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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 32, L19718, doi:10.1029/2005GL023905, 2005

Response of large-scale eastern boundary current forcing in the 21st century

Noah S. Diffenbaugh

Purdue Climate Change Research Center and Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA


Abstract

Greenhouse-induced changes in large-scale atmospheric circulation, particularly the strength, location and variability of the subtropical high pressure centers, could alter the dynamics and ecology of eastern boundary current regions. An unprecedented ensemble of coupled climate model experiments reveals potentially important changes in large-scale eastern boundary current forcing over the next century, including relaxation of the strength and variability of peak-season equatorward wind forcing in all four eastern boundary current regions, and intensification of inter-annual variability of annual maximum sea level pressure in the southern hemisphere subtropical gyres. While these projected changes in large-scale forcing are difficult to distinguish from the multi-model noise, they are of sufficient magnitude to have important dynamical and ecological consequences.

Received 24 June 2005; accepted 9 September 2005; published 15 October 2005.

Index Terms: 1620 Global Change: Climate dynamics (0429, 3309); 1626 Global Change: Global climate models (3337, 4928); 1630 Global Change: Impacts of global change (1225); 1637 Global Change: Regional climate change; 1635 Global Change: Oceans (1616, 3305, 4215, 4513).

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Citation: Diffenbaugh, N. S. (2005), Response of large-scale eastern boundary current forcing in the 21st century, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L19718, doi:10.1029/2005GL023905.