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Narrowing of the ITCZ in a warming climate : physical mechanisms
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dc.contributor.author | Byrne, Michael P. | |
dc.contributor.author | Schneider, Tapio | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2018-11-09T15:31:12Z | |
dc.date.available | 2018-11-09T15:31:12Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2016-11-16 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Byrne , M P & Schneider , T 2016 , ' Narrowing of the ITCZ in a warming climate : physical mechanisms ' , Geophysical Research Letters , vol. 43 , no. 21 , pp. 11350-11357 . https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL070396 | en |
dc.identifier.issn | 0094-8276 | |
dc.identifier.other | PURE: 256498833 | |
dc.identifier.other | PURE UUID: 2430ec8c-0d00-4086-aed1-1c001eadde46 | |
dc.identifier.other | Scopus: 84998706967 | |
dc.identifier.other | ORCID: /0000-0001-9019-3915/work/64034825 | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10023/16426 | |
dc.description.abstract | The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) narrows in response to global warming in both observations and climate models. However, a physical understanding of this narrowing is lacking. Here we show that the narrowing of the ITCZ in simulations of future climate is related to changes in the moist static energy (MSE) budget. MSE advection by the mean circulation and MSE divergence by transient eddies tend to narrow the ITCZ, while changes in net energy input to the atmosphere and the gross moist stability tend to widen the ITCZ. The narrowing tendency arises because the meridional MSE gradient strengthens with warming, whereas the largest widening tendency is due to increasing shortwave heating of the atmosphere. The magnitude of the ITCZ narrowing depends strongly on the gross moist stability and clouds, emphasizing the need to better understand these fundamental processes in the tropical atmosphere. | |
dc.format.extent | 8 | |
dc.language.iso | eng | |
dc.relation.ispartof | Geophysical Research Letters | en |
dc.rights | Copyright © 2016. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the final published version of the work, which was originally published at: https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL070396 | en |
dc.subject | ITCZ narrowing | en |
dc.subject | Climate change | en |
dc.subject | Physical mechanisms | en |
dc.subject | Atmospheric energy budget | en |
dc.subject | GE Environmental Sciences | en |
dc.subject | QE Geology | en |
dc.subject | 3rd-DAS | en |
dc.subject | BDC | en |
dc.subject | SDG 13 - Climate Action | en |
dc.subject.lcc | GE | en |
dc.subject.lcc | QE | en |
dc.title | Narrowing of the ITCZ in a warming climate : physical mechanisms | en |
dc.type | Journal article | en |
dc.description.version | Publisher PDF | en |
dc.contributor.institution | University of St Andrews. School of Earth & Environmental Sciences | en |
dc.identifier.doi | https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL070396 | |
dc.description.status | Peer reviewed | en |
dc.date.embargoedUntil | 2017-05-09 |
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