HR: 1340h
AN: GC43A-0940    [Abstracts]
TI: Paleo-Constraints In Ensemble Climate Modelling
AU: * Muri, H Ø
EM: muri@atm.ox.ac.uk
AF: Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, Oxford University, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU, United Kingdom
AU: Allen, M
EM: m.allen1@physics.ox.ac.uk
AF: Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, Oxford University, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU, United Kingdom
AU: Yamazaki, H
EM: y.yamazaki1@physics.ox.ac.uk
AF: Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, Oxford University, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU, United Kingdom
AU: Henderson, G
EM: gideonh@earth.ox.ac.uk
AF: Department of Earth Sciences, Oxford University, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PR, United Kingdom
AU: Valdes, P
EM: p.j.valdes@bristol.ac.uk
AF: School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Road, Bristol, BS8 1SS, United Kingdom
AB: The aim of this work is to place a paleo-constraint on climate sensitivity in the climateprediction.net ensemble. Sensitivity is here defined as the equilibrium temperature response to doubling of pre-industrial carbon dioxide concentrations. Some of the climateprediction.net models have shown a large sensitivity and by applying these models to past climates, we are testing if these models and their corresponding sensitivity are realistic. The general circulation model results are compared to paleo-observations.

The period studied here is the mid-Holocene, i.e. ~6000 years before present (6kyBP). Why use the mid- Holocene climate to benchmark our models? The current climate is not in equilibrium, it is changing. The previous period with a stable climate was the mid-Holocene, which is reasonably well known through paleo- observations. Four proof-of-concept runs are presented, which show that mid-Holocene simulations do distinguish between different models. A large ensemble of paleo-climate models will be distributed on climateprediction.net exploring paleo-boundary conditions including ice-sheets, vegetation and ocean heat flux convergence values.
UR: http://climateprediction.net
DE: 1616 Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513)
DE: 1620 Climate dynamics (0429, 3309)
DE: 1626 Global climate models (3337, 4928)
SC: Global Environmental Change [GC]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting