The East Asian upper-tropospheric jet streams and associated transient eddy activities simulated by a climate system model BCC_CSM1.1

In this paper, major features of the upper-tropospheric jet streams simulated by a coupled Climate System Model BCC_CSM1.1 are evaluated through comparison with the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis. The jet streams consist of the East Asian subtropical jet (EASJ) and the East Asian polar-front jet (EAPJ). Associated stationary wave and synoptic-scale transient eddy activities (STEA) are also examined. The results show that the climatological positions of the westerly jet streams are well captured by BCC_CSM1.1, but with slight intensity biases. Statistics from the 6-h model outputs reveal that the jet core number (JCN) of ESPJ is significantly underestimated. Examination of the simulated seasonal evolution of the westerly jet stream indicates that the model has produced a westward movement of the EASJ core in May, one month earlier than that in the reanalysis. Analysis of stationary wave activities shows that the overestimated meridional wind component may have caused considerable enhancement of meridional momentum and heat transport. The stationary Rossby wave represented by the wave activity flux at the southern flank of the Tibetan Plateau is favorable to the growth of asymmetric zonal wind and the multiple-center pattern of JCN. Unlike the stationary wave heat flux transport, the model tends to systematically generate weaker transient heat flux over East Asia. Further analysis of STEA exhibits a general consistent pattern between the simulation and the reanalysis, while the intensity of the northern STEA branch associated with the EAPJ is greatly reduced. The deficiencies of eddy momentum and heat flux transport and accompanied eddy forcing may contribute to the biases of the simulated upper-tropospheric jet streams, suggesting the potential importance of midlatitude internal atmospheric dynamics in shaping the tropospheric general circulation, which is not yet fully and accurately resolved in the current BCC_CSM1.1.