GFDL seminars

• September 19, 2012: A review of mechanisms for decadal to centennial variability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation as seen in climate models
  Tom Delworth (GFDL)
  A review of mechanisms for decadal to centennial variability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation as seen in climate models
  Time: 12:00 pm - 1:15 pm
  Location: Smagorinsky Seminar Room
• September 26, 2012: Overview presentation on Southern Ocean Biogeochemical observations and modeling program
  Jorge Sarmiento (P. U.)
  Overview presentation on Southern Ocean Biogeochemical observations and modeling program
  Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
  Location: Smagorinsky Seminar Room
• September 27, 2012: Diapycnal mixing in the ocean: patterns, processes, and peculiarities
  Jennifer MacKinnon (Scripps Insitute of Oceanography)
  Diapycnal mixing in the ocean: patterns, processes, and peculiarities
  Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
  Location: Smagorinsky Seminar Room
• October 3, 2012: Toward an NAO Theory: Observations, Theories and Simulations
  Michael Ghil (Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, and University of California, Los Angeles)
  Toward an NAO Theory: Observations, Theories and Simulations
  Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
  Location: Smagorinsky Seminar Room
• October 10, 2012: Coupled Model Parameter Estimation: Opportunities and Challenges
  Shaoqing Zhang (GFDL)
  Coupled Model Parameter Estimation: Opportunities and Challenges
  Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
  Location: Smagorinsky Seminar Room
• October 11, 2012: TBA
  Robert Kopp (Rutgers)
  TBA
  Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
  Location: Smagorinsky Seminar Room
• October 17, 2012: TBA
  Jacob Schewe (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany)
  TBA
  Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
  Location: Smagorinsky Seminar Room
• October 18, 2012: Evaluation and Regime-dependent Error Diagnosis of Cloud and Water Vapor Simulations in Climate Models Using NASA A-Train Satellite Observations
  Jonathan Jiang and Hui Su (Jet Propulsion Lab, Pasadena, CA)
  Using NASA "A-Train" satellite observations, we evaluate the accuracy of cloud water content (CWC) and water vapor mixing ratio (H2O) outputs from ~20 climate models submitted to the CMIP5, and assess improvements relative to their counterparts for the earlier CMIP3. We find more than half of the models show improvements from CMIP3 to CMIP5 in simulating column-integrated cloud amount, while changes in water vapor simulation are insignificant. For the CMIP5 models, the model spreads and their differences from the observations are much larger in the upper troposphere than in the lower or middle troposphere. Numerical scores are used to compare model performances in regards of to spatial mean, variance and distribution of CWC and H2O over the tropical oceans. Model performances at each pressure level are ranked according to the average of all the relevant scores for that level. We further developed a diagnostic framework to decompose the cloud simulation errors into the large-scale errors, cloud parameterization errors and co-variation errors. We find that the cloud parameterization errors contribute predominantly to the total errors for all models.
  Time: 2:00 pm - 3:15 pm
  Location: Smagorinsky Seminar Room
• November 7, 2012: Toward a new approach to Ocean Energetics: introducing the concept of Dynamical Potential Energy
  Fabien Roquet (Stockholm University, Sweden)
  Toward a new approach to Ocean Energetics: introducing the concept of Dynamical Potential Energy
  Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
  Location: Smagorinsky Seminar Room
• November 8, 2012: TBA
  Randal Koster (NASA)
  TBA
  Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
  Location: Smagorinsky Seminar Room
• November 14, 2012: TBA
  Charles Stock (GFDL)
  TBA
  Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
  Location: Smagorinsky Seminar Room
• November 29, 2012: Insights into the relationship between regional radiative forcing and climate response
  Drew T. Shindell (NASA-GISS)
  While forcings such as those due to increasing greenhouse gases or changing solar irradiance are relatively uniform geographically, forcing by aerosols, ozone and land-use are highly inhomogeneous. This talk will explore some recent analysis attempting to better understand how this uneven distribution of forcing affects climate response. I will discuss results from simulations with the GISS GCM driven by localized regional forcings that help indicate how temperature and precipitation response is affected by both the type and location of forcing. Using GISS CMIP5 simulations driven by single forcing agents, I will then examine how the various agents affect the response of particular regional climate features including the location of the ITCZ and the rate of Southern Ocean overturning. Finally, results from a larger set of the new generation of CMIP5/ACCMIP composition-climate models will be examined to see how the response to highly inhomogeneous forcing compares with the response to greenhouse gas forcing and to evaluate the robustness of the regional forcing/response relationships across the models.
  Time: 2:00 pm - 3:15 pm
  Location: Smagorinsky Seminar Room