Legler David

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Legler
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David
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  • Article
    The CRCES Workshop on Decadal Climate Variability
    (American Meteorological Society, 2006-09) Mehta, Vikram ; Kushnir, Yochanan ; Lean, Judith ; Legler, David ; Lukas, Roger ; Proshutinsky, Andrey ; Rosenberg, Norman ; von Storch, Hans ; Schopf, Paul ; White, Warren
    The importance of decadal climate variability (DCV) research is being increasingly recognized, including by international research programs such as the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) and the U.S. National Research Council. This brief article (workshop presentations available online at www.DecVar.org/auditorium.php) summarizes a consensus view of a research community workshop attended by approximately 45 scientists. Gaps in our knowledge of DCV and its societal impacts were identified, as were areas of needed research and anticipated benefits of research. It is a major challenge to implement recommendations of this and other such workshops on climate research in this era of declining earth science budgets. Therefore, a phased implementation is recommended, with highest priority recommendations outlined in a sidebar to this summary.
  • Article
    Measuring global ocean heat content to estimate the Earth energy Imbalance
    (Frontiers Media, 2019-08-20) Meyssignac, Benoit ; Boyer, Tim ; Zhao, Zhongxiang ; Hakuba, Maria Z. ; Landerer, Felix ; Stammer, Detlef ; Kohl, Armin ; Kato, Seiji ; L’Ecuyer, Tristan S. ; Ablain, Michaël ; Abraham, John Patrick ; Blazquez, Alejandro ; Cazenave, Anny ; Church, John A. ; Cowley, Rebecca ; Cheng, Lijing ; Domingues, Catia M. ; Giglio, Donata ; Gouretski, Viktor ; Ishii, Masayoshi ; Johnson, Gregory C. ; Killick, Rachel E. ; Legler, David ; Llovel, William ; Lyman, John ; Palmer, Matthew D. ; Piotrowicz, Stephen R. ; Purkey, Sarah G. ; Roemmich, Dean ; Roca, Rémy ; Savita, Abhishek ; von Schuckmann, Karina ; Speich, Sabrina ; Stephens, Graeme ; Wang, Gongjie ; Wijffels, Susan E. ; Zilberman, Nathalie
    The energy radiated by the Earth toward space does not compensate the incoming radiation from the Sun leading to a small positive energy imbalance at the top of the atmosphere (0.4–1 Wm–2). This imbalance is coined Earth’s Energy Imbalance (EEI). It is mostly caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and is driving the current warming of the planet. Precise monitoring of EEI is critical to assess the current status of climate change and the future evolution of climate. But the monitoring of EEI is challenging as EEI is two orders of magnitude smaller than the radiation fluxes in and out of the Earth system. Over 93% of the excess energy that is gained by the Earth in response to the positive EEI accumulates into the ocean in the form of heat. This accumulation of heat can be tracked with the ocean observing system such that today, the monitoring of Ocean Heat Content (OHC) and its long-term change provide the most efficient approach to estimate EEI. In this community paper we review the current four state-of-the-art methods to estimate global OHC changes and evaluate their relevance to derive EEI estimates on different time scales. These four methods make use of: (1) direct observations of in situ temperature; (2) satellite-based measurements of the ocean surface net heat fluxes; (3) satellite-based estimates of the thermal expansion of the ocean and (4) ocean reanalyses that assimilate observations from both satellite and in situ instruments. For each method we review the potential and the uncertainty of the method to estimate global OHC changes. We also analyze gaps in the current capability of each method and identify ways of progress for the future to fulfill the requirements of EEI monitoring. Achieving the observation of EEI with sufficient accuracy will depend on merging the remote sensing techniques with in situ measurements of key variables as an integral part of the Ocean Observing System.
  • Article
    Adequacy of the ocean observation system for quantifying regional heat and freshwater storage and change
    (Frontiers Media, 2019-08-29) Palmer, Matthew D. ; Durack, Paul J. ; Chidichimo, Maria Paz ; Church, John A. ; Cravatte, Sophie ; Hill, Katherine Louise ; Johannessen, Johnny A. ; Karstensen, Johannes ; Lee, Tong ; Legler, David ; Mazloff, Matthew R. ; Oka, Eitarou ; Purkey, Sarah G. ; Rabe, Benjamin ; Sallee, Jean-Baptiste ; Sloyan, Bernadette M. ; Speich, Sabrina ; von Schuckmann, Karina ; Willis, Josh ; Wijffels, Susan E.
    Considerable advances in the global ocean observing system over the last two decades offers an opportunity to provide more quantitative information on changes in heat and freshwater storage. Variations in these storage terms can arise through internal variability and also the response of the ocean to anthropogenic climate change. Disentangling these competing influences on the regional patterns of change and elucidating their governing processes remains an outstanding scientific challenge. This challenge is compounded by instrumental and sampling uncertainties. The combined use of ocean observations and model simulations is the most viable method to assess the forced signal from noise and ascertain the primary drivers of variability and change. Moreover, this approach offers the potential for improved seasonal-to-decadal predictions and the possibility to develop powerful multi-variate constraints on climate model future projections. Regional heat storage changes dominate the steric contribution to sea level rise over most of the ocean and are vital to understanding both global and regional heat budgets. Variations in regional freshwater storage are particularly relevant to our understanding of changes in the hydrological cycle and can potentially be used to verify local ocean mass addition from terrestrial and cryospheric systems associated with contemporary sea level rise. This White Paper will examine the ability of the current ocean observing system to quantify changes in regional heat and freshwater storage. In particular we will seek to answer the question: What time and space scales are currently resolved in different regions of the global oceans? In light of some of the key scientific questions, we will discuss the requirements for measurement accuracy, sampling, and coverage as well as the synergies that can be leveraged by more comprehensively analyzing the multi-variable arrays provided by the integrated observing system.