Coupled Climate Model Simulations of Large-scale Eastern Boundary Current Forcing During the Mid-Holocene and Last Glacial Maximum

We analyze coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model (GCM) output from the IPCC Fourth Assessment and the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project. We focus on three time periods: the 20th century, 6 ka and 21 ka. The coupled GCMs capture the basic late-20th century seasonal structure of large-scale sea level pressure and wind forcing in the four major eastern boundary current regions (California, Canary, Humbolt and Benguela). There are moderate biases in the simulation of late-20th century inter-annual variability of large-scale sea level pressure and wind forcing, and substantial biases in the simulation of late-20th century mean monthly coastal winds. The coupled models show large changes in the magnitude of mean sea level pressure forcing in the 21 ka simulations and smaller changes in the 6 ka simulations. However, the magnitude of changes in inter-annual variability of sea level pressure forcing is similar in the 21 ka and 6 ka simulations. These and related analyses will aid in the evaluation of existing hypotheses of the response of eastern boundary currents to changes in external climate forcing. They will also help to create new testable hypotheses of eastern boundary current response and, in conjunction with proxy records, allow for a more sophisticated understanding of the mechanisms that shaped the late-Quaternary evolution of these important upwelling systems.