Shifts in ocean, atmosphere
heat transfer important to watch, researchers say
January 28, 2019
Ohio State University
The Earth's atmosphere and
oceans play important roles in moving heat from one part of the world to
another, and new research is illuminating how those patterns are changing in the
face of climate change.
"The greenhouse effect
and carbon dioxide aren't the only issues to consider as the planet grows
warmer -- they are just one part of the equation. The way that the atmosphere
and oceans move heat around is changing, too, and this could have significant
effects on temperatures around the world," said Zhengyu Liu, co-lead
author of the study and professor of climate dynamics in the Department of
Geography at The Ohio State University.
Liu and Chengfei He, a
graduate student in Ohio State's atmospheric science program, analyzed model
simulations to illustrate how heat is expected to be transferred by the oceans
and atmosphere in the near future. The researchers compared the models with
historical temperature data from the oceans themselves to paint a clearer
picture of how climate change is shifting and will continue to shift these
patterns in this century. Their study appears online today (Jan. 28, 2019) in
the journal Nature Climate Change.
Without heat transfer, the
world's hottest spots would be sizzling and the coolest spots would be even
more frigid. Conditions in both hot and cold climates are affected by the
movement of heat from the equator toward the poles in the atmosphere and
oceans, He said.
As scientists look for a
better understanding of all the factors contributing to climate change -- and
for ways to ameliorate the problem -- these heat-transfer patterns are
important to watch, He said.
This is the first study to
examine current changes in heat transfer and to conclude that warming
temperatures are driving increased heat transfer in the atmosphere, which is
compensated by a reduced heat transfer in the ocean. Additionally, the
researchers concluded that the excess oceanic heat is trapped in the Southern
Ocean around the Antarctic.
"The ocean stores a lot
of heat and in the last 50 years that has increased. And we can correlate that
directly with increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide caused by human
activity," Liu said. "Most studies like this have looked at future
changes, hundreds of years from now. We examined the near-term differences of a
warming climate."
For now, that heat is not
re-entering the atmosphere, but at some point it may. If that were to happen,
changes in heat transfer could contribute to significant shifts in normal
temperatures worldwide, he said.
"For instance, if we
didn't have heat transfer, Ohio would be 20 or 30 degrees colder than we are
right now," Liu said. "Therefore, it is important to predict how the
heat transfer will be changed in the future."
Aixue Hu of Colorado's
National Center for Atmospheric Research also worked on the study.
The National Science
Foundation supported the study.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Ohio State University. Original
written by Misti Crane. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Chengfei He, Zhengyu Liu,
Aixue Hu. The transient response of atmospheric and oceanic heat
transports to anthropogenic warming. Nature Climate Change, 2019;
DOI: 10.1038/s41558-018-0387-3
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