Toward a unified theory for the Hadley cell descending and ascending edges

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Hill, Spencer A., Bordoni, Simona, Mitchell, Jonathan L.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2021
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author Hill, Spencer A.
Bordoni, Simona
Mitchell, Jonathan L.
author_facet Hill, Spencer A.
Bordoni, Simona
Mitchell, Jonathan L.
contents We present theories for the latitudinal extents of both Hadley cells throughout the annual cycle by combining our recent scaling for the ascending edge latitude (Hill et al. 2021) with the uniform Rossby number (Ro), baroclinic instability-based theory for the poleward, descending edge latitudes of Kang and Lu 2012. The resulting analytic expressions for all three Hadley cell edges are predictive except for diagnosed values of Ro and two proportionality constants. The theory captures the climatological annual cycle of the ascending and descending edges in an Earth-like simulation in an idealized aquaplanet general circulation model (GCM), provided the descending edge prediction is lagged by one month. In simulations in this and two other idealized GCMs with varied planetary rotation rate ($Ω$), the winter, descending edge of the solsticial, cross-equatorial Hadley cell scales approximately as $Ω^{-1/2}$ and the summer, ascending edge as $Ω^{-2/3}$, both in accordance with our theory.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2112_07731
institution arXiv
publishDate 2021
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Toward a unified theory for the Hadley cell descending and ascending edges
Hill, Spencer A.
Bordoni, Simona
Mitchell, Jonathan L.
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
We present theories for the latitudinal extents of both Hadley cells throughout the annual cycle by combining our recent scaling for the ascending edge latitude (Hill et al. 2021) with the uniform Rossby number (Ro), baroclinic instability-based theory for the poleward, descending edge latitudes of Kang and Lu 2012. The resulting analytic expressions for all three Hadley cell edges are predictive except for diagnosed values of Ro and two proportionality constants. The theory captures the climatological annual cycle of the ascending and descending edges in an Earth-like simulation in an idealized aquaplanet general circulation model (GCM), provided the descending edge prediction is lagged by one month. In simulations in this and two other idealized GCMs with varied planetary rotation rate ($Ω$), the winter, descending edge of the solsticial, cross-equatorial Hadley cell scales approximately as $Ω^{-1/2}$ and the summer, ascending edge as $Ω^{-2/3}$, both in accordance with our theory.
title Toward a unified theory for the Hadley cell descending and ascending edges
topic Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2112.07731