Using feedback from summer subtropical highs to evaluate climate models

Abstract

This letter aims to broaden the spectrum of methods for model evaluation by providing new physically based metrics that focus on accurate couplings between subsystems of the climate system. A simplified version of the feedback scheme that describes the dynamics of subtropical high-pressure systems is applied to evaluate how well CMIP5 climate models can simulate atmosphere–ocean–land interactions and resulting feedbacks in the Azores high-pressure system during summer, which affects climate throughout the Atlantic near southern Europe and North Africa.