Influence of mid-latitude sea surface temperature fronts on the atmospheric water cycle and storm track activity

Abstract

Abstract. The climatological mean enhancement of the turbulent air–sea heat exchange along mid-latitude sea surface temperature (SST) fronts that anchor mid-latitude storm tracks suggests its crucial role in the atmospheric water cycle and storm tracks through the intensification of atmospheric cyclones and their associated precipitation. We investigate the sensitivity of the atmospheric water cycle to the SST front through a set of aqua-planet experiments. Varying the latitude of a zonally symmetric mid-latitude SST front, the mid-latitude atmospheric water cycle responds through distinct changes in surface latent heat fluxes, precipitation, and atmospheric moisture fluxes, whereas the tropical latitudes remain largely unchanged. As storm tracks are self-maintained through the diabatic generation of eddy available potential energy, the position of the storm track is diabatically anchored at the SST front. While the position of the SST front determines the position of the eddy moisture convergence and thus the diabatic heating that energises the storm track, the underlying SST determines the general strength of the water cycle and thus the intensity of the storm track. The strong connection identified between the eddy moisture flux and the SST front implies a diabatic pathway of latent heating to anchor the storm track along SST fronts.