Abstract
Air temperatures in the trade wind inversion (~850 hPa) over the Caribbean have been rising much faster than sea temperatures. This is associated with an accelerated Hadley circulation, with sinking motions over the Caribbean corresponding with increasing rising motion over the Amazon. The sinking motions induce a faster rate of warming and drying in the trade wind inversion than at other levels. Much of the trend in Caribbean climate is attributable to physical mechanisms; changes in atmospheric composition play a secondary role. Smoke and dust plumes from Africa, drifting westward across the Atlantic, enhance the greenhouse effect in an elevated (1–3 km) layer. A stabilized lower atmosphere across the Caribbean has contributed to warming and drying trends over the twentieth century which are projected to continue. The atmosphere is warming faster than the ocean, causing a decline in sensible heat fluxes that fuel tropical cyclones.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bengtsson L, Hodges KI, Roeckner E (2006) Storm tracks and climate change. J Climate 19:3518–3543
Bergstrom RW, Pilewskie P, Schmid B, Russell B (2003) Estimates of spectral aerosol single scattering albedo and aerosol radiative effects during Safari2000. J Geophys Res 108(13):8474
Delworth TL, Rosati A, Stouffer RJ, Dixon KW, Dunne J, Findell K, Ginoux P, Gnanadesikan A, Gordon CT, Griffies SM, Gudgel R, Harrison MJ, Held IM, Hemler RS, Horowitz LW, Klein SA, Knutson TR, Lin S-J, Milly PCD, Ramaswamy V, Schwarzkopf MD, Sirutis JJ, Stern WF, Spelman MJ, Winton M, Wittenberg AT, Wyman B (2006) GFDL’s CM2 global coupled climate models. Part I: formulation and simulation characteristics. J Climate 19(5):643–674
Eskridge RE, Alduchov O, Chernykh IV, Zhai P, Polansky AC, Doty SR (1995) A comprehensive aerological reference data set (CARDS): rough and systematic errors. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 76:1759–1775
Frierson DM, Lu WJ, Chen G (2007) Width of the Hadley cell in simple and comprehensive general circulation models. Geophys Res Lett 34:L18804. doi:10.1029/2007GL031115
Fu X, Wang B, Tao L (2006) Satellite data reveal the 3-D moisture structure of tropical intraseasonal oscillation and it’s coupling with underlying ocean. Geophys Res Lett 33:L03705. doi:10.1029/2005GL025074
Gnanadeskan A, Dixon KW, Griffies SM, Balaji V, Barreiro M, Beesley JA, Cooke WF, Delworth TL, Gerdes R, Harrison MJ, Held IM, Hurlin WJ, Lee H-C, Liang Z, Nong G, Pacanowski RC, Rosati A, Russell J, Samuels BL, Song Q, Spelman MJ, Stouffer RJ, Sweeney CO, Vecchi G, Winton M, Wittenberg AT, Zeng F, Zhang R, Dunne JP (2006) GFDL’s CM2 global coupled climate models. Part 2, basline ocean simulation. J Climate 19:675–697
Griffies SM, Gnanadesikan A, Dixon KW, Dunne JP, Gerdes R, Harrison MJ, Rosati A, Russell JL, Samuels BL, Spelman MJ, Winton M, Zhang R (2005) Formulation of an ocean model for global climate simulations. Ocean Sci 1:45–79
Hawkins MD, Morris VR, Nalli NR, Joseph E (2007) Comparison of aeroso1 and ozone profiles within Saharan dust and biomass burning plumes. Proc AMS Conf Atmos Chem Austin J7.9
Held IM, Soden BJ (2006) Robust responses of the hydrological cycle to global warming. J Climate 19–21:5686–5699
Hobbs PV (2000) Introduction to atmospheric chemistry. Cambridge Univ Press, New York
Hurrell JW, Brown SJ, Trenberth KE, Christy JR (2000) Comparison of tropospheric temperatures from radiosondes and satellites: 1979–98. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 81:2165–2177
IPCC (2007) Physical science basis. In: Solomon S et al (eds) 4th assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge Univ Press, New York, 996 pp
Meehl GA, Covey C, Delworth T, Latif M, McAvaney B, Mitchell JFB, Stouffer RJ, Taylor KE (2007) The WCRP CMIP3 multimodel dataset: a new era in climate change research. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 88:383–1394
Mfuamba J-P (2007) Tropospheric ozone climatology at Brazzaville. MSc thesis, Univ. K.Z.Natal, Durban, 88 pp
Nyberg J, Malmgren BA, Winter A, Jury MR, Kilbourne KH, Quinn TM (2007) Low atlantic hurricane activity in the 1970s-80s compared to the past 270 years. Nature 447:698–701
Openshaw K (2005) Natural resources, population growth and sustainable development in Africa. In: Low P-S (ed) Climate change and Africa. Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge, pp 113–123
Pilewskie P, Pommier J, Bergstrom R, Gore W, Howard S, Rabbette M, Schmid U, Hobbs PV, Tsay SC (2003) Solar spectral radiative forcing during SARARI2000. J Geophys Res 108(D13):8486
Seager R, Ting M, Held I, Kushnir Y, Lu J, Vecchi G, Huang H-P, Harnik N, Leetmaa A, Lau N-C, Li C, Velez J, Naik N (2007) Model projections of an imminent transition to a more arid climate in Southwestern North America. Science. doi:10.1126/science.1139601
Sinha P, Hobbs PV, Yokelson RJ, Bertschi IT, Blake DR, Simpson IJ, Gao S, Kirchstetter TW, Novakov T (2003) Emissions of trace gases and particles from savanna fires in southern Africa. J Geophys Res 108(d13):8487. doi:10.1029/2002JD002325
Wittenberg AT, Rosati A, Lau N-C, Ploshay JJ (2006) GFDL’s CM2 global coupled climate models. Part III: tropical pacific climate and ENSO. J Climate 19(5):698–722
Wong S, Dessler AE, Colarco PR, dsSilva A (2007) The instability associated with the cross-Atlantic transport of Saharan dust and its meteorological implications. Proc AMS Conf Atmos Chem Austin J7.8
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jury, M.R., Winter, A. Warming of an elevated layer over the Caribbean. Climatic Change 99, 247–259 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-009-9658-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-009-9658-3