Energetic constraints on monsoonal Hadley circulations

The strength of monsoons is believed to have varied in the past in response to changes in the seasonal shortwave radiation distribution associated with orbital precession and is expected to vary during the coming century due to increases in greenhouse gas concentrations. Here, we examine the constraint that the moist static energy budget imposes on the response to radiative perturbations of the cross-equatorial, or monsoonal, Hadley circulations. Changes in the strength of the mass transport can occur in response to radiative perturbations, which has been frequently discussed in the past. An additional factor in the energetic balance, however, is the atmosphere's energy stratification, which is commonly known as the gross moist stability. Therefore, changes in the atmosphere's gross moist stability can play a fundamental role in determining changes in the mass transport of mean circulations. Also, the influence of spatial variations in surface heat capacity on the top-of-the-atmosphere energy balance, rather than its widely discussed role in determining surface temperature, is important in determining how radiative perturbations are energetically balanced by monsoonal Hadley circulations.

We examine the importance of energetic constraints on monsoonal Hadley circulations in idealized general circulation model simulations that have either an aquaplanet slab-ocean boundary condition or a zonally symmetric subtropical continent. The radiative balance in the simulations is perturbed first by insolation variations associated with orbital precession and then by increased carbon dioxide concentration. The simulation results demonstrate that summertime changes in gross moist stability are important for understanding past and future monsoon variations.