Department of Earth System Science

The response of the atmospheric winter circulation in both hemispheres to changes in the meridional gradient of sea surface temperature (SST) is examined in an atmospheric general circulation model. Climatological SSTs are employed for the control run. The other runs differ in that a zonally symmetric component is added to or subtracted from the climatological SST field. The meridional structure of the variation in SST gradient is based on the observed change in zonally averaged SST over the last century. The SST trend has maxima of about 1 K at high latitudes of both hemispheres. Elsewhere, the increase in SST over the last century is fairly uniform at about 0.5 K.

In both hemispheres the response to decreased SST gradients is decreased baroclinity in the lower troposphere and increased baroclinity in the upper troposphere, with the reverse response when the SST gradient is increased. Because the cases with decreased SST gradients correspond to warmer SSTs everywhere, they are accompanied by an increase in moisture and a general expansion of the troposphere. The warming cases in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) winter are marked by greatly increased tropical convection, a stronger subtropical jet that is shifted upward and equatorward, and a robust stationary-wave response. Many aspects of the response are remarkably consistent among the different warming experiments, both in pattern and amplitude. The storm-track response is weaker but still consistent among the different warming experiments. Despite general decrease in storm-track activity, there is a tendency for the upper-level NH storm tracks to strengthen at their downstream end and to weaken at their upstream and northward end. When the zonally symmetric SST anomaly field is subtracted from the climatological SST (resulting in lower SST with increased latitudinal gradient), the response is different in many fields and is considerably weaker.

In the winter Southern Hemisphere the change in baroclinity of the low-level flow plays a greater role in the response than in the winter NH. The response in the storm track is zonal with a decrease in midlatitude storm-track activity in the warming cases and an increase in the case that has an increased SST gradient (and cooler SST). There is close correspondence between the pattern of response in all the experiments, irrespective of the sign of the SST anomaly field.