PCMDI > WCRP CMIP3 Model Output > Diagnostic Subprojects

PI:	Timothy Merlis
Institution:	California Institute of Technology
Abstract:
Equatorial superrotation is a climate state in which the atmosphere~s equatorial winds are faster than the planet~s rotation rate. Superrotation would have tremendous implications for weather and climate if it was attained on Earth. It is the normative state on Venus and Jupiter, and has been observed in idealized simulations of Earth with highly truncated vertical resolution (Suarez and Duffy 1992 and Saravannan 1992), but also in a comprehensive GCM (Huang et al 2000). My intent is to examine the zonal winds of the atmosphere in the IPCC AR4 archive to determine if equatorial superrotation is plausible on a warming Earth.
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