%0 Journal Article
%T A Global and Hemispherical Analysis of the Lorenz Energetics Based on the Representative Concentration Pathways Used in CMIP5
%A Jos¨¦ Augusto P. Veiga
%A Tercio Ambrizzi
%J Advances in Meteorology
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/485047
%X So far, only a few studies have evaluated the impact of greenhouse gases emissions on the global and limited area energetics. Furthermore, all of them have concentrated on the increasing of CO2. As new climate projections are now available from a number of climate models under the MPI-ESR-MR experiment, the present study analyses the global and hemispherical energetics under the increase of greenhouse gas forcings that follow Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP26, RCP45, and RCP85). The results have shown a reduction in the LEC intensity as the concentration of greenhouse gases increases, with the RCP85 scenario generating the strongest decrease. For both global and hemispherical domains, zonal kinetic energy is the only energy reservoir which increases in a warmer environment, whereas the conversion between eddy kinetic energy and zonal kinetic energy ( ) is the only energy flux also experiencing an increase. A quantitative analysis of the inner processes involved in the conversion terms shows important changes in the horizontal and vertical eddy-transport of momentum and sensible heat. In the case of both vertical and horizontal eddy-transports of momentum play an important role in the increase of zonal kinetic energy for the global domain. 1. Introduction After Lorenz [1] has derived a set of equations to quantify the energy cycle for the whole atmosphere, many studies have applied the technique to quantify and understand the dynamical processes involved in the energetics of the planet (e.g., [2¨C9]) and those who are considering just a piece of the atmosphere (e.g., [10¨C19]). In particular, they differ from each other depending upon the purpose of use and the energetics formalism (space domain, time domain, and mixed space-time domain energetics, see [5]). As discussed in Lorenz [2] and Oort [4], although the absolute value produced by each technique differs from each other, the energy fluxes are qualitatively similar. In general, studies of energetics considering closed domain highlight the maintenance of the general circulation, while studies involving open domain stress the dynamics related to the life cycle of individual atmospheric disturbances. The increasing of greenhouse gas emissions has amplified the greenhouse efficiency effect by trapping more heat in the mid- and lower troposphere and consequently altering the atmospheric circulation pattern [20]. The consequences of this can be felt through the changes in a broad spatial and temporal-scale of disturbances around both hemispheres as observed in the cases of cyclones and
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/amete/2013/485047/