Liberty-Levi et al. (2025) The Role of Ocean Processes in Future Northern Hemisphere Midlatitude Winter Precipitation Changes

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Journal of Climate
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-09-11
• Authors: Noga Liberty-Levi, Rei Chemke
• DOI: 10.1175/jcli-d-24-0399.1

Research Groups

Not explicitly stated in the abstract.

Short Summary

This study quantifies the relative roles of dynamic and thermodynamic ocean processes in the projected intensification of Northern Hemisphere midlatitude winter net precipitation, finding that thermodynamic processes dominate over land and the Pacific, while dynamic processes are key over the Atlantic.

Objective

• To quantify the relative roles of the ocean, and its dynamic and thermodynamic components, in the projected intensification of Northern Hemisphere midlatitude winter net precipitation.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes (over land, Pacific Ocean, and Atlantic Ocean).
• Temporal Scale: Projections by the end of this century, focusing on winter net precipitation.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: A hierarchy of ocean coupling simulations.
• Data sources: Model simulations.

Main Results

• Over land and the Pacific Ocean, the increase in midlatitude net precipitation is primarily driven by thermodynamic ocean processes. These processes warm the surface, increase the meridional moisture gradient, and consequently enhance moisture flux convergence by midlatitude eddies.
• Over the Atlantic Ocean, dynamic ocean processes are responsible for the intensification of net precipitation by modifying the zonal moisture gradient, leading to increased moisture convergence in that region.

Contributions

• Provides a quantitative assessment of the distinct roles of dynamic and thermodynamic ocean processes in future Northern Hemisphere midlatitude winter net precipitation changes.
• Identifies regional differences in the dominant ocean mechanisms (thermodynamic over land/Pacific, dynamic over Atlantic).
• Underscores the critical importance of investigating and monitoring ocean-atmosphere coupling for climate change preparedness.

Funding

Not mentioned in the abstract.

Citation

@article{LibertyLevi2025Role,
  author = {Liberty-Levi, Noga and Chemke, Rei},
  title = {The Role of Ocean Processes in Future Northern Hemisphere Midlatitude Winter Precipitation Changes},
  journal = {Journal of Climate},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1175/jcli-d-24-0399.1},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-24-0399.1}
}