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 Title: Climate sensitivity study with energy balance models Author(s): Huang, Jin Doctoral Committee Chair(s): Bowman, Kenneth P. Department / Program: Atmospheric Science Discipline: Atmospheric Science Degree Granting Institution: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Degree: Ph.D. Genre: Dissertation Subject(s): Physical Oceanography Paleoecology Physics, Atmospheric Science Abstract: In this thesis, the sensitivity of the Earth's climate is studied by modeling past climatic variations with two-dimensional seasonal energy balance model. This thesis consists of two parts. The first part is a study of the interaction between the seasonal cycle and the small ice cap instability, which is a possible mechanism for the initiation of glaciation in the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere. Results from a two-dimensional energy balance model with a realistic land-ocean distribution show that the small ice cap instability exists in the southern hemisphere, but not in the northern hemisphere. A series of experiments with a one-dimensional energy balance model with idealized geography is used to study the roles of the seasonal cycle and the land-ocean distribution. The results indicate that the seasonal cycle and land-ocean distribution can influence the strength of the albedo feedback, which is responsible for the small ice cap instability, through two factors: the temperature gradient and the amplitude of the seasonal cycle.The second part of this thesis is a study of the CO$\sb2$-climate feedback and its possible role in the 41 kyr sea surface temperature oscillation during the Matuyama chron (2.4 to 0.7 Myr BP). The CO$\sb2$-climate feedback is parameterized as an internal longwave radiation-polar temperature feedback in the energy balance model. Other physical processes are treated as boundary conditions. It is found that the CO$\sb2$-climate feedback can increase climate sensitivity to orbital parameters, especially to the obliquity changes, which have a 41 kyr cycle. The model results indicate that the CO$\sb2$-climate feedback is one of possible mechanisms for the dominant 41 kyr climate change during the Matuyama. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.) Issue Date: 1991 Type: Text Language: English URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/21016 Rights Information: Copyright 1991 Huang, Jin Date Available in IDEALS: 2011-05-07 Identifier in Online Catalog: AAI9210843 OCLC Identifier: (UMI)AAI9210843
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