The impact of meridonal wind shear on baroclinic life cycle

Abstract

In this study, initial-value calculations are performed with a primitive equation model to examine whether the stabilizing effect of the horizontal zonal wind shear in the background state can account for the observed variability in baroclinic life cycles. The life cycle calculations show that a greater maximum eddy energy is attained for the observed basic state with anomalously weak horizontal zonal wind shear, suggesting that the horizontal zonal wind shear indeed plays the dominant role in determining the eddy amplitude. In addition, under this weak shear, the life cycle produces a more pronounced poleward jet shift. Because model simulations of warmer climates tend to show both a poleward jet shift and more intense zonally localized tropical convection which tends to produce the weak shear state, the result of this study provides a mechanism whereby the strengthening of tropical convection can contribute toward the poleward jet shift in warm climates.