Investigating the role of tropical and extratropical waves in the Hadley circulation via present‐day Earth‐like to globally uniform sea‐surface temperature forcing

Abstract

The tropical overturning circulation is examined in a moist aquaplanet general circulation model forced using a non‐interactive sea‐surface temperature (SST) distribution that varies between a present‐day Earth‐like profile and one that is globally uniform. A Hadley cell (HC)‐like flow is observed in all experiments along with the poleward transport of heat and angular momentum. In simulations with non‐zero SST gradients, deep convection near the Equator sets up a deep tropical cell; midlatitude baroclinic Rossby waves flux heat and angular momentum poleward, reinforcing the thermally direct circulation. As the imposed SST gradient is weakened, the HC transitions from a thermally and eddy‐driven regime to one that is completely eddy‐driven. When the SST is globally uniform, equatorial waves concentrate precipitation in the Tropics and facilitate the lower‐level convergence necessary for the ascending branch of the HC. Midlatitude Rossby waves generated near the surface become very weak, but upper‐level baroclinicity generates waves that cause equatorward transport of heat and poleward transport of momentum. Moreover, these upper‐level waves induce a circulation that opposes the time‐mean HC, thus highlighting the role of tropical waves in driving an overturning circulation that looks similar to the present‐day Earth‐like case, even for the case with globally uniform SSTs. In all cases, anomalies associated with the tropical waves closely resemble those that sum to give the upper‐level zonal mean divergent outflow. Through their ability to modulate tropical rainfall and the related latent heating, equatorial waves cause considerable hemispheric asymmetry in the HC and impart synoptic and intraseasonal variability to the tropical overturning circulation.