HR: 09:00h
AN: GC11A-05    [Abstracts]
TI: A possible widening of the tropical Hadley cell over the past decades
AU: * Reichler, T
EM: thomas.reichler@utah.edu
AF: University of Utah, 135 S 1460 E, Rm 819 (WBB), Salt Lake City, UT 84108 United States
AU: Held, I
EM: Isaac.Held@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA/GFDL, Princeton University Forrestal Campus, Princeton, NJ 08540 United States
AB: The tropical Hadley cell is an important feature of the general circulation of the atmosphere. The meridional overturning associated with the Hadley cell sets the stage for many tropical-extratropical interactions, and interannual variability and long-term trends of the Hadley cell can give rise to great impacts upon the variability of global climate. We investigate long-term trends of the meridional extent of the Hadley cell using a wide range of observational and model derived data. All data sources show a consistent widening trend of the Hadley cell, which amounts to a few degrees latitude during the past decades. In other words, the tropics have been increasing at the expense of the extratropics. The trend is consistent with other recent findings of decadal changes in the tropical atmosphere. The findings of this study raise the question for the reasons behind those changes and carries implications about future climate change and its resultant impact on global climate.
DE: 1610 Atmosphere (0315, 0325)
DE: 1616 Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513)
DE: 1620 Climate dynamics (0429, 3309)
DE: 1622 Earth system modeling (1225)
DE: 1626 Global climate models (3337, 4928)
SC: Global Climate Change [GC]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005