Evolution of Large Scale Topography and Variation in Climate

Abstract

Climate model experiments are carried out to understand the relationship between large-scale topography and climate variation. Mountain uplift experiments show that sea surface temperature, surface wind fields, precipitation and sea surface salinity are strongly influenced by mountain uplift. An enhanced Asian monsoon due to mountain uplift causes stronger seasonal coastal upwelling in the Indian Ocean and freshening in the Bay of Bengal, Yellow Sea and East China Sea. Mountain uplift experiments using a higher resolution atmospheric general circulation model reveal that the spatial pattern of precipitation becomes finer as resolution increases, and that there is a sharper contrast in the salinity distribution near coastal regions. Experiments in which the Panamanian Gateway is closed, opened and re-closed suggest that reorganization of the ocean current due to closure of the Panamanian Gateway induces a cooler and drier climate with a permanent halocline and sea ice in the subarctic Pacific.