Detecting cross‐equatorial wind change as a fingerprint of climate response to anthropogenic aerosol forcing

Anthropogenic aerosols are a major driver of the twetieth century climate change. In climate models, the aerosol forcing, larger in the Northern than Southern Hemispheres, induces an interhemispheric Hadley circulation. In support of the model result, we detected a robust change in the zonal mean cr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical research letters 2016-04, Vol.43 (7), p.3444-3450
Main Authors: Wang, Hai, Xie, Shang‐Ping, Tokinaga, Hiroki, Liu, Qinyu, Kosaka, Yu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
aerosol fingerprint
Aerosols
Anthropogenic factors
Atmospheric pressure
Atmospherics
Climate change
Climate models
Cloud cover
Computer simulation
cross‐equatorial surface wind
Fingerprints
Geophysics
interhemispheric asymmetry
Sea surface temperature
Transport theory
Wind
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Anthropogenic aerosols are a major driver of the twetieth century climate change. In climate models, the aerosol forcing, larger in the Northern than Southern Hemispheres, induces an interhemispheric Hadley circulation. In support of the model result, we detected a robust change in the zonal mean cross‐equatorial wind over the past 60 years from ship observations and reanalyses, accompanied by physically consistent changes in atmospheric pressure and marine cloud cover. Single‐forcing experiments indicate that the observed change in cross‐equatorial wind is a fingerprint of aerosol forcing. This zonal mean mode follows the evolution of global aerosol forcing that is distinct from regional changes in the Atlantic sector. Atmospheric simulations successfully reproduce this interhemispheric mode, indicating the importance of sea surface temperature mediation in response to anthropogenic aerosol forcing. As societies awaken to reduce aerosol emissions, a phase reversal of this interhemispheric mode is expected in the 21st century. Key Points A model‐observation synergy is developed to identify the anthropogenic aerosol‐induced climate change Cross‐equatorial antisymmetric pattern is a fingerprint of aerosol forcing Zonal mean cross‐equatorial energy transport theory is validated observationally
ISSN:0094-8276
1944-8007
DOI:10.1002/2016GL068521