Institute Pierre Simon Laplace IPSL

Paris, France

Institute Pierre Simon Laplace IPSL

Paris, France

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Su H.,Jet Propulsion Laboratory | Jiang J.H.,Jet Propulsion Laboratory | Zhai C.,Jet Propulsion Laboratory | Perun V.S.,Jet Propulsion Laboratory | And 25 more authors.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres | Year: 2013

The vertical distributions of cloud water content (CWC) and cloud fraction (CF) over the tropical oceans, produced by 13 coupled atmosphere-ocean models submitted to the Phase 5 of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5), are evaluated against CloudSat/CALIPSO observations as a function of large-scale parameters. Available CALIPSO simulator CF outputs are also examined. A diagnostic framework is developed to decompose the cloud simulation errors into large-scale errors, cloud parameterization errors and covariation errors. We find that the cloud parameterization errors contribute predominantly to the total errors for allmodels. The errors associated with large-scale temperature and moisture structures are relatively greater than those associated with large-scale midtropospheric vertical velocity and lower-level divergence. All models capture the separation of deep and shallow clouds in distinct large-scale regimes; however, the vertical structures of high/low clouds and their variations with large-scale parameters differ significantly from the observations. The CWCs associated with deep convective clouds simulated in most models do not reach as high in altitude as observed, and their magnitudes are generally weaker than CloudSat total CWC, which includes the contribution of precipitating condensates, but are close to CloudSat nonprecipitating CWC. All models reproduce maximum CF associated with convective detrainment, but CALIPSO simulator CFs generally agree better with CloudSat/CALIPSO combined retrieval than the model CFs, especially in the midtroposphere. Model simulated low clouds tend to have little variation with large-scale parameters except lower-troposphere stability, while the observed low cloud CWC, CF, and cloud top height vary consistently in all large-scale regimes. © 2012. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

Guimberteau M.,Laboratoire dOceanographie et du Climat Experimentations et Approches Numeriques LOCEAN | Guimberteau M.,Institute Pierre Simon Laplace IPSL | Drapeau G.,Laboratoire dOceanographie et du Climat Experimentations et Approches Numeriques LOCEAN | Drapeau G.,Institute Pierre Simon Laplace IPSL | And 22 more authors.
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences | Year: 2012

The aim of this study is to evaluate the ability of the ORCHIDEE land surface model to simulate streamflows over each sub-basin of the Amazon River basin. For this purpose, simulations are performed with a routing module including the influence of floodplains and swamps on river discharge and validated against on-site hydrological measurements collected within the HYBAM observatory over the 1980-2000 period. When forced by the NCC global meteorological dataset, the initial version of ORCHIDEE shows discrepancies with ORE HYBAM measurements with underestimation by 15% of the annual mean streamflow at Óbidos hydrological station. Consequently, several improvements are incrementally added to the initial simulation in order to reduce those discrepancies. First, values of NCC precipitation are substituted by ORE HYBAM daily in-situ rainfall observations from the meteorological services of Amazonian countries, interpolated over the basin. It highly improves the simulated streamflow over the northern and western parts of the basin, whereas streamflow over southern regions becomes overestimated, probably due to the extension of rainy spots that may be exaggerated by our interpolation method, or to an underestimation of simulated evapotranspiration when compared to flux tower measurements. Second, the initial map of maximal fractions of floodplains and swamps which largely underestimates floodplains areas over the main stem of the Amazon River and over the region of Llanos de Moxos in Bolivia, is substituted by a new one with a better agreement with different estimates over the basin. Simulated monthly water height is consequently better represented in ORCHIDEE when compared to Topex/Poseidon measurements over the main stem of the Amazon. Finally, a calibration of the time constant of the floodplain reservoir is performed to adjust the mean simulated seasonal peak flow at Óbidos in agreement with the observations. © Author(s) 2012.

Badosa J.,Laboratoire Of Meteorologie Dynamique | Wood J.,Peak Design | Blanc P.,MINES ParisTech | Long C.N.,Pacific Northwest National Laboratory | And 3 more authors.
Atmospheric Measurement Techniques | Year: 2014

The fast development of solar radiation and energy applications, such as photovoltaic and solar thermodynamic systems, has increased the need for solar radiation measurement and monitoring, for not only the global but also the diffuse and direct components. End users look for the best compromise between getting close to state-of-the-art measurements and keeping low capital, maintenance and operating costs. Among the existing commercial options, SPN1 is a relatively low cost solar radiometer that estimates global and diffuse solar irradiances from seven thermopile sensors under a shading mask and without moving parts.

This work presents a comprehensive study of SPN1 accuracy and sources of uncertainty, drawing on laboratory experiments, numerical modelling and comparison studies between measurements from this sensor and state-of-the art instruments for six diverse sites. Several clues are provided for improving the SPN1 accuracy and agreement with state-of-the art measurements. © Author(s) 2014.

Eyring V.,German Aerospace Center | Arblaster J.M.,Center for Australian Weather and Climate Research | Arblaster J.M.,U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research | Cionni I.,ENEA | And 22 more authors.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres | Year: 2013

Ozone changes and associated climate impacts in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) simulations are analyzed over the historical (1960-2005) and future (2006-2100) period under four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP). In contrast to CMIP3, where half of the models prescribed constant stratospheric ozone, CMIP5 models all consider past ozone depletion and future ozone recovery. Multimodel mean climatologies and long-term changes in total and tropospheric column ozone calculated from CMIP5 models with either interactive or prescribed ozone are in reasonable agreement with observations. However, some large deviations from observations exist for individual models with interactive chemistry, and these models are excluded in the projections. Stratospheric ozone projections forced with a single halogen, but four greenhouse gas (GHG) scenarios show largest differences in the northern midlatitudes and in the Arctic in spring (~20 and 40 Dobson units (DU) by 2100, respectively). By 2050, these differences are much smaller and negligible over Antarctica in austral spring. Differences in future tropospheric column ozone are mainly caused by differences in methane concentrations and stratospheric input, leading to ~10 DU increases compared to 2000 in RCP 8.5. Large variations in stratospheric ozone particularly in CMIP5 models with interactive chemistry drive correspondingly large variations in lower stratospheric temperature trends. The results also illustrate that future Southern Hemisphere summertime circulation changes are controlled by both the ozone recovery rate and the rate of GHG increases, emphasizing the importance of simulating and taking into account ozone forcings when examining future climate projections. Key PointsCMIP5 models all consider past ozone depletion and future ozone recoveryMultimodel ozone agrees well with observations but individual models deviateFuture climate is sensitive to rates of both ozone recovery and GHG increases ©2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

Michoud V.,University Paris Est Creteil | Colomb A.,CNRS Laboratory of Physics and Meteorology | Borbon A.,University Paris Est Creteil | Miet K.,University Paris Est Creteil | And 18 more authors.
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics | Year: 2014

Nitrous acid measurements were carried out during the MEGAPOLI summer and winter field campaigns at SIRTA observatory in Paris surroundings. Highly variable HONO levels were observed during the campaigns, ranging from 10 ppt to 500 ppt in summer and from 10 ppt to 1.7 ppb in winter. Significant HONO mixing ratios have also been measured during daytime hours, comprised between some tenth of ppt and 200 ppt for the summer campaign and between few ppt and 1 ppb for the winter campaign. Ancillary measurements, such as NOx, O 3, photolysis frequencies, meteorological parameters (pressure, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and wind direction), black carbon concentration, total aerosol surface area, boundary layer height and soil moisture, were conducted during both campaigns. In addition, for the summer period, OH radical measurements were made with a CIMS (Chemical Ionisation Mass Spectrometer). This large dataset has been used to investigate the HONO budget in a suburban environment. To do so, calculations of HONO concentrations using PhotoStationary State (PSS) approach have been performed, for daytime hours. The comparison of these calculations with measured HONO concentrations revealed an underestimation of the calculations making evident a missing source term for both campaigns. This unknown HONO source exhibits a bell-shaped like average diurnal profile with a maximum around noon of approximately 0.7 ppb h -1 and 0.25 ppb h-1, during summer and winter respectively. This source is the main HONO source during daytime hours for both campaigns. In both cases, this source shows a slight positive correlation with J(NO2) and the product between J(NO2) and soil moisture. This original approach had, thus, indicated that this missing source is photolytic and might be heterogeneous occurring at ground surface and involving water content available on the ground. © Author(s) 2014.

Webb M.J.,UK Met Office | Lock A.P.,UK Met Office | Bretherton C.S.,Seattle University | Bony S.,Institute Pierre Simon Laplace IPSL | And 14 more authors.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences | Year: 2015

We investigate the sensitivity of cloud feedbacks to the use of convective parametrizations by repeating the CMIP5/CFMIP-2 AMIP/AMIP + 4K uniform sea surface temperature perturbation experiments with 10 climate models which have had their convective parametrizations turned off. Previous studies have suggested that differences between parametrized convection schemes are a leading source of inter-model spread in cloud feedbacks. We find however that 'ConvOff' models with convection switched off have a similar overall range of cloud feedbacks compared with the standard configurations. Furthermore, applying a simple bias correction method to allow for differences in present-day global cloud radiative effects substantially reduces the differences between the cloud feedbacks with and without parametrized convection in the individual models. We conclude that, while parametrized convection influences the strength of the cloud feedbacks substantially in some models, other processes must also contribute substantially to the overall inter-model spread. The positive shortwave cloud feedbacks seen in the models in subtropical regimes associated with shallow clouds are still present in the ConvOff experiments. Inter-model spread in shortwave cloud feedback increases slightly in regimes associated with trade cumulus in the ConvOff experiments but is quite similar in the most stable subtropical regimes associated with stratocumulus clouds. Inter-model spread in longwave cloud feedbacks in strongly precipitating regions of the tropics is substantially reduced in the ConvOff experiments however, indicating a considerable local contribution from differences in the details of convective parametrizations. In both standard and ConvOff experiments, models with less mid-level cloud and less moist static energy near the top of the boundary layer tend to have more positive tropical cloud feedbacks. The role of non-convective processes in contributing to inter-model spread in cloud feedback is discussed. © 2015 The Authors.

Sgubin G.,CNRS Laboratory of Oceanic Environments and Paleo-environments (EPOC) | Sgubin G.,Institute Pierre Simon Laplace IPSL | Swingedouw D.,CNRS Laboratory of Oceanic Environments and Paleo-environments (EPOC) | Swingedouw D.,Institute Pierre Simon Laplace IPSL | And 3 more authors.
Climate Dynamics | Year: 2015

The response of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) to an increase of radiative forcing (ramp-up) and a subsequent reversal of radiative forcing (ramp-down) is analyzed for four different global climate models. Due to changes in ocean temperature and hydrological cycle, all models show a weakening of the AMOC during the ramp-up phase. Once the external forcing is reversed, the results become model dependent. For IPSL-CM5A-LR, the AMOC continues its weakening trend for most of the ramp-down experiment. For HadGEM2-ES, the AMOC trend reverses once the external forcing also reverses, without recovering its initial value. For EC-EARTH and MPI-ESM-LR the recovery is anomalously strong yielding an AMOC overshoot. A robust linear dependency can be established between AMOC and density difference between North Atlantic (NA) deep water formation region and South Atlantic (SA). In particular, AMOC evolution is primarily controlled by a meridional salinity contrast between these regions. During the warming scenario, the subtropical Atlantic becomes saltier while the NA experiences a net freshening which favours an AMOC weakening. The different behaviour in the models during the ramp-down is dependent on the response of the ocean at the boundaries of NA and SA. The way in which the positive salinity anomaly stored in the subtropical Atlantic during the ramp-up is subsequently released elsewhere, characterizes the recovery. An out-of-phase response of the salinity transport at $$48^{\circ }\hbox {N}$$48∘N and $$34^{\circ }\hbox {S}$$34∘S boundaries is able to control the meridional density contrast between NA and SA during the transient experiments. Such a non-synchronized response is mainly controlled by changes in gyre salinity transport rather than by changes in overturning transport, thus suggesting a small role of the salt advection feedback in the evolution of the AMOC. © 2014, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Guimberteau M.,Institute Pierre Simon Laplace IPSL | Guimberteau M.,French National Center for Scientific Research | Ducharne A.,Institute Pierre Simon Laplace IPSL | Ducharne A.,French National Center for Scientific Research | And 17 more authors.
Geoscientific Model Development | Year: 2014

This study analyzes the performance of the two soil hydrology schemes of the land surface model ORCHIDEE in estimating Amazonian hydrology and phenology for five major sub-basins (Xingu, Tapajós, Madeira, Solimões and Negro), during the 29-year period 1980-2008. A simple 2-layer scheme with a bucket topped by an evaporative layer is compared to an 11-layer diffusion scheme. The soil schemes are coupled with a river routing module and a process model of plant physiology, phenology and carbon dynamics. The simulated water budget and vegetation functioning components are compared with several data sets at sub-basin scale. The use of the 11-layer soil diffusion scheme does not significantly change the Amazonian water budget simulation when compared to the 2-layer soil scheme (+3.1 and ĝ̂'3.0% in evapotranspiration and river discharge, respectively). However, the higher water-holding capacity of the soil and the physically based representation of runoff and drainage in the 11-layer soil diffusion scheme result in more dynamic soil water storage variation and improved simulation of the total terrestrial water storage when compared to GRACE satellite estimates. The greater soil water storage within the 11-layer scheme also results in increased dry-season evapotranspiration (+0.5 mm dĝ̂'1, +17%) and improves river discharge simulation in the southeastern sub-basins such as the Xingu. Evapotranspiration over this sub-basin is sustained during the whole dry season with the 11-layer soil diffusion scheme, whereas the 2-layer scheme limits it after only 2 dry months. Lower plant drought stress simulated by the 11-layer soil diffusion scheme leads to better simulation of the seasonal cycle of photosynthesis (GPP) when compared to a GPP data-driven model based on eddy covariance and satellite greenness measurements. A dry-season length between 4 and 7 months over the entire Amazon Basin is found to be critical in distinguishing differences in hydrological feedbacks between the soil and the vegetation cover simulated by the two soil schemes. On average, the multilayer soil diffusion scheme provides little improvement in simulated hydrology over the wet tropical Amazonian sub-basins, but a more significant improvement is found over the drier sub-basins. The use of a multilayer soil diffusion scheme might become critical for assessments of future hydrological changes, especially in southern regions of the Amazon Basin where longer dry seasons and more severe droughts are expected in the next century. © 2014 Author(s). CC Attribution 3.0 License.

Vimeux F.,IRD Montpellier | Vimeux F.,French Climate and Environment Sciences Laboratory | Tremoy G.,French Climate and Environment Sciences Laboratory | Risi C.,University of Colorado at Boulder | And 2 more authors.
Earth and Planetary Science Letters | Year: 2011

Water stable isotopes (δ) in tropical regions are a valuable tool to study both convective processes and climate variability provided that local and remote controls on δ are well known. Here, we examine the intra-seasonal variability of the event-based isotopic composition of precipitation (δDZongo) in the Bolivian Andes (Zongo valley, 16°20'S-67°47'W) from September 1st, 1999 to August 31st, 2000. We show that the local amount effect is a very poor parameter to explain δDZongo. We thus explore the property of water isotopes to integrate both temporal and spatial convective activities. We first show that the local convective activity averaged over the 7-8days preceding the rainy event is an important control on δDZongo during the rainy season (~40% of the δDZongo variability is captured). This could be explained by the progressive depletion of local water vapor by unsaturated downdrafts of convective systems. The exploration of remote convective controls on δDZongo shows a strong influence of the South American SeeSaw (SASS) which is the first climate mode controlling the precipitation variability in tropical South America during austral summer. Our study clearly evidences that temporal and spatial controls are not fully independent as the 7-day averaged convection in the Zongo valley responds to the SASS. Our results are finally used to evaluate a water isotope enabled atmospheric general circulation model (LMDZ-iso), using the stretched grid functionality to run zoomed simulations over the entire South American continent (15°N-55°S; 30°-85°W). We find that zoomed simulations capture the intra-seasonal isotopic variation and its controls, though with an overestimated local sensitivity, and confirm the role of a remote control on δ according to a SASS-like dipolar structure. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.

Da-Allada C.Y.,University Abomey Calavi | Da-Allada C.Y.,Toulouse 1 University Capitole | Alory G.,Toulouse 1 University Capitole | du Penhoat Y.,University Abomey Calavi | And 6 more authors.
African Journal of Marine Science | Year: 2014

In situ sea surface salinity (SSS) observations showed an increase >0.5 over the period 2002-2009 in the Gulf of Guinea, off the Niger Delta. Observed changes in the Niger River runoff were not consistent with this increase in SSS, but the increase was reproduced in a regional numerical simulation with climatological river runoff. The simulated mixed-layer salinity budget was used to identify the mechanisms responsible for the increase. When comparing the period 2002-2009 with the period 1993-2001, significant changes in the salt budget were identified. The increase in SSS in the more recent period appeared to be driven by changes in the atmospheric freshwater flux, mainly attributed to a regional decrease in precipitation. Horizontal advection partly compensated for the effect of freshwater flux through changes in zonal currents and zonal SSS gradients. © 2014 Copyright © NISC (Pty) Ltd.