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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 30, NO. 15, 1823, doi:10.1029/2003GL017647, 2003

Future climate change and upwelling in the California Current

Mark A. Snyder

Dept. of Earth Sciences, Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, USA

Lisa C. Sloan

Dept. of Earth Sciences, Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, USA

Noah S. Diffenbaugh

Dept. of Earth Sciences, Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, USA

Jason L. Bell

Dept. of Earth Sciences, Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, USA

Abstract

Observations show that wind-driven upwelling along the California coast has increased over the past 30 years. Some have postulated that the increase in wind-driven upwelling is due largely to increased greenhouse gas forcing, but such an association has been speculative. Since global and regional simulations of future wind-driven upwelling do not exist for the California coast, we used a regional climate model (RCM) to estimate changes in wind-driven upwelling under increased CO₂ concentrations. Here we show in both equilibrium and transient climate experiments that there is an intensified upwelling season, with some changes in seasonality of upwelling. This intensification may lead to enhanced productivity along the coast of California and possibly ameliorate increases in sea surface temperature due to greenhouse gas forcing.

Received 29 April 2003; accepted 3 July 2003; published 14 August 2003.

Index Terms: 1610 Global Change: Atmosphere (0315, 0325); 1635 Global Change: Oceans (4203); 3309 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Climatology (1620).

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Citation: Snyder, M. A., L. C. Sloan, N. S. Diffenbaugh, and J. L. Bell (2003), Future climate change and upwelling in the California Current, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(15), 1823, doi:10.1029/2003GL017647.

Copyright 2003 by the American Geophysical Union.