Polar Amplification Model Intercomparison Project

June 23, 2021

Announcement: AGU session on Causes and Consequences of Polar Amplification

Dear PAMIP colleagues,

We’d like to draw your attention to an AGU session: "Causes and Consequences of Polar Amplification”. Please consider submitting an abstract to it. The abstract deadline is Wednesday, Aug 4, 2021. Further details can be found at

https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm21/prelim.cgi/Session/120594

A031. Causes and Consequences of Polar Amplification

Arctic sea ice has declined dramatically in recent decades, with amplified Arctic near-surface warming compared to lower latitudes. This phenomenon, also seen in both hemispheres in future climate projections, is known as polar amplification. The Polar Amplification Model Intercomparison Project (PAMIP) is a coordinated set of model experiments, designed to advance understanding of the causes and effects of polar amplification.

The goal of this session is to synthesize our current understanding of polar amplification, harnessing the PAMIP multimodel ensemble. Contributions from the following topics are encouraged: 1) What are the relative roles of remote versus local processes in driving polar amplification? 2) How does the global climate system respond to changes in Arctic and Antarctic sea ice, and via what mechanisms (i.e., atmospheric teleconnections, stratosphere-troposphere coupling, ocean-atmosphere coupling)? We especially welcome studies using the PAMIP experiments, and also invite contributions from other modeling experiments as well as observational/theoretical studies.

Regards,

Lantao Sun, James Screen, Yutian Wu, Qinghua Ding

Polar amplification, the phenomenon that external radiative forcing produces a larger change in surface temperature at high latitudes than the global average, is a key aspect of anthropogenic climate change but its causes and consequences are not fully understood.

The Polar Amplification Model Intercomparison Project (PAMIP), co-led by Dr. Doug Smith, Dr. James Screen, and Dr. Clara Deser seeks to improve our understanding of this phenomenon through a coordinated set of numerical model experiments. As one of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) endorsed MIPs, PAMIP will address the following primary questions:

1. What are the relative roles of local sea ice and remote sea surface temperature changes in driving polar amplification?
2. How does the global climate system respond to changes in Arctic and Antarctic sea ice?

Click here to read the full background.

The following article provides an overview of the PAMIP including the protocols:
https://www.geosci-model-dev.net/12/1139/2019/

Article Reference

Smith, D. M., J. A. Screen, C. Deser, J. Cohen, J. C. Fyfe, J. García-Serrano, T. Jung, V. Kattsov, D. Matei, R. Msadek, Y. Peings, M. Sigmond, J. Ukita, J.-H. Yoon and X. Zhang, The Polar Amplification Model Intercomparison Project (PAMIP) contribution to CMIP6: investigating the causes and consequences of polar amplification, Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 1139–1164, 2019

For any suggestions or comments, please email Lantao Sun
[ lantao.sun@colostate.edu ]