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The Effect of Arctic Sea Ice Loss on the Hadley Circulation
Author(s) -
Chemke R.,
Polvani L. M.,
Deser C.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2018gl081110
Subject(s) - sea ice , atmosphere (unit) , climatology , arctic sea ice decline , hadley cell , arctic ice pack , environmental science , arctic , climate model , northern hemisphere , atmospheric sciences , cryosphere , ice albedo feedback , arctic geoengineering , greenhouse effect , greenhouse gas , geology , climate change , antarctic sea ice , global warming , oceanography , general circulation model , meteorology , geography
One of the most robust responses of the climate system to future greenhouse gas emissions is the melting of Arctic sea ice. It is thus essential to elucidate its impacts on other components of the climate system. Here we focus on the response of the annual mean Hadley cell (HC) to Arctic sea ice loss using a hierarchy of model configurations: atmosphere only, atmosphere coupled to a slab ocean, and atmosphere coupled to a full‐physics ocean. In response to Arctic sea ice loss, as projected by the end of the 21st century, the HC shows negligible changes in the absence of ocean‐atmosphere coupling. In contrast, by warming the Northern Hemisphere thermodynamic coupling weakens the HC and expands it northward. However, dynamic coupling acts to cool the Northern Hemisphere which cancels most of this weakening and narrows the HC, thus opposing its projected expansion in response to increasing greenhouse gases.