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Weakening of Upward Mass but Intensification of Upward Energy Transport in a Warming Climate
Author(s) -
Wu Yutian,
Lu Jian,
Pauluis Olivier
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 - 10.1029/2018gl081399
Subject(s) - energy transport , environmental science , mass transport , atmospheric sciences , energy balance , greenhouse gas , climatology , energy budget , climate change , physics , geology , oceanography , engineering physics , thermodynamics
How the atmospheric overturning circulation is projected to change is important for understanding changes in mass and energy budget. This study analyzes the overturning circulation by sorting the upward mass transport in terms of the moist static energy (MSE) of air parcels in an ensemble of coupled climate models. It is found that, in response to greenhouse gas increases, the upward transport of MSE increases in order to balance the increase in radiative cooling of the mass transport. At the same time, the overall mass transport decreases. The increase in energy transport and decrease in mass transport can be explained by the fact that the MSE of rising air parcels increases more rapidly than that of subsiding air, thus allowing for a weaker overturning circulation to transport more energy.