Recent progress in simulating two types of ENSO – from CMIP5 to CMIP6

The new emerging type of El Niño brings challenges to the state-of-the-art coupled models to simulated features of El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO) diversity. The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP), containing the advanced worldwide coupled models, has recently released the model outp...

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Main Authors: Meiyi Hou, Youmin Tang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-08-01
Series:Frontiers in Marine Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.986780/full
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author Meiyi Hou
Meiyi Hou
Youmin Tang
Youmin Tang
author_facet Meiyi Hou
Meiyi Hou
Youmin Tang
Youmin Tang
author_sort Meiyi Hou
collection DOAJ
description The new emerging type of El Niño brings challenges to the state-of-the-art coupled models to simulated features of El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO) diversity. The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP), containing the advanced worldwide coupled models, has recently released the model outputs in phase 6. In this paper, the characteristics of two types of ENSO in 19 models from CMIP phase 5 and their counterparts in phase 6 are assessed regarding the spatial and temporal features and the seasonal cycle features. The weaker amplitude of Eastern Pacific (EP) and Central Pacific (CP) ENSO in CMIP5 is increased and the spatial structure of CP ENSO is better depicted in CMIP6. However, no significant improvement in the ENSO periodicity and the ENSO phase-locking behavior compared to CMIP5. A synthetic ENSO score, containing eight metrics, is defined and employed to evaluate the performance of each CMIP model. The average ENSO score for CMIP6 is 2.375, indicating modest improvement compared to the average score of 2.441 for CMIP5. Furthermore, the slight improvement in the ENSO score is partly related to the reduced climatology bias of sea surface temperature in the Niño4 region. The overall evaluation provides necessary information for future investigation about the mechanism exploration of the ENSO diversity based on the models with better performance.
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spelling doaj.art-7bb818ce8ffa422e865f8b2780b914ad2022-12-22T01:28:30ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Marine Science2296-77452022-08-01910.3389/fmars.2022.986780986780Recent progress in simulating two types of ENSO – from CMIP5 to CMIP6Meiyi Hou0Meiyi Hou1Youmin Tang2Youmin Tang3Key Laboratory of Marine Hazards Forecasting, Ministry of Natural Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing, ChinaCollege of Oceanography, Hohai University, Nanjing, ChinaCollege of Oceanography, Hohai University, Nanjing, ChinaEnvironmental Science and Engineering, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, BC, CanadaThe new emerging type of El Niño brings challenges to the state-of-the-art coupled models to simulated features of El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO) diversity. The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP), containing the advanced worldwide coupled models, has recently released the model outputs in phase 6. In this paper, the characteristics of two types of ENSO in 19 models from CMIP phase 5 and their counterparts in phase 6 are assessed regarding the spatial and temporal features and the seasonal cycle features. The weaker amplitude of Eastern Pacific (EP) and Central Pacific (CP) ENSO in CMIP5 is increased and the spatial structure of CP ENSO is better depicted in CMIP6. However, no significant improvement in the ENSO periodicity and the ENSO phase-locking behavior compared to CMIP5. A synthetic ENSO score, containing eight metrics, is defined and employed to evaluate the performance of each CMIP model. The average ENSO score for CMIP6 is 2.375, indicating modest improvement compared to the average score of 2.441 for CMIP5. Furthermore, the slight improvement in the ENSO score is partly related to the reduced climatology bias of sea surface temperature in the Niño4 region. The overall evaluation provides necessary information for future investigation about the mechanism exploration of the ENSO diversity based on the models with better performance.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.986780/fullENSO diversityphase-lockingCMIP modelsENSO scoremodel simulation
spellingShingle Meiyi Hou
Meiyi Hou
Youmin Tang
Youmin Tang
Recent progress in simulating two types of ENSO – from CMIP5 to CMIP6
Frontiers in Marine Science
ENSO diversity
phase-locking
CMIP models
ENSO score
model simulation
title Recent progress in simulating two types of ENSO – from CMIP5 to CMIP6
title_full Recent progress in simulating two types of ENSO – from CMIP5 to CMIP6
title_fullStr Recent progress in simulating two types of ENSO – from CMIP5 to CMIP6
title_full_unstemmed Recent progress in simulating two types of ENSO – from CMIP5 to CMIP6
title_short Recent progress in simulating two types of ENSO – from CMIP5 to CMIP6
title_sort recent progress in simulating two types of enso from cmip5 to cmip6
topic ENSO diversity
phase-locking
CMIP models
ENSO score
model simulation
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.986780/full
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