HR: 0830h
AN: A31E-0086    [PDF]
TI: A New Approach to Global Surface Temperature Study
AU: * Wu, W
EM: wuw@ocean.tamu.edu
AF: Wei Wu, Dept. of Oceanography Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3146
AB: A new approach to global surface temperature study was investigated. A complete set of non-orthogonal Thermal Decay Modes of Climate (TDM) was derived from a two dimensional linear Energy Balance Climate Model (EBCM). This EBCM includes the distribution of land and sea surface characteristics explicitly and was solved in two dimensions on the sphere as a series of time (or frequency) dependent mode amplitudes. The amplitudes of these modes have temporal characteristics which are purely decaying exponential with time constants that are proportional to the sensitivity of an individual mode to external perturbations. Experiments, such as the reconstruction of the geographical distributions of seasonal cycle and variance, suggest that the TDM of 2D EBCM fit the present climate very well. The decomposition may provide a new way of analyzing surface temperature data. The new analyses should make it possible to infer the sensitivity of the real climate to external perturbations.
DE: 0300 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting