Recent Strengthening of the Regional Hadley Circulation over the Western Pacific during Boreal Spring

Previous studies suggested that there are large discrepancies in the intensity trend of the zonally averaged Hadley circulation (ZAHC) among different reanalyses. As the land, ocean, and topography are not evenly distributed, the ZAHC may mask the regional variability. Changes in the regional HC have important implications for regional climate change. Here, we detect the long-term trend of the boreal spring regional Hadley circulation intensity over the western Pacific (WPHC) since 1979 in both hemispheres using six reanalysis datasets. Unlike the ZAHC, we find that the trend of the spring WPHC intensity is consistent among various reanalysis datasets. All reanalyses show pronounced strengthening trends for the WPHC in both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, which may be partly attributable to the robust warming trends of sea surface temperature in the tropical western Pacific. The result could improve our understanding of Hadley circulation variability at the regional scale and has implications for regional climate changes.     

Climate sensitivity to changes in solar insolation in a simple coupled climate model

A simple coupled ocean, atmosphere and sea-ice model is presented. The idealised model consists of a zonally averaged land and ocean strip of constant angular width extending from pole to pole. The meridional energy transport in the ocean is modelled by contributions from the large scale thermohaline overturning cells and from horizontal diffusive fluxes. The atmospheric meridional energy transports are parametrised as diffusive fluxes in addition to advective transports in the Hadley domain. This parametrisation resolves the equatorward moisture transport as well as the poleward transport of potential energy in the upper branch of the Hadley circulation. The model reproduces the annual averaged meridional energy transports in the climate system with a small number of free model parameters. The basic feedbacks between the three climatic components are studied by investigating the model's sensitivity towards reductions in the solar insolation. It is found that the meridional energy transport in the ocean does not amplify the ice albedo feedback. This has important implications for modelling the climate sensitivity in atmosphere-only models, as these would exaggerate the sensitivity to changes in the solar insolation if their parametrisations of the meridional energy transport are constrained by surface temperatures. The role of the dependence of the atmospheric transports on the meridional temperature gradient is shown to have a significant influence on the sensitivity on the coupled model, and the inclusion of seasonal cycles greatly increase the models sensitivity. The Hadley circulation does significantly alter the strength of the ice-albedo feedback in the coupled model. The idealised configuration of the model makes it a useful tool for studying the feedbacks in the ocean-atmosphere-sea ice system in the context of the "Snowball Earth" hypothesis.     

南极海冰涛动对北半球夏季大气环流的影响

南极海冰首要模态呈现偶极子型异常,正负异常中心分别位于别林斯高晋海/阿蒙森海和威德尔海。过去研究表明冬春季节南极海冰涛动异常对后期南极涛动（Antarctic Oscillation,AAO）型大气环流有显著影响,而AAO可以通过经向遥相关等机制影响北半球大气环流和东亚气候。本文中我们利用观测分析发现南极海冰涛动从5～7月（May–July,MJJ）到8～10月（August–October, ASO）有很好的持续性,并进一步分析其对北半球夏季大气环流的可能影响及其物理过程。结果表明,MJJ南极海冰涛动首先通过冰气相互作用在南半球激发持续性的AAO型大气环流异常,使得南半球中纬度和极地及热带之间的气压梯度加大,在MJJ至JAS,纬向平均纬向风呈现显著的正负相间的从南极到北极的经向遥相关型分布。对流层中层位势高度场上,在澳大利亚北部到海洋性大陆区域,出现显著的负异常,在东亚沿岸从低纬到高纬呈现南北走向的“? + ?”太平洋—日本（Pacific–Japan,PJ）遥相关波列,其对应赤道中部太平洋及赤道印度洋存在显著的降水和海温负异常,西北太平洋至我国东部沿海地区存在显著降水正异常和温度负异常;低纬度北美洲到大西洋一带存在的负位势高度异常和北大西洋附近存在的正位势高度异常中心,构成一个类似于西大西洋型遥相关（Western Atlantic,WA）的结构,对应赤道南大西洋降水增加和南撒哈拉地区降水减少。从物理过程来看,南极海冰涛动首先通过局地效应影响Ferrel环流,进而通过经圈环流调整使得海洋性大陆区域和热带大西洋上方的Hadley环流上升支得到增强,海洋性大陆区域特别是菲律宾附近的热带对流活动偏强,激发类似于负位相的PJ波列,影响东亚北太平洋地区的大气环流,而热带大西洋对流增强和北传特征,则通过激发WA遥相关影响大西洋和欧洲地区的大气环流。以上两种通道将持续性MJJ至ASO南极海冰涛动强迫的大气环流信号从南半球中高纬度经热带地区传递到北半球中高纬地区,从而对热带和北半球夏季大气环流产生显著影响。     

Upscale effects in simulations of tropical convection on an equatorial beta-plane

A cloud-resolving model is configured to span the full meridional extent of the tropical atmosphere and have sufficient zonal extent to permit the representation of tropical cloud super-clusters. This is made computationally feasible by the use of anisotropic horizontal grids where one horizontal coordinate direction has over an order of magnitude finer resolution than the other direction. Typically, the meridional direction is chosen to have the coarser resolution (40 km grid spacing) and the zonal direction has enough resolution to ‘permit’ crude convective squall line ascent (1 km grid spacing). The aim was to run in cloud-resolving model (CRM) mode yet still have sufficient meridional resolution and extent to capture the equatorial trapped waves and the Hadley circulation. The large-scale circulation is driven by imposed uniform tropospheric cooling in conjunction with a fixed sea surface temperature distribution. At quasi-equilibrium the flow is characterized by sub-tropical jetstreams, tropical squall line systems that form eastward-propagating super-clusters, tropical depressions and even hurricanes.Two scientific issues are briefly addressed by the simulations: what forces the Hadley circulation and the nature of stratospheric waves appearing in the simulation. It is found that the presence of a meridional sea surface temperature gradient is not sufficient on its own to force a realistic Hadley circulation even though convection communicates the underlying temperature gradient to the atmosphere. It is shown in a simulation that accounts for the observed time and zonal-mean momentum forcing effect of large-scale eddies (originating in middle latitudes) that the heaviest precipitation is concentrated near the equator in association with moisture flux convergence driven by the Trade winds.A spectral analysis of the stratospheric waves found on the equator using the dispersion relation for equatorially-trapped waves provides strong evidence for the existence of a domain-scale Kelvin wave together with eastward and westward propagating inertia-gravity waves. The eastward-propagating stratospheric waves appear to be part of a convectively coupled wave system travelling at about 15 ms⁻¹.     

Observational Evidence for Poleward Expansion of the Hadley Circulation

How the Hadley circulation changes in response to global climate change and how its change impacts upon regional and global climates has generated a lot of interest in the literature in the past few years. In this paper, consistent and statistically significant poleward expansion of the Hadley circulation in the past few decades is demonstrated, using independent observational datasets as proxy measures of the Hadley circulation. Both observational outgoing longwave radiation and precipitation datasets show an annual average total poleward expansion of the Hadley cells of about 3.6° latitude. Sea level pressure from observational and reanalysis datasets show smaller magnitudes of poleward expansion, of about 1.2° latitude. Ensemble general circulation model simulations forced by observed time-varying sea surface temperatures were found to generate a total poleward expansion of about 1.23°latitude. Possible mechanisms behind the changes in the horizontal extent of the Hadley circulation are discussed.     

A study on the physical processes of the formation of the ENSO cycle

The physical processes involved in the formation of the ENSO cycle,as well as the possible roles of the Hadley circulation （HC）,Walker circulation （WC）,and the propagating waves of the Southern Oscillation/Northern Oscillation （SO/NO） in its formation,were studied using composite and regression methods.The analysis showed that the convection and heat release triggered by ENSO in the central-eastern equatorial Pacific are the primary drivers for the 3-5 year cycle of the HC,WC and the meridional/zonal circulation.The HC plays a key role in the influence of ENSO on the circulation outside the tropics through angular momentum transportation.Meanwhile,the feedback effects of the anomalous circulation in the mid-high latitudes on ENSO are accomplished by the propagating waves of SO/NO associated with the evolutions of HC and WC.These propagating waves are the main agents of the connections among the meridional/zonal circulation outside the tropics,the Asian/Australian monsoon,the anomalous easterly/westerly winds over the tropical Pacific,and ENSO events.It was found that the 3-5 year cycle of the meridional/zonal circulation forced by ENSO is quite different from the several-week variation of the circulation index triggered by the inner dynamic processes of the atmosphere.The former occurs at the global scale with a definite flow pattern,while the latter occurs only in a wide area without a definite flow pattern.Finally,a physical model for the formation of the ENSO cycle composed of two fundamental processes at the basin and global scale,respectively,is proposed.     

The impact of natural versus anthropogenic aerosols on atmospheric circulation in the Community Atmosphere Model

The equilibrium response of atmospheric circulation to the direct radiative effects of natural or anthropogenic aerosols is investigated using the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM3) coupled to two different ocean boundary conditions: prescribed climatological sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and a slab ocean model. Anthropogenic and natural aerosols significantly affect the circulation but in nearly opposite ways, because anthropogenic aerosols tend to have a net local warming effect and natural aerosols a net cooling. Aerosol forcings shift the Intertropical Convergence Zone and alter the strength of the Hadley circulation as found in previous studies, but also affect the Hadley cell width. These effects are due to meridional gradients in warming caused by heterogeneous net heating, and are stronger with interactive SST. Aerosols also drive model responses at high latitudes, including polar near-surface warming by anthropogenic aerosols in summer and an Arctic Oscillation (AO)-type responses in winter: anthropogenic aerosols strengthen wintertime zonal wind near 60°N, weaken it near 30°N, warm the troposphere, cool the stratosphere, and reduce Arctic surface pressure, while natural aerosols produce nearly opposite changes. These responses are shown to be due to modulation of stratospheric wave-driving consistent with meridional forcing gradients in midlatitudes. They are more pronounced when SST is fixed, apparently because the contrast in land-ocean heating drives a predominantly wavenumber-2 response in the northern hemisphere which is more efficient in reaching the stratosphere, showing that zonal heating variations also affect this particular response. The results suggest that recent shifts from reflecting to absorbing aerosol types probably contributed to the observed decadal variations in tropical width and AO, although studies with more realistic temporal variations in forcing would be needed to quantify this contribution.     

A tripole winter precipitation change pattern around the Tibetan Plateau in the late 1990s

Classical monsoon dynamics considers the winter/spring snow amount on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) as a major factor driving the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) for its direct influence on the land–sea thermal contrast. Actually, the TP snow increased and decreased after the late 1970s and 1990s, respectively, accompanying the two major interdecadal changes in the EASM. Although studies have explored the possible mechanisms of the EASM interdecadal variations, and change in TP snow is considered as one of the major drivers, few studies have illustrated the underlying mechanisms of the interdecadal changes in the winter TP snow. This study reveals a tripole pattern of change, with decreased winter precipitation over the TP and an increase to its north and south after the late 1990s. Further analyses through numerical experiments demonstrate that the tropical Pacific SST changes in the late 1990s can robustly affect the winter TP precipitation through regulating the Walker and regional Hadley circulation. The cooling over the tropical central-eastern Pacific can enhance the Walker circulation cell over the Pacific and induce ascending motion anomalies over the Indo-Pacific region. These anomalies further drive descending motion anomalies over the TP and ascending motion anomalies to the north through regulating the regional Hadley circulation. Therefore, the positive–negative–positive winter precipitation anomalies around the TP are formed. This study improves the previously poor understanding of TP climate variation at interdecadal timescales.摘要在20世纪70年代和90年代末, 伴随着东亚夏季风的两次主要年代际变化, 高原积雪分别显著增加和减少. 尽管很多学者研究了东亚夏季风年代际变化的可能机制, 高原积雪变化也被认为是主要因素之一, 但是关于高原冬季积雪本身发生年代际变化的潜在机制尚鲜有研究. 本文揭示了20世纪90年代末高原及周边冬季降水的三极子变化特征: 高原主体上空主要为降水减少, 其南北两侧区域降水增加. 数值试验结果表明, 热带太平洋海温变化可以通过调节沃克环流和局地哈德莱环流, 对上述三极子降水变化型态产生显著影响.     

The response of the South Asian Summer Monsoon circulation to intensified irrigation in global climate model simulations

Agricultural intensification in South Asia has resulted in the expansion and intensification of surface irrigation over the twentieth century. The resulting changes to the surface energy balance could affect the temperature contrasts between the South Asian land surface and the equatorial Indian Ocean, potentially altering the South Asian Summer Monsoon (SASM) circulation. Prior studies have noted apparent declines in the monsoon intensity over the twentieth century and have focused on how altered surface energy balances impact the SASM rainfall distribution. Here, we use the coupled Goddard Institute for Space Studies ModelE-R general circulation model to investigate the impact of intensifying irrigation on the large-scale SASM circulation over the twentieth century, including how the effect of irrigation compares to the impact of increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) forcing. We force our simulations with time-varying, historical estimates of irrigation, both alone and with twentieth century GHGs and other forcings. In the irrigation only experiment, irrigation rates correlate strongly with lower and upper level temperature contrasts between the Indian sub-continent and the Indian Ocean (Pearson’s r = ?0.66 and r = ?0.46, respectively), important quantities that control the strength of the SASM circulation. When GHG forcing is included, these correlations strengthen: r = ?0.72 and r = ?0.47 for lower and upper level temperature contrasts, respectively. Under irrigated conditions, the mean SASM intensity in the model decreases only slightly and insignificantly. However, in the simulation with irrigation and GHG forcing, inter-annual variability of the SASM circulation decreases by ~40 %, consistent with trends in the reanalysis products. This suggests that the inclusion of irrigation may be necessary to accurately simulate the historical trends and variability of the SASM system over the last 50 years. These findings suggest that intensifying irrigation, in concert with increased GHG forcing, is capable of reducing the variability of the simulated SASM circulation and altering the regional moisture transport by limiting the surface warming and reducing land–sea temperature gradients.     

我国秋季降水的年际变化及与热带太平洋海温异常分布的关系

利用我国160个站点58年(1951～2008年)的降水资料、NCEP/NCAR再分析环流资料和Hadley海表温度资料,对我国秋季降水年际变化的特征和可能成因进行了分析。结果显示,秋季降水前两模态分别反映长江流域及以南地区和长江以北的江淮、黄淮、华北、四川盆地北部至河套等地降水的变化,两降水模态的变化都以年际尺度为主,年代际变化特征不明显。就环流形势而言,第一模态的年际变化主要与西太平洋副热带高压的强度及相应的对流层低层菲律宾群岛附近的异常气旋/反气旋联系紧密,第二模态的年际变化则可能受到副热带高压的南北位置和相应的日本岛附近的异常气旋/反气旋的影响。同时,两模态及相应的异常环流还分别与热带东印度洋和热带西太平洋附近的异常垂直运动关系密切,热带地区的异常垂直运动可能通过经圈方向的异常环流影响到东亚地区。此外,两降水模态不仅与热带地区的异常环流关系密切,而且与热带海温异常也存在紧密的联系。与两模态相关联的热带太平洋海温异常显示出不同的分布特征,当热带东太平洋偏暖/冷,西太平洋偏冷/暖时,长江以南地区降水偏多/少。而当热带东太平洋和中太平洋一致偏暖/冷时,长江以北地区降水易偏少/多。两降水模态与热带海温及热带地区异常环流之间的密切关系显示热带太平洋海温异常的不同分布可能通过激发不同的热带地区异常垂直环流形势而对降水产生影响。     

Upscale effects in simulations of tropical convection on an equatorial beta-plane

A cloud-resolving model is configured to span the full meridional extent of the tropical atmosphere and have sufficient zonal extent to permit the representation of tropical cloud super-clusters. This is made computationally feasible by the use of anisotropic horizontal grids where one horizontal coordinate direction has over an order of magnitude finer resolution than the other direction. Typically, the meridional direction is chosen to have the coarser resolution (40 km grid spacing) and the zonal direction has enough resolution to ‘permit’ crude convective squall line ascent (1 km grid spacing). The aim was to run in cloud-resolving model (CRM) mode yet still have sufficient meridional resolution and extent to capture the equatorial trapped waves and the Hadley circulation. The large-scale circulation is driven by imposed uniform tropospheric cooling in conjunction with a fixed sea surface temperature distribution. At quasi-equilibrium the flow is characterized by sub-tropical jetstreams, tropical squall line systems that form eastward-propagating super-clusters, tropical depressions and even hurricanes.Two scientific issues are briefly addressed by the simulations: what forces the Hadley circulation and the nature of stratospheric waves appearing in the simulation. It is found that the presence of a meridional sea surface temperature gradient is not sufficient on its own to force a realistic Hadley circulation even though convection communicates the underlying temperature gradient to the atmosphere. It is shown in a simulation that accounts for the observed time and zonal-mean momentum forcing effect of large-scale eddies (originating in middle latitudes) that the heaviest precipitation is concentrated near the equator in association with moisture flux convergence driven by the Trade winds.A spectral analysis of the stratospheric waves found on the equator using the dispersion relation for equatorially-trapped waves provides strong evidence for the existence of a domain-scale Kelvin wave together with eastward and westward propagating inertia-gravity waves. The eastward-propagating stratospheric waves appear to be part of a convectively coupled wave system travelling at about 15 ms⁻¹.     

东北春季极端连续无雨日与前冬北太平洋海平面气压的可能联系北大核心

基于1960—2019年中国东北地区108个台站逐日降水资料、JRA-55再分析资料和Hadley中心海温数据,分析了东北地区春季极端连续无雨日的年际变化特征及其与前冬北太平洋地区大气环流和海表温度的关系。研究表明,东北地区春季极端连续无雨日集中在3—4月。当3—4月极端连续无雨日偏多时,贝加尔湖地区存在异常高压,东北地区受偏北气流影响,局地水汽辐散。进一步分析发现,东北地区3—4月极端连续无雨日与前冬1—2月北太平洋地区偶极型海平面气压存在密切联系。该大气模态可以引起同期北太平洋海温呈现出马蹄形异常分布并持续到3—4月。在3—4月,海温异常可以通过改变北太平洋上空的经向温度梯度,引起东亚到北太平洋地区的西风变化,进而有利于贝加尔湖地区出现异常高压。另一方面,海温异常还会增强北半球中纬度的波列活动,东传的波列也可以增强贝加尔湖地区的高压。上述异常环流为东北地区极端连续无雨日的增加提供了有利背景条件。留一交叉验证结果显示,前冬1—2月北太平洋地区偶极型海平面气压可作为东北春季极端连续无雨日的潜在预测因子。     

The LMDZ4 general circulation model: climate performance and sensitivity to parametrized physics with emphasis on tropical convection

The LMDZ4 general circulation model is the atmospheric component of the IPSL–CM4 coupled model which has been used to perform climate change simulations for the 4th IPCC assessment report. The main aspects of the model climatology (forced by observed sea surface temperature) are documented here, as well as the major improvements with respect to the previous versions, which mainly come form the parametrization of tropical convection. A methodology is proposed to help analyse the sensitivity of the tropical Hadley–Walker circulation to the parametrization of cumulus convection and clouds. The tropical circulation is characterized using scalar potentials associated with the horizontal wind and horizontal transport of geopotential (the Laplacian of which is proportional to the total vertical momentum in the atmospheric column). The effect of parametrized physics is analysed in a regime sorted framework using the vertical velocity at 500 hPa as a proxy for large scale vertical motion. Compared to Tiedtke’s convection scheme, used in previous versions, the Emanuel’s scheme improves the representation of the Hadley–Walker circulation, with a relatively stronger and deeper large scale vertical ascent over tropical continents, and suppresses the marked patterns of concentrated rainfall over oceans. Thanks to the regime sorted analyses, these differences are attributed to intrinsic differences in the vertical distribution of convective heating, and to the lack of self-inhibition by precipitating downdraughts in Tiedtke’s parametrization. Both the convection and cloud schemes are shown to control the relative importance of large scale convection over land and ocean, an important point for the behaviour of the coupled model.     

Local Hadley circulation over the Asian monsoon region associated with the Tropospheric Biennial Oscillation

Summary The Tropospheric Biennial Oscillation (TBO), a major interannual variation phenomenon in the Indo-Pacific region, is the result of strong ocean-atmosphere coupling over the Asian-Australian monsoon area. Along with other meteorological and oceanographic parameters, the tropical circulation also exhibits interannual oscillations. Even though the TBO is the result of strong air–sea interaction, the circulation cells during TBO years are, as yet, not well understood. In the present study, an attempt has been made to understand the interannual variability of the mean meridional circulation and local monsoon circulation over south Asia in connection with the TBO. The stream function computed from the zonal mean meridional wind component of NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data for the years 1950–2003 is used to represent the mean meridional circulation. Mean meridional mass transport in the topics reverses from a weak monsoon to a strong monsoon in the presence of ENSO, but in normal TBO years mean transport remains weak across the Northern Hemisphere. The meridional temperature gradient, which drives the mean meridional circulation, also shows no reversal during the normal TBO cycle. The local Hadley circulation over the monsoon area follows the TBO cycle with anomalous ascent (descent) in strong (weak) monsoon years. During normal TBO years, the Equatorial region and Indian monsoon areas exhibit opposite local Hadley circulation anomalies. Authors’ addresses: Prasanth A. Pillai, Research Scholar, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Lakeside Campus, Cochin 682016, India; K. Mohan Kumar, Professor & Dean, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Lakeside Campus, Cochin 682016, India.     

北半球冬季110°—120°E垂直经向环流的年际变化及其与中国东部同期降水的关系

利用NCEP／NCAR再分析月平均风场资料和中国东部120个站的降水资料,分析了1951--2010年北半球冬季110°-120°E经向环流的气候特征,定义了北半球冬季110°-120°E低纬Hadley环流和中高纬气流强度指数,并分析了其强度的长期变化趋势以及对中国东部同期降水的影响。结果表明：（1）北半球冬季110°-120°E经向环流主要包括低纬Hadley环流和中高纬度从高层到低层较-致的偏北下沉气流。（2）北半球冬季110°-120°EHadley环流和中高纬气流强度有明显的年际和年代际变化,二者在长期变化趋势上表现-致,即在1990年以前呈约20a的振荡周期,且波动更大,而在1990年以后呈约10a的振荡周期,波动相对较小。（3）北半球冬季110°-120°E经向环流强度指数对中国东部同期降水的年际变率具有较高的解释率,二者在统计上呈显著的负相关关系。北半球冬季110°-120°EHadley环流强度和中国东部同期降水相关程度大值区集中在江南、华南及江淮地区,中高纬气流强度和中国东部同期降水相关程度大值区集中在西北、江淮及江南地区。（4）东亚地区冬季经向环流异常的显著差异主要表现在中高纬度反向的异常气流和中低纬度反向异常环流圈的变化。强（弱）经向风年,北半球中高纬度从高层到低层为异常的偏北（南）气流,中低纬度对流层存在顺时针（逆时针）方向闭合的异常经向环流,对应中国东部降水显著减少（增多）。     

夏季东亚副热带经圈环流特征及其对长江流域降水的影响

利用NCEP/NCAR 1979-2009年月平均风场资料,用质量流函数来定义东亚副热带的经圈环流指数,分析夏季(6-8月)东亚副热带经圈环流特征.结果表明,夏季东亚地区受反Hadlev环流影响,表现出与全球平均经圈环流不同的特征,用指数表征的东亚副热带经圈环流强度存在明显的年际和年代际变化.另外,利用相关性及水汽通量...     

Circulation statistics and climate change in Central Europe: PRUDENCE simulations and observations

PRUDENCE simulations of the climate in Central Europe are analysed with respect to mean temperature, mean precipitation and three monthly mean geostrophic circulation indices. The three global models show important circulation biases in the control climate, in particular in the strength of the west-circulations in winter and summer. The nine regional models inherit much of the circulation biases from their host model, especially in winter. In summer, the regional models show a larger spread in circulation statistics, depending on nesting procedures and other model characteristics. Simulated circulation biases appear to have a significant inluence on simulated temperature and precipitation. The PRUDENCE ensemble appears to be biased towards warmer and wetter than observed circulations in winter, and towards warmer and dryer circulations in summer. A2-scenario simulations show important circulation changes, which have a significant impact on changes in the distributions of monthly mean temperature and precipitation. It is likely that interactions between land–surface processes and atmospheric circulation play an important role in the simulated changes in the summer climate in Central Europe.     

Recent climatic trends in the tropical Atlantic

A homogeneous monthly data set of sea surface temperature (SST) and pseudo wind stress based on in situ observations is used to investigate the climatic trends over the tropical Atlantic during the last five decades (1964–2012). After a decrease of SST by about 1 °C during 1964–1975, most apparent in the northern tropical region, the entire tropical basin warmed up. That warming was the most substantial (>1 °C) in the eastern tropical ocean and in the longitudinal band of the intertropical convergence zone. Surprisingly, the trade wind system also strengthened over the peirod 1964–2012. Complementary information extracted from other observational data sources confirms the simultaneity of SST warming and the strengthening of the surface winds. Examining data sets of surface heat flux during the last few decades for the same region, we find that the SST warming was not a consequence of atmospheric heat flux forcing. Conversely, we suggest that long-term SST warming drives changes in atmosphere parameters at the sea surface, most notably an increase in latent heat flux, and that an acceleration of the hydrological cycle induces a strengthening of the trade winds and an acceleration of the Hadley circulation. These trends are also accompanied by rising sea levels and upper ocean heat content over similar multi-decadal time scales in the tropical Atlantic. Though more work is needed to fully understand these long term trends, especially what happens from the mid-1970’s, it is likely that changes in ocean circulation involving some combination of the Atlantic meridional overtuning circulation and the subtropical cells are required to explain the observations.     

The impact of land cover change on the atmospheric circulation

 The NCAR Community Climate Model (version 3), coupled to the Biosphere Atmosphere Transfer scheme and a mixed layer ocean model is used to investigate the impact on the climate of a conservative change from natural to present land cover. Natural vegetation cover was obtained from an ecophysiologically constrained biome model. The current vegetation cover was obtained by perturbing the natural cover from forest to grass over areas where land cover has been observed to change. Simulations were performed for 17 years for each case (results from the last 15 years are presented here). We find that land cover changes, largely constrained to the tropics, SE Asia, North America and Europe, cause statistically significant changes in regional temperature and precipitation but cause no impact on the globally averaged temperature or precipitation. The perturbation in land cover in the tropics and SE Asia teleconnect to higher latitudes by changing the position and strength of key elements of the general circulation (the Hadley and Walker circulations). Many of the areas where statistically significant changes occur are remote from the location of land cover change. Historical land cover change is not typically included in transitory climate simulations, and it may be that the simulation of the patterns of temperature change over the twentieth century by climate models will be further improved by taking it into account. Received: 27 May 1999 / Accepted: July 2000