory conclusions; we show that the systematic errors in some OHC datasets are partly responsible for these contradictions. Using an improved OHC product, the three-dimensional OHC changes during the SWS period are depicted, related to a reference period of 1982–1997. Several “hot spots” and “cold spots” are identified, showing a significant decadal-scale redistribution of ocean heat, which is distinct from the long-term ocean-warming pattern. To provide clues for the potential drivers of the OHC changes during the SWS period, we examine the OHC changes related to the key climate modes by regressing the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) indices onto the de-trended gridded OHC anomalies. We find that no single mode can fully explain the OHC change patterns during the SWS period, suggesting that there is not a single “pacemaker” for the recent SWS. Our observation-based analyses provide a basis for further understanding the mechanisms of the decadal ocean heat uptake and evaluating the climate models.

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Taking the Pulse of the Planet

Abstract: How fast is Earth warming? Ocean heat content and sea level rise measurements may provide a more reliable answer than atmospheric measurements.

Cited by 42 publications

References 0 publications

Increasing persistent haze in Beijing: potential impacts of weakening East Asian winter monsoons associated with northwestern Pacific sea surface temperature trends

Increasing persistent haze in Beijing: potential impacts of weakening East Asian winter monsoons associated with northwestern Pacific sea surface temperature trends

Hurricane Harvey Links to Ocean Heat Content and Climate Change Adaptation

Decadal Ocean Heat Redistribution Since the Late 1990s and Its Association with Key Climate Modes

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