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| Submitter's Name |
Akhilesh Mishra |
| Session Name |
Impacts of Climate Variability and Change on Water Availability and Quality |
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| Author(s) |
Akhilesh Mishra, COAPS, Florida State University (Presenting Author) |
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Vasu Misra,
Florida State University |
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The influence of the neighboring oceans on Florida’s climate |
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In this study we show that the unique geography of the peninsular Florida with close proximity to strong mesoscale surface ocean currents among other factors warrant the use of relatively high resolution climate models to simulate its hydroclimate. In the absence of such high-resolution climate models we highlight the uncertainty in the simulation of the warm western boundary current (the Gulf Stream) in two relatively coarse spatial resolution CMIP5 models. As a consequence it affects the coastal SST and the land-ocean contrast, affecting the rainy summer seasonal precipitation accumulation over peninsular Florida simulated by the two global models. We also show this through two sensitivity studies conducted with a regional coupled ocean atmosphere model with different bathymetries that dislocate and modulate the strength of the Gulf Stream and which locally affects the SST in the two simulations. These studies show that a stronger Gulf Stream produces warmer coastal SST’s along the Atlantic coast of Florida that enhances the precipitation over peninsular Florida relative to the other regional climate model simulation. However the regional model simulations indicate that wet season rainfall variability in peninsular Florida becomes less dependent on the land-ocean contrast with stronger Gulf Stream current and warmer western Atlantic coastal SSTs. |
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