Coupled High-Latitude Climate Feedbacks and Their Impact on Atmospheric Heat Transport
The response of atmospheric heat transport to anthropogenic warming is determined by the anomalous meridional energy gradient. Feedback analysis offers a characterization of that gradient and hence reveals how uncertainty in physical processes may translate into uncertainty in the circulation respon...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0324.1 |
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ftcaltechauth:oai:authors.library.caltech.edu:q68t8-5j065 2024-10-06T13:41:49+00:00 Coupled High-Latitude Climate Feedbacks and Their Impact on Atmospheric Heat Transport Feldl, Nicole Bordoni, Simona Merlis, Timothy M. 2017-01 https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0324.1 unknown American Meteorological Society eprintid:74234 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Other Journal of Climate, 30(1), 189-201, (2017-01) Energy transport Climate change Climate sensitivity Feedback info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2017 ftcaltechauth https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0324.1 2024-09-25T18:46:44Z The response of atmospheric heat transport to anthropogenic warming is determined by the anomalous meridional energy gradient. Feedback analysis offers a characterization of that gradient and hence reveals how uncertainty in physical processes may translate into uncertainty in the circulation response. However, individual feedbacks do not act in isolation. Anomalies associated with one feedback may be compensated by another, as is the case for the positive water vapor and negative lapse rate feedbacks in the tropics. Here a set of idealized experiments are performed in an aquaplanet model to evaluate the coupling between the surface albedo feedback and other feedbacks, including the impact on atmospheric heat transport. In the tropics, the dynamical response manifests as changes in the intensity and structure of the overturning Hadley circulation. Only half of the range of Hadley cell weakening exhibited in these experiments is found to be attributable to imposed, systematic variations in the surface albedo feedback. Changes in extratropical clouds that accompany the albedo changes explain the remaining spread. The feedback-driven circulation changes are compensated by eddy energy flux changes, which reduce the overall spread among experiments. These findings have implications for the efficiency with which the climate system, including tropical circulation and the hydrological cycle, adjusts to high-latitude feedbacks over climate states that range from perennial or seasonal ice to ice-free conditions in the Arctic. © 2017 American Meteorological Society. Manuscript received 20 April 2016, in final form 22 August 2016. We thank Dorian Abbot, Tim Cronin, and an anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments on the manuscript. We also thank the editor, Karen Shell. NF was supported by the National Science Foundation (AGS-1524569), and SB was partially supported by the National Science Foundation (AGS-1462544). Published - jcli-d-16-0324.1.pdf Article in Journal/Newspaper albedo Arctic Climate change Caltech Authors (California Institute of Technology) Arctic Dorian ENVELOPE(-63.497,-63.497,-64.815,-64.815) Journal of Climate 30 1 189 201 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Caltech Authors (California Institute of Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftcaltechauth |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Energy transport Climate change Climate sensitivity Feedback |
spellingShingle |
Energy transport Climate change Climate sensitivity Feedback Feldl, Nicole Bordoni, Simona Merlis, Timothy M. Coupled High-Latitude Climate Feedbacks and Their Impact on Atmospheric Heat Transport |
topic_facet |
Energy transport Climate change Climate sensitivity Feedback |
description |
The response of atmospheric heat transport to anthropogenic warming is determined by the anomalous meridional energy gradient. Feedback analysis offers a characterization of that gradient and hence reveals how uncertainty in physical processes may translate into uncertainty in the circulation response. However, individual feedbacks do not act in isolation. Anomalies associated with one feedback may be compensated by another, as is the case for the positive water vapor and negative lapse rate feedbacks in the tropics. Here a set of idealized experiments are performed in an aquaplanet model to evaluate the coupling between the surface albedo feedback and other feedbacks, including the impact on atmospheric heat transport. In the tropics, the dynamical response manifests as changes in the intensity and structure of the overturning Hadley circulation. Only half of the range of Hadley cell weakening exhibited in these experiments is found to be attributable to imposed, systematic variations in the surface albedo feedback. Changes in extratropical clouds that accompany the albedo changes explain the remaining spread. The feedback-driven circulation changes are compensated by eddy energy flux changes, which reduce the overall spread among experiments. These findings have implications for the efficiency with which the climate system, including tropical circulation and the hydrological cycle, adjusts to high-latitude feedbacks over climate states that range from perennial or seasonal ice to ice-free conditions in the Arctic. © 2017 American Meteorological Society. Manuscript received 20 April 2016, in final form 22 August 2016. We thank Dorian Abbot, Tim Cronin, and an anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments on the manuscript. We also thank the editor, Karen Shell. NF was supported by the National Science Foundation (AGS-1524569), and SB was partially supported by the National Science Foundation (AGS-1462544). Published - jcli-d-16-0324.1.pdf |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Feldl, Nicole Bordoni, Simona Merlis, Timothy M. |
author_facet |
Feldl, Nicole Bordoni, Simona Merlis, Timothy M. |
author_sort |
Feldl, Nicole |
title |
Coupled High-Latitude Climate Feedbacks and Their Impact on Atmospheric Heat Transport |
title_short |
Coupled High-Latitude Climate Feedbacks and Their Impact on Atmospheric Heat Transport |
title_full |
Coupled High-Latitude Climate Feedbacks and Their Impact on Atmospheric Heat Transport |
title_fullStr |
Coupled High-Latitude Climate Feedbacks and Their Impact on Atmospheric Heat Transport |
title_full_unstemmed |
Coupled High-Latitude Climate Feedbacks and Their Impact on Atmospheric Heat Transport |
title_sort |
coupled high-latitude climate feedbacks and their impact on atmospheric heat transport |
publisher |
American Meteorological Society |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0324.1 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-63.497,-63.497,-64.815,-64.815) |
geographic |
Arctic Dorian |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Dorian |
genre |
albedo Arctic Climate change |
genre_facet |
albedo Arctic Climate change |
op_source |
Journal of Climate, 30(1), 189-201, (2017-01) |
op_relation |
eprintid:74234 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Other |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0324.1 |
container_title |
Journal of Climate |
container_volume |
30 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
189 |
op_container_end_page |
201 |
_version_ |
1812182297623920640 |