A Moist Static Energy Budget–Based Analysis of the Sahel Rainfall Response to Uniform Oceanic Warming

Abstract

Climate models generate a wide range of precipitation responses to global warming in the African Sahel, but all that use the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory AM2.1 model as their atmospheric component dry the region sharply. This study compares the Sahel’s wet season response to uniform 2-K SST warming in AM2.1 using either its default convective parameterization, relaxed Arakawa–Schubert (RAS), or an alternate, the University of Washington (UW) parameterization, using the moist static energy (MSE) budget to diagnose the relevant mechanisms.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Aug 01, 2017
Source ID
10.1175/jcli-d-16-0785.1

Entities

People

  • Isaac M. Held
  • Ming Yi
  • Ming Zhao
  • Spencer A. Hill

Organizations

  • Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences
  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  • Princeton University
  • United States Department of Defense

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science/Meteorology
  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics of Materials.