How Does El Niño Affect the Interannual Variability of the Boreal Summer Hadley Circulation?

Abstract

Abstract Analyses of 30-yr four reanalysis datasets [NCEP–NCAR reanalysis (NCEP1), NCEP–Department of Energy reanalysis (NCEP2), Japanese 25-year Reanalysis Project (JRA-25), and Interim ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim)] reveal remarkably interannual variability of the Hadley circulation (HC) in boreal summer (June–August). The two leading modes of interannual variability of boreal summer HC are obtained by performing empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis on the mass streamfunction. A general intensification of boreal summer HC is seen in EOF-1 mode among NCEP1, NCEP2, and JRA-25 but the corresponding EOF-2 mode in ERA-Interim, while a weakened northern Hadley cell and remarkable regional variation of a southern Hadley cell are captured by the EOF-2 mode (from NCEP1, NCEP2, and JRA-25) and EOF-1 mode (from ERA-Interim), as evidenced by the enhanced (decreased) southern Hadley cell in the southern tropics (the northern tropics and southern subtropics). Both modes are driven by El Niño–like SST forcing in boreal summer, but are relevant to different phases of El Niño events. The EOF-1 (or EOF-2 derived from ERA-Interim) [EOF-2 (or EOF-1 derived from ERA-Interim)] mode is driven by SST anomalies in developing (decaying) El Niño summers. The interannual variations of the northern Hadley cell in both modes are driven by El Niño through modulating the interannual variations of the East Asian summer monsoon, while anomalous local Hadley circulation (LHC) in the regions 30°S–20°N, 110°E–180° and 30°S–20°N, 160°E–120°W in response to El Niño forcing largely determine the interannual variations of southern Hadley cell in both modes, respectively. The different behaviors of the southern Hadley cell between two leading modes can be well explained by the southward shift of the tropical heating center from north of 10°N in developing El Niño summers to south of 10°N in decaying El Niño summers.