Ocean & coupled ocean

2018
Boers, Niklas, Michael Ghil, and Denis-Didier Rousseau. “Ocean circulation, ice shelf, and sea ice interactions explain Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115, no. 47 (2018): E11005–E11014.
Kondrashov, Dmitri, Mickaël D. Chekroun, and Pavel Berloff. “Multiscale Stuart-Landau Emulators: Application to Wind-Driven Ocean Gyres.” Fluids 3, no. 1 (2018): 21. Publisher's Version Abstract

The multiscale variability of the ocean circulation due to its nonlinear dynamics remains a big challenge for theoretical understanding and practical ocean modeling. This paper demonstrates how the data-adaptive harmonic (DAH) decomposition and inverse stochastic modeling techniques introduced in (Chekroun and Kondrashov, (2017), Chaos, 27), allow for reproducing with high fidelity the main statistical properties of multiscale variability in a coarse-grained eddy-resolving ocean flow. This fully-data-driven approach relies on extraction of frequency-ranked time-dependent coefficients describing the evolution of spatio-temporal DAH modes (DAHMs) in the oceanic flow data. In turn, the time series of these coefficients are efficiently modeled by a family of low-order stochastic differential equations (SDEs) stacked per frequency, involving a fixed set of predictor functions and a small number of model coefficients. These SDEs take the form of stochastic oscillators, identified as multilayer Stuart–Landau models (MSLMs), and their use is justified by relying on the theory of Ruelle–Pollicott resonances. The good modeling skills shown by the resulting DAH-MSLM emulators demonstrates the feasibility of using a network of stochastic oscillators for the modeling of geophysical turbulence. In a certain sense, the original quasiperiodic Landau view of turbulence, with the amendment of the inclusion of stochasticity, may be well suited to describe turbulence. 

2017
Ghil, Michael. “The Mathematics of Climate Change and of its Impacts.” Workshop on "Mathematical Approaches to Climate Change Impacts - MAC2I" at the Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica "Francesco Severi" (INdAM), Italy, 2017. Workshop website Abstract

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Ghil, Michael. “The atmosphere and oceans as unsteady flows: Intrinsic variability and time-dependent forcing.” BIRS Workshop 17w5048 - Transport in Unsteady Flows: from Deterministic Structures to Stochastic Models and Back Again, 2017. Workshop website Abstract
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Groth, Andreas, Yizhak Feliks, Dmitri Kondrashov, and Michael Ghil. “Interannual variability in the North Atlantic ocean’s temperature field and its association with the wind stress forcing.” Journal of Climate 30, no. 7 (2017): 2655-2678. Abstract

Spectral analyses of the North Atlantic temperature field in the Simple Ocean Data Analysis (SODA) reanalysis identify prominent and statistically significant interannual oscillations along the Gulf Stream front and in large regions of the North Atlantic. A 7–8-yr oscillatory mode is characterized by a basin-wide southwest-to-northeast–oriented propagation pattern in the sea surface temperature (SST) field. This pattern is found to be linked to a seesaw in the meridional-dipole structure of the zonal wind stress forcing (TAUX). In the subpolar gyre, the SST and TAUX fields of this mode are shown to be in phase opposition, which suggests a cooling effect of the wind stress on the upper ocean layer. Over all, this mode’s temperature field is characterized by a strong equivalent-barotropic component, as shown by covariations in SSTs and sea surface heights, and by phase-coherent behavior of temperature layers at depth with the SST field. Recent improvements of multivariate singular spectrum analysis (M-SSA) help separate spatio-temporal patterns. This methodology is developed further and applied to studying the ocean’s response to variability in the atmospheric forcing. Statistical evidence is shown to exist for other mechanisms generating oceanic variability of similar 7–8-yr periodicity in the Gulf Stream region; the latter variability is likewise characterized by a strongly equivalent-barotropic component. Two other modes of biennial variability in the Gulf Stream region are also identified, and it is shown that interannual variability in this region cannot be explained by the ocean’s response to similar variability in the atmospheric forcing alone.

PDF North Atlantic SST 7.7-yr mode
Ghil, Michael. “The wind-driven ocean circulation: Applying dynamical systems theory to a climate problem.” Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems - A 37, no. 1 (2017): 189-228. Abstract

The large-scale, near-surface flow of the mid-latitude oceans is dominated by the presence of a larger, anticyclonic and a smaller, cyclonic gyre. The two gyres share the eastward extension of western boundary currents, such as the Gulf Stream or Kuroshio, and are induced by the shear in the winds that cross the respective ocean basins. This physical phenomenology is described mathematically by a hierarchy of systems of nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs). We study the low-frequency variability of this wind-driven, double-gyre circulation in mid-latitude ocean basins, subject to time-constant, purely periodic and more general forms of time-dependent wind stress. Both analytical and numerical methods of dynamical systems theory are applied to the PDE systems of interest. Recent work has focused on the application of non-autonomous and random forcing to double-gyre models. We discuss the associated pullback and random attractors and the non-uniqueness of the invariant measures that are obtained. The presentation moves from observations of the geophysical phenomena to modeling them and on to a proper mathematical understanding of the models thus obtained. Connections are made with the highly topical issues of climate change and climate sensitivity.

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2016

Spectral analyses of the North Atlantic temperature field in the Simple Ocean Data Analysis (SODA) reanalysis identify prominent and statistically significant interannual oscillations along the Gulf Stream front and in large regions of the North Atlantic. A 7--8-yr oscillatory mode is characterized by a basin-wide southwest-to-northeast--oriented propagation pattern in the sea-surface temperature (SST) field. This pattern is found to be linked to a seesaw in the meridional-dipole structure of the zonal wind-stress forcing (TAUX). In the subpolar gyre, the SST and TAUX fields of this mode are shown to be in phase opposition, which suggests a cooling effect of the wind stress on the upper ocean layer. Over all, this mode's temperature field is characterized by a strong equivalent-barotropic component, as shown by covariations in SST and sea-surface height (SSH), and by phase-coherent behavior of temperature layers at depth with the SST field. On the other hand, this mode shares many features of the gyre mode and raises the possibilty for the existence of an intrinsic oceanic mode of similar 7--8-yr period in the Gulf Stream region.

PDF North Atlantic SST 7.7-yr mode
Feliks, Yizhak, Andrew W. Robertson, and Michael Ghil. “Interannual Variability in North Atlantic Weather: Data Analysis and a Quasigeostrophic Model.” Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 73, no. 8 (2016): 3227-3248. Abstract

This paper addresses the effect of interannual variability in jet stream orientation on weather systems over the North Atlantic basin (NAB). The observational analysis relies on 65 yr of NCEP–NCAR reanalysis (1948–2012). The total daily kinetic energy of the geostrophic wind (GTKE) is taken as a measure of storm activity over the North Atlantic. The NAB is partitioned into four rectangular regions, and the winter average of GTKE is calculated for each quadrant. The spatial GTKE average over all four quadrants shows striking year-to-year variability and is strongly correlated with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO).The GTKE strength in the northeast quadrant is closely related to the diffluence angle of the jet stream in the northwest quadrant. To gain insight into the relationship between the diffluence angle and its downstream impact, a quasigeostrophic baroclinic model is used. The results show that an initially zonal jet persists at its initial latitude over 30 days or longer, while a tilted jet propagates meridionally according to the Rossby wave group velocity, unless kept stationary by external forcing.A Gulf Stream–like narrow sea surface temperature (SST) front provides the requisite forcing for an analytical steady-state solution to this problem. This SST front influences the atmospheric jet in the northwest quadrant: it both strengthens the jet and tilts it northward at higher levels, while its effect is opposite at lower levels. Reanalysis data confirm these effects, which are consistent with thermal wind balance. The results suggest that the interannual variability found in the GTKE may be caused by intrinsic variability of the thermal Gulf Stream front.

Pierini, S., Michael Ghil, and Mickaël D. Chekroun. “Exploring the pullback attractors of a low-order quasigeostrophic ocean model: The deterministic case.” Journal of Climate 29, no. 11 (2016): 4185-4202. Abstract

A low-order quasigeostrophic double-gyre ocean model is subjected to an aperiodic forcing that mimics time dependence dominated by interdecadal variability. This model is used as a prototype of an unstable and nonlinear dynamical system with time-dependent forcing to explore basic features of climate change in the presence of natural variability. The study relies on the theoretical framework of nonautonomous dynamical systems and of their pullback attractors (PBAs), that is, of the time-dependent invariant sets attracting all trajectories initialized in the remote past. The existence of a global PBA is rigorously demonstrated for this weakly dissipative nonlinear model. Ensemble simulations are carried out and the convergence to PBAs is assessed by computing the probability density function (PDF) of localization of the trajectories. A sensitivity analysis with respect to forcing amplitude shows that the PBAs experience large modifications if the underlying autonomous system is dominated by small-amplitude limit cycles, while less dramatic changes occur in a regime characterized by large-amplitude relaxation oscillations. The dependence of the attracting sets on the choice of the ensemble of initial states is then analyzed. Two types of basins of attraction coexist for certain parameter ranges; they contain chaotic and nonchaotic trajectories, respectively. The statistics of the former does not depend on the initial states whereas the trajectories in the latter converge to small portions of the global PBA. This complex scenario requires separate PDFs for chaotic and nonchaotic trajectories. General implications for climate predictability are finally discussed.

2015
Vannitsem, Stéphane, Jonathan Demaeyer, Lesley De Cruz, and Michael Ghil. “Low-frequency variability and heat transport in a low-order nonlinear coupled ocean–atmosphere model.” Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena 309 (2015): 71–85. Abstract
We formulate and study a low-order nonlinear coupled ocean–atmosphere model with an emphasis on the impact of radiative and heat fluxes and of the frictional coupling between the two components. This model version extends a previous 24-variable version by adding a dynamical equation for the passive advection of temperature in the ocean, together with an energy balance model. The bifurcation analysis and the numerical integration of the model reveal the presence of low-frequency variability (LFV) concentrated on and near a long-periodic, attracting orbit. This orbit combines atmospheric and oceanic modes, and it arises for large values of the meridional gradient of radiative input and of frictional coupling. Chaotic behavior develops around this orbit as it loses its stability; this behavior is still dominated by the LFV on decadal and multi-decadal time scales that is typical of oceanic processes. Atmospheric diagnostics also reveals the presence of predominant low- and high-pressure zones, as well as of a subtropical jet; these features recall realistic climatological properties of the oceanic atmosphere. Finally, a predictability analysis is performed. Once the decadal-scale periodic orbits develop, the coupled system’s short-term instabilities–as measured by its Lyapunov exponents–are drastically reduced, indicating the ocean’s stabilizing role on the atmospheric dynamics. On decadal time scales, the recurrence of the solution in a certain region of the invariant subspace associated with slow modes displays some extended predictability, as reflected by the oscillatory behavior of the error for the atmospheric variables at long lead times.
Groth, Andreas, and Michael Ghil. “Monte Carlo Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) revisited: Detecting oscillator clusters in multivariate datasets.” Journal of Climate 28, no. 19 (2015): 7873–7893. Abstract

Singular spectrum analysis (SSA) along with its multivariate extension (M-SSA) provides an efficient way to identify weak oscillatory behavior in high-dimensional data. To prevent the misinterpretation of stochastic fluctuations in short time series as oscillations, Monte Carlo (MC)–type hypothesis tests provide objective criteria for the statistical significance of the oscillatory behavior. Procrustes target rotation is introduced here as a key method for refining previously available MC tests. The proposed modification helps reduce the risk of type-I errors, and it is shown to improve the test’s discriminating power. The reliability of the proposed methodology is examined in an idealized setting for a cluster of harmonic oscillators immersed in red noise. Furthermore, the common method of data compression into a few leading principal components, prior to M-SSA, is reexamined, and its possibly negative effects are discussed. Finally, the generalized Procrustes test is applied to the analysis of interannual variability in the North Atlantic’s sea surface temperature and sea level pressure fields. The results of this analysis provide further evidence for shared mechanisms of variability between the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Oscillation in the interannual frequency band.

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Kondrashov, Dmitri, and Pavel S. Berloff. “Stochastic modeling of decadal variability in ocean gyres.” Geophysical Research Letters 42 (2015): 1543–1553.
2014
Groth, Andreas. “Interannual variability in the North Atlantic SST and wind forcing.” Seminar at International Research Institute for Climate and Society, Columbia, 2014. Abstract

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2012

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Brachet, Sidonie, Francis Codron, Yizhak Feliks, Michael Ghil, Hervé Le Treut, and Eric Simonnet. “Atmospheric circulations induced by a midlatitude SST front: A GCM study.” Journal of Climate 25, no. 6 (2012): 1847–1853. Abstract

The atmospheric effects of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies over and near western boundary currents are a matter of renewed interest. The general circulation model (GCM) of the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (LMD-Z) has a zooming capability that allows a regionally increased resolution. This GCM is used to analyze the impact of a sharp SST front in the North Atlantic Ocean: two simulations are compared, one with climatological SSTs and the other with an enhanced Gulf Stream front. The results corroborate the theory developed previously by the present team to explain the impact of oceanic fronts. In this theory, the vertical velocity at the top of the atmospheric boundary layer has two components: mechanical and thermal. It is the latter that is dominant in the tropics, while in midlatitudes both play a role in determining the wind convergence above the boundary layer. The strengthened SST front does generate the previously predicted stronger ascent above the warmer water south of the front and stronger descent above the colder waters to the north. In the GCM simulations, the ascent over the warm anomalies is deeper and more intense than the descent.

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Deremble, B., E. Simonnet, and Michael Ghil. “Multiple equilibria and oscillatory modes in a mid-latitude ocean-forced atmospheric model.” Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics 19, no. 5 (2012): 479–499.
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2011
Feliks, Yizhak, Michael Ghil, and Andrew W. Robertson. “The atmospheric circulation over the North Atlantic as induced by the SST field.” Journal of Climate 24 (2011): 522–542. Abstract

Spectral analyses of the sea surface temperature (SST) in the Simple Ocean Data Analysis (SODA) reanalysis for the past half-century identify prominent and statistically significant interannual oscillations in two regions along the Gulf Stream front over the North Atlantic. A model of the atmospheric marine boundary layer coupled to a baroclinic quasi-geostrophic model of the free atmosphere is then forced with the SST history from the SODA reanalysis. Two extreme states are found in the atmospheric simulations: they consist of (1) an eastward extension of the westerly jet associated with the front, which occurs mainly during boreal winter; and (2) a quiescent state of very weak flow found predominantly in the summer. This vacillation of the oceanic-front–induced jet in the model is found to exhibit periodicities similar to those identified in the observed Gulf Stream SST front itself. In addition, a close correspondence is found between interannual spectral peaks in the observed North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index, and the SODA-induced oscillations in the atmospheric model. In particular, significant oscillatory modes with periods of 8.5, 4.2 and 2.8 years are found in both the observed and simulated indices, and shown to be highly synchronized and of similar energy in both time series. These oscillatory modes in the simulations are shown to be suppressed when either (a) the Gulf Stream front or (b) its interannual oscillations are omitted from the SST field. Moreover, these modes also disappear when (c) the SST front is spatially smoothed, thus confirming that they are indeed induced by the oceanic front.

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Kravtsov, Sergey, Dmitri Kondrashov, I. Kamenkovich, and Michael Ghil. “An empirical stochastic model of sea-surface temperatures and surface winds over the Southern Ocean.” Ocean Science 7, no. 6 (2011): 755–770. Publisher's Version Abstract

This study employs NASA's recent satellite measurements of sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) and sea-level winds (SLWs) with missing data filled-in by Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA), to construct empirical models that capture both intrinsic and SST-dependent aspects of SLW variability. The model construction methodology uses a number of algorithmic innovations that are essential in providing stable estimates of the model's propagator. The best model tested herein is able to faithfully represent the time scales and spatial patterns of anomalies associated with a number of distinct processes. These processes range from the daily synoptic variability to interannual signals presumably associated with oceanic or coupled dynamics. Comparing the simulations of an SLW model forced by the observed SST anomalies with the simulations of an SLW-only model provides preliminary evidence for the ocean driving the atmosphere in the Southern Ocean region.

Chekroun, Mickaël D., Dmitri Kondrashov, and Michael Ghil. “Predicting stochastic systems by noise sampling, and application to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108, no. 29 (2011): 11766–11771. Abstract

Interannual and interdecadal prediction are major challenges of climate dynamics. In this article we develop a prediction method for climate processes that exhibit low-frequency variability (LFV). The method constructs a nonlinear stochastic model from past observations and estimates a path of the “weather” noise that drives this model over previous finite-time windows. The method has two steps: (i) select noise samples—or “snippets”—from the past noise, which have forced the system during short-time intervals that resemble the LFV phase just preceding the currently observed state; and (ii) use these snippets to drive the system from the current state into the future. The method is placed in the framework of pathwise linear-response theory and is then applied to an El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) model derived by the empirical model reduction (EMR) methodology; this nonlinear model has 40 coupled, slow, and fast variables. The domain of validity of this forecasting procedure depends on the nature of the system’s pathwise response; it is shown numerically that the ENSO model’s response is linear on interannual time scales. As a result, the method’s skill at a 6- to 16-month lead is highly competitive when compared with currently used dynamic and statistic prediction methods for the Niño-3 index and the global sea surface temperature field.

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2009
Simonnet, Eric, Henk A. Dijkstra, and Michael Ghil. “Bifurcation analysis of ocean, atmosphere, and climate models.” In Handbook of numerical analysis, edited by R. Temam and J. Tribbia, 14:187–229. Elsevier, 2009.
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