Sea-Level Change (1990) / Chapter Skim
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11 Sea Level and Climate Change
11 Sea Level and Climate Change
Pages 185-192
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From page 185... ...
Simulations with global dynamical climate models and examples from the paleoclimatic record provide insight into the importance of various physical mechanisms and the explanations of correlation between climate and sea-level variations during earth history. DIRECT EFFECTS OF SEA LEVEL ON CLIMATE The potential direct effects of sea level on climate can arise from physical mechanisms that fall into at least five categories: (1)
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From page 186... ...
by current global ocean models.] Changes in ice sheet volume are usually thought of as influencing sea level; interest in the influence of sea level on ice sheets is relatively recent.
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From page 187... ...
The researchers found that there was no net surface temperature change in the deforested area. The surface albedo and wetness changes for this particular case produced nearly complete compensating effects.
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From page 188... ...
,, 1,, I,, 1 1 1 1, 1 1 1 1 1 an 60 30 0 ~90 LAT ITUDE FIGURE 11.2 A comparison of the zonally averaged surface temperature for a general circulation model experiment with Cretaceous continental positions with low sea level (present-day total area) and no topography and an experiment with Cretaceous continental positions with high sea level (about 20 percent of continental area flooded)
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From page 189... ...
it= ~ 3so~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 1 If/ ~ CON N ECTE D BASINS GROWI N G /ICE SHEET 2 ~WATER TRANSFER / ~: ~ ~/ :'~i./'7/< LOWERED / ¢/////////////// SEA LEVEL 3. ~ SEA ICE EVAPORI TES 4;~ LESS SALINE OCEAN FIGURE 11.3 A hypothetical example of the potential for sealevel change to affect climate through a mechanism that relies on isolation of ocean basins.
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From page 190... ...
If large glacio-climatic changes in sea level are needed to have significant effects on ice sheets, then any sea-level-induced ice sheet changes would act only as positive climatic feedbacks rather than actual driving forces for large climatic changes. The level of positive feedback could be quite small, e.g., a 50-cm rise in sea level due to ocean thermal expansion could cause such a small reduction in ice sheet size that any positive feedback on ocean temperature would be negligible.
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From page 191... ...
In the majority of the climate model simulations, the model experiments provide insight into the importance of various physical mechanisms, but a series of sensitivity experiments should be conducted to isolate the importance of variables such as surface albedo, surface wetness, surface roughness, and thermal inertia. Many of the arguments presented for the importance of various mechanisms (e.g., ocean gateways that influence oceanic heat transport)
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From page 192... ...
Rose (1979~. Effect of climatic warming on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, Nature 277, 355-358.
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