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Abstract Meridional atmospheric heat transport (AHT) has been investigated through three broad perspectives: a dynamic perspective, linking AHT to the poleward flux of moist static energy (MSE) by atmospheric motions; an energetic perspective, linking AHT to energy input to the atmosphere by top-of-atmosphere radiation and surface heat fluxes; and a diffusive perspective, representing AHT in terms downgradient energy transport. It is shown here that the three perspectives provide complementary diagnostics of meridional AHT and its changes under greenhouse gas forcing. When combined, the energetic and diffusive perspectives offer prognostic insights: anomalous AHT is constrained to satisfy the net energetic demands of radiative forcing, radiative feedbacks, and ocean heat uptake; in turn, the meridional pattern of warming must adjust to produce those AHT changes, and does so approximately according to diffusion of anomalous MSE. The relationship between temperature and MSE exerts strong constraints on the warming pattern, favoring polar amplification. These conclusions are supported by use of a diffusive moist energy balance model (EBM) that accurately predicts zonal-mean warming and AHT changes within comprehensive general circulation models (GCMs). A dry diffusive EBM predicts similar AHT changes in order to satisfy the same energetic constraints, but does so through tropically amplified warming—at odds with the GCMs’ polar-amplified warming pattern. The results suggest that polar-amplified warming is a near-inevitable consequence of a moist, diffusive atmosphere’s response to greenhouse gas forcing. In this view, atmospheric circulations must act to satisfy net AHT as constrained by energetics.
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Two Perspectives on Amplified Warming over Tropical Land Examined in CMIP6 Models
Abstract Climate change projections show amplified warming associated with dry conditions over tropical land. We compare two perspectives explaining this amplified warming: one based on tropical atmospheric dynamics and the other focusing on soil moisture and surface fluxes. We first compare the full spatiotemporal distribution of changes in key variables in the two perspectives under a quadrupling of CO2using daily output from the CMIP6 simulations. Both perspectives center around the partitioning of the total energy/energy flux into the temperature and humidity components. We examine the contribution of this temperature/humidity partitioning in the base climate and its change under warming to rising temperatures by deriving a diagnostic linearized perturbation model that relates the magnitude of warming to 1) changes in the total energy/energy flux, 2) the base-climate temperature/humidity partitioning, and 3) changes in the partitioning under warming. We show that the spatiotemporal structure of warming in CMIP6 models is well predicted by the inverse of the base-climate partition factor, which we term the base-climate sensitivity: conditions that are drier in the base climate have a higher base-climate sensitivity and experience more warming. On top of this relationship, changes in the partition factor under intermediate (between wet and dry) surface conditions further enhance or dampen the warming. We discuss the mechanistic link between the two perspectives by illustrating the strong relationships between lower-tropospheric temperature lapse rates, a key variable for the atmospheric perspective, and surface fluxes, a key component of the land surface perspective. Significance StatementUnderstanding what conditions give rise to the largest magnitude of warming in response to rising CO2concentrations is not only scientifically important but also critical from a climate impact standpoint. Two main perspectives, one focusing on atmospheric dynamics and the other focusing on land surface processes, have been proposed to explain the stronger warming associated with drier conditions in the tropics. Here, we compare and contrast these two perspectives. We demonstrate that amplified warming in CMIP6 models can largely be predicted from base-climate dryness alone in both perspectives but is further modified based on changes in the partitioning of energy between temperature and moisture. We highlight the spatiotemporal conditions where assumptions in the two perspectives hold and where deviations occur within CMIP6 climate models.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1939988
- PAR ID:
- 10571123
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Meteorological Society
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Climate
- Volume:
- 37
- Issue:
- 18
- ISSN:
- 0894-8755
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 4743 to 4760
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-22-0955.1
