Ocean-Atmosphere Coupling

Climate is largely a story of how heat is transported from the tropics to the pole. The task of transporting heat from the tropics to the pole is accomplished by circulations in the atmosphere and currents in the ocean .The motions in the atmosphere and the currents in the ocean are not independent of, but strongly coupled to each other as the atmosphere and ocean exchanges heat, water, momentum, and biochemical species. The processes that enable the state of the atmosphere and the state of the ocean to mutually influence each other are referred to as ocean-atmosphere coupling. Ocean-atmosphere coupling is a major cause of climate variability, such as the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Current research in this area is focused on the coupling between the atmosphere and ocean over the Pacific region. We are particularly interested in the following questions: why is there ENSO, what causes the level of ENSO activity to vary, how ENSO responds to global warming, and what is the role of ENSO in the stability and sensitivity of the climate system?

• Sun, D.-Z., T. Zhang, Y. Sun, and Y. Yu, 2012: Rectification of El Nino-Southern Oscillation into Climate Anomalies of Decadal and Longer Time-scales. J. Climate, Submitted.

• Ogata, T., S.-P. Xie, A. Wittenberg, and D.-Z. Sun, 2012: Interdecadal amplitude modulation of El Nino/Southern Oscillation and its impacts on tropical Pacific decadal variability. J. Climate, submitted.

• Liang,J., Xiu-Qun Yang, and De-Zheng Sun, 2012: The effect of ENSO events on the Tropical Pacific Mean Climate: Insights from an Analytical Model. J. Climate, 25 , 7590-7606.

• Sheffield, J., S.J. Camargo, R. Fu, Q. Hu, X. Jiang, N. Johnson, K.B. Karnauskas, J. Kinter, S. Kumar, B. Langenbrunner, E. Maloney, A.a Mariotti, J. E. Meyerson, D. Neelin, Z. Pan, A. Ruiz-Barradas, R Seager; Y. L Serra, D.-Z. Sun, C. Wang, S.-P. Xie, J.Y. Yu, T. Zhang, M. Zhao, 2012: North Amer\ ican Climate in CMIP5 Experiments. Part II: Evaluation of 20th Century Intra-Seasonal to Decadal Variability. J. Climate. Submitted.

• Sun, Y., D.-Z. Sun, and L. Wu, 2011: Evidence from climate models for a role of ENSO events in shaping the climatological size and temperature of the warm-pool. J. Climate, Submitted.

• Sun, D.-Z., 2008: The Diabatic Aspects of El Nino Southern Oscillation. To appear in "Climate Dynamics: Why Does Climate Vary?". AGU Geophysical Monograph, Edited by D.-Z. Sun and F. Bryan, AGU.

• Penland C., D.-Z.Sun, and A. Capontondi, 2008: An Introduction to El Nino and La Nina. To appear in "Climate Dynamics: Why Does Climate Vary?". AGU Geophysical Monograph, Edited by D.-Z. Sun and F. Bryan, AGU.

• Zhang,T.,D.-Z. Sun, R. Neal, and P. Rasch, 2008: An Evaluation of ENSO Asymmetry in the Community Climate System Models: A View from the Subsurface. J.Climate, Submitted. Abstract / PDF

• Yu, Y., and D.-Z. Sun, 2008: Response of ENSO and the Mean State of the Tropical Pacific to Extratropical Cooling/Warming: A Study Using the IAP Coupled Model. J. Climate, Submitted.

• Sun, D.-Z., 2007: The Role of ENSO in Regulating its Background State. In "Nonlinear Dynamics in Geosciences", pages 537-555, Springer New York, 604 pages, Edited by J. Elsner and A. Tsonis.
  Abstract / PDF

• Sun, D.-Z. and T. Zhang 2006: A Regulatory Effect of ENSO on the Time-Mean Thermal Stratification of the Equatorial Upper Ocean. Geophys. Res. Lett., Vol. 33, L07710, doi:10.1029/2005GL025296.
  Abstract / PDF

• Sun, D.-Z., T. Zhang, C. Covey,S. Klein, W.D. Collins, J.J. Hack, J.T. Kiehl, G.A. Meehl, I.M. Held, and M. Suarez, 2006 : Radiative and Dynamical Feedbacks Over the Equatorial Cold-tongue: Results from Nine Atmospheric GCMs. J. Climate , 19 , 4059-4074.
  Abstract / PDF

• Zhang, T. and D.-Z. Sun, 2006 :Response of water vapor and clouds to El Nino warming in three NCAR models J. Geophys. Res.,111 , D17103, doi:10.1029/2005JD006700 .
  Abstract / PDF

• Sun, D.-Z., 2004: The Control of Meridional Differential Heating Over the Level of ENSO activity: A Heat-Pump Hypothesis. page 71--83. In Earth's Climate: The Ocean-Atmosphere Interaction, AGU Geophysical Monograph, Vol. 147, 414 pages. Edited by C. Wang, S.-P. Xie, and J. Carton.
  Abstract / PDF

• Sun, D.-Z., T. Zhang, and S.-I. Shin, 2004 : The effect of subtropical cooling on the amplitude of ENSO: a numerical study. J. Climate , 17, 3786-3798.
  Abstract / PDF

• Sun, D.-Z., J. Fasullo, T. Zhang, and A. Roubicek, 2003:On the Radiative and Dynamical Feedbacks over the Equatorial Cold-tongue. J. Climate, 16. 2425-2432
  Abstract / PDF

• Sun, D.-Z., 2003:A Possible Effect of An Increase in the Warm-pool SST on the Magnitude of El Niņo Warming. J. Climate, 16, 185-205
  Abstract / PDF

• Sun, D.-Z., 2000b: The heat sources and sinks of the 1986-87 El Niño, J. Climate, 13, 3533-3550.
  Abstract / PDF).

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• Sun, D.-Z., 2000a: Global climate change and ENSO: a theoretical framework. El Niņo: Historical and Paleoclimatic Aspects of the Southern Oscillation, Multiscale variability and Global and Regional Impacts .443-463. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, edited by Diaz H. F. and V. Markgraf, 476 pp.
  Abstract / PDF).

• Sun, D.-Z. and K.E. Trenberth, 1998 : Coordinated heat removal from the equatorial Pacific during the 1986-87 El Niño. Geophys. Res. Lett., , 25, 2659-2662

• Sun, D.-Z., 1997: El Niño: a coupled response to radiative heating? Geophys. Res. Lett., 24, 2031-2034.

• Sun, D.-Z. and Z. Liu, 1996 : Dynamic ocean-atmosphere coupling: a thermostat for the tropics. Science, 272, 1148-1150.