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Abstract Previous studies have noted the asymmetry in the annual cycle of zonal mean surface air temperature, defined as the difference in the lengths of warming and cooling periods. Pronounced north‐south hemispheric differences in this asymmetry, by up to 40 days, were attributed to the eccentricity of Earth's orbit. However, we propose that the dominant factor comes from the difference in the land‐sea fraction between hemispheres, because the asymmetry is strongly influenced by the annually varying heat capacity and land‐sea interactions. The oceanic temperature annual cycle generally features a longer cooling period than warming due to the seasonal variation in ocean mixed layer depth, and exhibits the opposite situation when there is seasonal sea ice. Land‐sea interactions impact the zonal mean temperature annual cycle by resulting in an earlier winter trough of the downstream oceanic temperature and delaying the summer peak in west coasts.
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Asymmetry in the Seasonal Cycle of Zonal‐Mean Surface Air Temperature
Abstract At most latitudes, the seasonal cycle of zonal‐mean surface air temperature is notably asymmetric: the length of the warming season is not equal to the length of the cooling season. The asymmetry varies spatially, with the cooling season being ∼40 days shorter than the warming season in the subtropics and the warming season being ∼100 days shorter than the cooling season at the poles. Furthermore, the asymmetry differs between the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere. Here, we show that these observed features are broadly captured in a simple model for the evolution of temperature forced by realistic insolation. The model suggests that Earth's orbital eccentricity largely determines the hemispheric contrast, and obliquity broadly dictates the meridional structure. Clouds, atmospheric heat flux convergence, and time‐invariant effective surface heat capacity have minimal impacts on seasonal asymmetry. This simple, first‐order picture has been absent from previous discussions of the surface temperature seasonal cycle.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2048590
- PAR ID:
- 10413092
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Volume:
- 50
- Issue:
- 10
- ISSN:
- 0094-8276
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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