ProspectusforaUSCLIVARWorkingGroup: ChangingWidthoftheTropicalBelt 1.Motivation ThetropicsareafundamentalclimatezoneonEarth,characterizedbyabandof deepconvectivestormsalongtheEquator,knownastheIntertropicalConvergenceZone (ITCZ),andboundedbyaridregionsinthesubtropicsofeachhemisphere,suchasthe AfricanandAustraliandeserts.Together,themoistanddryregionsofthetropicsrepresent surfacemanifestationsoftheHadleycirculation,themeanmeridionalcirculationinthe tropicaltropospherewithascentneartheEquator,polewardflowinthetropicalupper troposphere,anddescentinthesubtropicsofeachhemisphere.Theboundariesofthe Hadleycirculationarenotstationarybutrathervaryintime.Infact,recentevidencehas shownthatthetropicshaveexpandedoverthelastseveraldecades,pushingtheboundaries oftheHadleycirculationandtheassociatedsubtropicaldryzonesfurtherpolewardineach hemisphere(e.g.,Seideletal.,2008;FungandFu,2013;Birneretal.,2014).Ifsucha climateshiftweretocontinueoverthe21stcenturyasprojectedbyclimatemodels(e.g.,Lu etal.,2007;JohansonandFu,2009;Huetal.,2013),itcouldhavesubstantialimpactsonthe waterresourcesofecosystemsandhumanpopulationcentersatthepolewardedgesofthe currentsubtropicaldryzones(SherwoodandFu,2014),includingregionsofthesouthern UnitedStates. CurrenttheoriesexplainthelocationofthepolewardboundariesoftheHadley circulationusingeitheracombinationofangularmomentumandenergyconservation arguments(Schneider,1977;HeldandHou,1980;LindzenandHou,1988),orinstability argumentsinvolvingbarocliniceddies(Held,2000;WalkerandSchneider,2006).These theoriessuggestthattheHadleycellislikelytowideninawarmerclimate,asthetropics becomemoremoist,andthetropicalatmospherebecomesaccordinglymorestable (Friersonetal.,2007).Idealizednumericalsimulationsspanningarangeofclimatesagree that,inclimatessimilartothatofthepresentday,awarmingclimateshouldresultina widertropicalbelt(KortyandSchneider,2008;LevineandSchneider,2011;Levineand Schneider,2015).Moresophisticatedandcomprehensivegeneralcirculationmodelsand earthsystemmodelsalsogenerallyprojectawideningoftheglobalHadleycirculationin globalwarmingscenarios(Luetal.,2007;Huetal.,2013). Anumberofpapersfromthelastdecadehaveprovidedobservationalevidencethat thetropicshaveexpandedinthelast~3decades(e.g.,Hudsonetal.,2006;Seideland Randel,2007;HuandFu,2007;Seideletal.,2008),possiblyatahigherratethanthat predictedbyclimatemodels(JohansonandFu,2009;Quanetal.,2013).However,the interpretationoftheseresultsiscomplicatedbythefactthatindividualstudiesusedifferent metricsforthewidthofthetropics,whichresultsintrendsrangingfromanear-zerochange inthewidthofthetropicstouptoa2degreelatitudetropicalexpansionperdecade(e.g., Birner,2010;DavisandRosenlof,2012;Birneretal.,2014).Additionally,itremainsunclear whethertheobservedtrendsinthewidthofthetropicsareduetoincreasinggreenhouse gaslevels,oraremerelyasignatureofnaturalvariabilityintheocean-atmospheregeneral circulation,suchastheElNiño-SouthernOscillation(ENSO)andthePacificDecadal Oscillation(PDO). Toaddresstheseissues,aswellasthesocietalandecologicalimpactsofan expandingtropicalbelt,anAmericanGeophysicalUnion(AGU)ChapmanConferencewas heldinSanteFe,NewMexicoon27-31July2015.Thisconferencebroughttogether atmosphericandoceanicdynamicists,aswellasobservationalscientistsandhydrologists. Newinsightsemergedthatcalledintoquestiontheprevailingviewaboutthenatureand causesofchangesinthewidthofthetropics.Keyconclusionsofthismeeting(inour interpretation)wereasfollows: ·Recentobservedestimatesoftheexpansionofthetropicsvarywidely,rangingfrom 0.25to3degreeslatitudeperdecade(DavisandRosenlof,2012),dependingonthetime period,theinstrumentordataset,andthemetricusedtomeasureedgeofthetropics(Davis andBirner,2013;Lucasetal.,2014).Thesheernumberofmetricsisnotable.Itwas recommendedthatagroupbeconvenedtowriteapeer-reviewedjournalarticleto documentwhateachmetricphysicallyrepresentsabouttheedgeofthetropics,toexplore howthemetricsrelatetooneanother,andtorecommendasmallersubsetofmetricstobe used,consistentlyandreproducibly,infuturestudies. ·Thecausesofvariabilityinthewidthofthetropicsondecadaltimescalesremainhighly uncertain.Priortothismeeting,theprevailingviewpointwasthatrecentvariabilityinthe widthofthetropicswasthedirectresultofanthropogenicforcing.Whiletherolesof stratosphericozonedepletionintheSouthernHemisphere(Waughetal.,2015)and aerosolsintheNorthernHemisphere(Allenetal.,2014)werenoted,theoverallconsensus ofthismeetingwasthatnaturalvariabilitydominatedtropicalwideningoverthepast severaldecades,primarilythroughmodesofcoupledatmosphere-oceanvariabilitysuchas ENSO(Monteiroetal.,2015)orthePDO(Allenetal.,2014).Asaresultofthisshiftin viewpoint,futureresearchwasrecommendedtoaddresstheroleofcoupledatmosphereoceanvariabilityinthewidthofthetropicalbelt,andhowchangesintheHadleycirculation mightfeedbackonthegeneralcirculationoftheocean. ·ResultsfromCook(2003),KarnauskasandUmmenhofer(2014),andLucasandNguyen (2015)havecalledintoquestionthemeritofexaminingthetraditionalzonal-meanviewof theHadleycirculationforlocalimpacts.KarnauskasandUmmenhofer(2014)noted,for example,thataHadleycell-likeoverturningcirculationisnottypicallypresentatall longitudesinthetropics,butratherisconfinedtolongitudebandsineasternsubtropical oceanbasins,wheretherearelargeland-seatemperaturecontrasts.Itremainsunclear whethertherecentobservedwideningofthetropicsisfocusedintheseparticularlongitude bands,orismoreglobalinitsextent.Itwasrecommendedthatabetterconnectionbe madebetweenthezonal-meanexpansionoftheHadleycirculationandchangesinthe regionalcirculationsofthetropicalandsubtropicalzones. 2. Objectives,Tasks,Timeline ToimplementtherecommendationsfromtherecentAGUChapmanconference,wepropose toestablishathree-yearUSCLIVARWorkingGroupontheChangingWidthoftheTropical Belt.Theobjectivesfortheproposedworkinggroupareasfollows: Objective#1:Provideguidanceonwhichmetricsaremostappropriatetoquantifykey impactsofthechangingwidthofthetropicalbelt.Todothis,wewillassessandsynthesize knowledgefromnumerousstudiesthathaveuseddifferentmetrics,timeperiods,and modelforcingscenariostodocumenttheexpansionofthetropics.Ourrationaleforthis objectivearisesfromthelackofconsensusachievedduringdiscussionsattheChapman Conference.Weexpectthataselectionofstandardoraccepteddefinitionsandmetricsmay assistinthecommunicationoftropicalwidthchangestothebroaderscientificcommunity. ThisobjectivedirectlyaddressestheUSCLIVARsciencegoalto“betterquantifyuncertainty intheobservations,simulations,predictions,andprojectionsofclimatevariabilityand change”,andthemissionoftheUSCLIVARPOSpanelto“developsynthesesofcritical climateparameters.” Objective#2:Identifyhowanthropogenicforcingandnaturalatmosphere-oceanvariability contributeuniquelytodecadaltimescalechangesinthewidthofthetropicalbelt.Akey themeoftherecentChapmanConferencewasthedifficultyofseparatingtherolesof naturalvariability(particularlyfromcoupledatmosphere-oceanvariability,suchasENSO andthePDO)andanthropogenicforcinginrecenttrendsinthewidthofthetropicalbelt. Kangetal.(2013)havepreviouslyidentifiedcoupledatmosphere-oceanvariabilityasakey sourceofuncertaintyinfuturetropicalcirculationtrends.Furthermore,thetropical oceanicoverturningcirculationisintegrallylinkedwiththeatmosphericHadleycirculation (Clement,2006),asthecirculationsmirroreachotherthroughanEkmanforcebalance (Schneideretal.,2014).Understandingtheinterplaybetweenatmosphere-oceancoupling andthevaryingwidthofthetropicsrequiresajointteamofatmosphericscientistsand oceanographerstoprovidenovelinsightsintopastobservedclimatevariabilityandfuture climatemodelprojections.ThisobjectivedirectlyaddressestheUSCLIVARsciencegoalsto 1)“understandtheroleoftheoceansinobservedclimatevariabilityondifferent timescales”and2)“improvethedevelopmentandevaluationofclimatesimulationsand predictions.”ThisobjectivealsoservesthemissionoftheUSCLIVARPSMIpanelto“reduce uncertaintiesinthegeneralcirculationmodelsusedforclimatevariabilitypredictionand climatechangeprojectionsthroughanimprovedunderstandingandrepresentationofthe physicalprocessesgoverningclimateanditsvariation.”Finally,thisobjectiveisdirectly relevanttotheUSCLIVARResearchChallengeconcerningdecadalvariabilityand predictability. Objective#3:Addresshowtheglobal-scalewideningofthetropicsismanifestedthrough regional-scaleimpacts.DuringtherecentChapmanConference,ageneralconsensuswas reachedthattheimpactsofclimatevariabilityandchangeareexperiencedlocally,butit wasnotgenerallyagreedthatthetraditionalzonal-meanviewoftheHadleycirculationwas atallmeaningfulintermsofimpacts.Understandingtherelevanceofglobal-scaleHadley circulationchangestoregional-scaleimpactsinthesubtropicsiscriticaltocommunicating theimpactsoftheexpandingtropicstopolicymakers.Thisobjectivedirectlyaddressesthe USCLIVARsciencegoalto“understandtheprocessesthatcontributetoclimatevariability andchangeinthepast,present,andfuture,”andthemissionoftheUSCLIVARPOSpanelto “improveunderstandingofclimatevariationsinthepast,present,andfuture.”This objectivealsoservesthemissionoftheUSCLIVARPPAIpanel,withitsfocusonpredictions andinterfacingwiththeapplications,operations,anddecision-makingcommunity. Objective#4:Coordinateeffortwithotherinternationalprograms(e.g.,SPARCDynVar, WCRPGrandChallengeonClouds,Circulation,andClimateSensitivity,GEWEX HydroclimatologyPanel),andinformfundingagenciesofwhereresearchinitiativesare neededtoadvanceunderstanding.Werecognizethattheproposedworkinggroupisoneof manygroupswithstronginterestinpastandfuturechangesinthetropicalatmospheric andoceanicgeneralcirculation,andthatoureffortswillbemosteffectiveinasmuchasthey leverageinterconnectionswithexistingresearchcommunities.Assuch,wehavesuggested membersofthisworkinggroupwithadiverserangeofexpertise,tohelpbuildbridges acrossdistinctresearchcommunitiesinterestedintheimpactsofglobal-scaletropical circulationchanges.ThisobjectivedirectlyaddressestheUSCLIVARsciencegoalto “collaboratewithresearchandoperationalcommunitiesthatdevelopanduseclimate information,”andthemissionoftheUSCLIVARPPAIpanelto“fosterimprovedpracticesin theprovision,validationandusesofclimateinformationandforecaststhroughcoordinated participationwithintheU.S.andinternationalclimatescienceandapplications communities.” Toaccomplishtheaboveobjectives,theworkinggroupwillcompletethefollowingtasks: 1)Publishapeer-reviewedjournalarticletoprovidethecommunitywitha comprehensiveassessmentoftropicalwidthmetricsandtorecommendasubsetof metricstobeusedbysubsequentstudies(tobetteraidincomparisonamong studiesacrossthepublishedliterature). 2)Compareandcontrasttheimpactsofanthropogenicforcingandcoupled atmosphere-oceanvariabilityondecadalvariabilityintropicalwidth.Synthesize ourunderstandingofcouplingbetweentropicalwidthandseasurface temperatures. 3)Informlinkagesbetweenglobal-scalecirculationchangesandtheregional-scale circulationchangesmostrelevantforimpacts,settingthestageforasessionatthe AGUFallMeetingonglobalandregionalimpactsoftropicalcirculationchange. Thetaskswillbecompletedaccordingtothefollowingtimeline: ● Year1:Planandscheduleworkinggroupactivities,reviewpreviousresearch,and identifystrategiesforworkinggroupresearchinitiatives. ● Year2:Research,assessandsynthesizeresearchfindings,andbegintodraftpeerreviewedjournalarticlestosummarizeworkinggroupfindings. ● Year3:Finalizeresearchandjournalarticles,holdsessionatAGUFallMeeting, reportresultstoCLIVAR,andproposefuturework. 3.PublicationsandOutreach Thepublicationsresultingfromtheactivitiesoftheproposedworkinggroupwillinclude: 1)Apaperthatprovidesacomprehensiveassessmentoftropicalwidthmetricsandthat recommendsasubsetofmetricstobeusedbysubsequentstudies 2)Apaperthatreviewshowvarioustypesofcoupledatmosphere-oceanvariabilityare linkedtothewidthofthetropicalbelt 3)Apaperthatinvestigateslinkagesbetweenglobal-scaletropicalcirculationchangesand regional-scaleimpacts(summarizingtheresultsoftheAGUsessionheldonthistopic) TheoutreachoftheworkinggroupwillincludepresentationstoUSCLIVAR,articlesinthe USCLIVARVariationsnewsletter,andspecialsessionsattheAGUorAmerican MeteorologicalSocietyannualmeetings. 4.ReportingPlan Aslistedabove,theobjectivesoftheproposedworkinggrouparehighlyrelevanttothe sciencegoalsofUSCLIVAR,aswellastothemissionsofthethreeUSCLIVARpanels(POS, PSMI,andPPAI).SeveralmembersofthePSMIpanelrecommendedtheideaforthis workinggroup,andweproposetoreportourprogresstoboththePOSandPSMIpanelsand seektheiradviceandsupport.WealsoproposetoreportonourprogressattheannualUS CLIVARsummitandpanelmeetings,asappropriate. 5.LeadershipandSuggestedMembership PaulStaten(IndianaUniversity)andKevinGrise(UniversityofVirginia)willserveascochairsoftheproposedworkinggroupandwereresponsibleforthedevelopmentofthis prospectus.Theco-chairshaveexpertiseinatmosphericandclimatedynamics,anduse bothobservationsandglobalclimatemodelexperimentstounderstandtheatmospheric generalcirculation,itsvariability,anditsresponsetoanthropogenicforcing. Weproposetohaveaworkinggroupmembershipwithdiverseexpertise,including memberswithspecialtiesinatmosphericdynamics,oceandynamics,atmosphere-ocean interaction,globalclimate,regionalclimate,monsoons,observationalanalysis,andclimate modeling.Wealsoproposeahealthymixofscientistsatdifferentcareerstages,to maximizecommunityinvolvementandnetworking/mentoringopportunities.Suggested membersalongwiththeiraffiliationsandareasofexpertisearelistedbelow: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● *OriAdam(ETHZurich):Energeticconstraintsofthetropicalcirculation RobertAllen(California-Riverside):Aerosolsandoceanicvariability ThomasBirner(ColoradoState):Troposphere-stratosphereinteractions GangChen(UCLA):Atmosphericdynamics,regionalimpacts KerryCook(UniversityofTexas):Regionalclimatechangeimpacts SeanDavis(NOAA):Stratosphericozoneandwatervaporvariability QiangFu(UniversityofWashington):Remotesensingandradiativetransfer KevinGrise(UniversityofVirginia):Atmosphericcirculationvariabilityandchange KristopherKarnauskas(Univ.ofColorado):SimulatedregionalHadleycirculations *JamesKossin(NOAA,Univ.ofWisconsin):Hurricanesandclimatevariability *ChrisLucas(BureauofMeteorology,Australia):Tropicalwidthobservations *AmandaMaycock(UniversityofLeeds):Troposphere-stratosphereinteractions, chemistrycoupling *TimothyMerlis(McGillUniversity):Ocean-atmospheregeneralcirculation,tropical meteorology *Xiao-WeiQuan(Univ.ofColorado,NOAA):Rainfallvariabilityandhydrological impacts *KarenRosenlof(NOAA):Stratosphericdynamicsandcomposition IslaSimpson(NCAR):Linkageofglobal-scaleandregional-scaleclimatechange PaulStaten(IndianaUniversity):Atmosphericdynamics CarolineUmmenhofer(WoodsHole):Rainfallvariabilityandhydrologicalimpacts DarrynWaugh(JohnsHopkins):Circulationwideningandstratosphericozone *Indicatesacontributingmember 6.ResourceRequirements Theproposedworkinggroupwillmeetonceperyearfor2-3daysandwillholdmonthly teleconferences.Specifically,werequestfundingfor: -Travelsupportfortwoannualworkinggroupmeetings -Publicationchargesforthethreejournalarticlesdetailedabove References AllenR.J.,J.R.Norris,andM.Kovilakam,2014:Influenceofanthropogenicaerosolsandthe PacificDecadalOscillationontropicalbeltwidth.NatureGeosci.,7,270–274, doi:10.1038/ngeo2091. 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