Understanding the Links between Subtropical and Extratropical Circulation Responses to Climate Change Using Aquaplanet Model Simulations

Abstract

Abstract Previous research has shown that subtropical and extratropical circulations are linked seasonally and in response to climate change. In particular, amplification (weakening) of subtropical stationary eddies is linked to a poleward (equatorward) shift of the extratropical circulation in the Northern Hemisphere. Here the mechanisms linking subtropical and extratropical circulation responses to climate change are examined using prescribed sea surface temperature aquaplanet simulations with a subtropical zonal asymmetry that mimics land–ocean contrasts. A poleward circulation shift occurs in response to uniform global warming even in the presence of subtropical stationary eddies. Subtropical stationary eddies exhibit a weak response to global warming; however, regional warming of temperature (or equivalent potential temperature) over land (ocean) increases (decreases) stationary eddy amplitude and shifts the extratropical circulation poleward (equatorward), consistent with comprehensive models. The stationary eddy response to regional warming is connected to regional moist entropy gradient, energy input to the atmosphere, and gross moist stability changes. Stationary eddy amplitude changes directly affect momentum and moist static energy transport following linear wave and mixing length theories. The transport changes do not follow a fixed-diffusivity framework. Extratropical transient eddy transport changes compensate ~70%–90% of the subtropical stationary eddy transport response. This assumes exact subtropical compensation accounts for a large fraction of the meridional shift of the extratropical circulation in response to regional climate change.