Global Warming

Here are the current Papers & Articles under the research topic Global Warming. Click on the title of a paper you are interested in to go straight to the full paper. See also Arctic; Antarctic; Arctic Warming/Amplification for papers specifically on those regions.

A real-time Global Warming Index

Expansion of the Hadley cell under global warming
Published March 2007
Abstract:
A consistent weakening and poleward expansion of the Hadley circulation is diagnosed in the climate change simulations of the IPCC AR4 project. Associated with this widening is a poleward expansion of the subtropical dry zone. Simple scaling analysis supports the notion that the poleward extent of the Hadley cell is set by the location where the thermally driven jet first becomes baroclinically unstable. The expansion of the Hadley cell is caused by an increase in the subtropical static stability, which pushes poleward the baroclinic instability zone and hence the outer boundary of the Hadley cell.

Expansion of the Hadley Cell under Global Warming: Winter versus Summer
Published Dec 2012
Abstract:
A scaling relationship is introduced to explain the seasonality in the outer boundary of the Hadley cell in both climatology and trend in the simulations of phase 3 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3). In the climatological state, the summer cell reaches higher latitudes than the winter cell since the Hadley cell in summer deviates more from the angular momentum conserving state, resulting in weaker upper-level zonal winds, which enables the Hadley cell to extend farther poleward before becoming baroclinically unstable. The Hadley cell can also reach farther poleward as the ITCZ gets farther away from the equator; hence, the Hadley cell extends farther poleward in solstices than in equinoxes. In terms of trend, a robust poleward expansion of the Hadley cell is diagnosed in all seasons with global warming. The scaling analysis indicates this is mostly due to an increase in the subtropical static stability, which pushes poleward the baroclinically unstable zone and hence the poleward edge of the Hadley cell. The relation between the trends in the Hadley cell edge and the ITCZ is also discussed.

Hadley Cell Expansion (Article)
Abstract:
As global temperatures rise, the temperature difference between the poles and the equator is likely to decrease, expanding the cell of air circulation adjacent to the equator known as the Hadley cell. One effect this has is that mid-latitude regions like the Mediterranean and the Southwestern US are likely to see an increase in sea level pressure—which corresponds to drier weather.

Assessing recent warming using instrumentally homogeneous sea surface temperature records

Atmospheric Dynamics Feedback: Concept, Simulations, and Climate Implications

Global Warming and ENSO – A “Helter-Skelter” Atmosphere

Global Warming and Hurricanes

Projected SSTs over the 21st century: Changes in the mean, variability and extremes for large marine ecosystem regions of Northern Oceans