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The Atmospheric Response to Solar Variability: Simulations with a General Circulation and Chemistry Model for the Entire Atmosphere

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Climate and Weather of the Sun-Earth System (CAWSES)

Part of the book series: Springer Atmospheric Sciences ((SPRINGERATMO))

Abstract

The coupled general circulation and chemistry model HAMMONIA and the MPI-ESM, consisting of the MAECHAM5 atmospheric GCM and the ocean model MPIOM, have been applied in a multitude of setups to study the response of the earth system to the variable forcing from the sun. This paper motivates the use of complex entire atmosphere models for the study of solar-terrestrial relations, and presents numerical results concerning solar rotational forcing, the response of the atmosphere-ocean system up to the lower thermosphere to 11-year forcing, and the response to particle precipitation. An issue analyzed in more detail is the so-called “secondary” response maximum in equatorial lower stratospheric ozone and temperature. Comparing numerical experiments with a variety of simulation setups it is argued that solar signals in this atmospheric region are easily obscured by variability stemming in particular from ENSO. However, simulations with solar variability as the only variable forcing suggest that indeed, the secondary maximum is of solar origin.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) under grants SCHM2158/1-(1-3). Most of the numerical simulations have been performed on the computers and with the support of the German Climate Computing Centre (DKRZ). The authors would like to thank Guy P. Brasseur and Marco A. Giorgetta for many valuable discussions during the course of the project, and Heinz-Jürgen Punge for help with the MLR.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Bundesstr. 53, 20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Hauke Schmidt, Jens Kieser & Stergios Misios

  2. A. M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pyzhevsky per. 3, 119017, Moscow, Russia

    Aleksandr N. Gruzdev

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  1. Hauke Schmidt
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  2. Jens Kieser
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  4. Aleksandr N. Gruzdev
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Correspondence to Hauke Schmidt .

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  1. Leibniz Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Rostock University, Schloss-str. 6, Kühlungsborn, 18225, Germany

    Franz-Josef Lübken

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Schmidt, H., Kieser, J., Misios, S., Gruzdev, A.N. (2013). The Atmospheric Response to Solar Variability: Simulations with a General Circulation and Chemistry Model for the Entire Atmosphere. In: Lübken, FJ. (eds) Climate and Weather of the Sun-Earth System (CAWSES). Springer Atmospheric Sciences. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4348-9_31

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