Impact of ocean heat transport variations on the zonal mean circulation in an idealized moist GCM

We study how equatorial surface heat sources affect the strength and width of the Hadley circulation to elucidate the dynamics of tropical-extratropical interactions. The well-known atmospheric response to El Niño-like forcings includes an equatorward shift in the Hadley circulation terminus and the subtropical jets. One proposed mechanisms for this response involves changes in subtropical baroclinicity and associated equatorward shifts in critical latitudes. Here we use an idealized aquaplanet general circulation model with a hydrological cycle and a time-independent, zonally symmetric background ocean heat transport to investigate systematically how the zonal mean climate responds to imposed equatorial ocean heating anomalies. This approach allows for dynamically adjusted surface temperatures and closed surface energy budgets. We study the sensitivity to the equatorial heating anomalies for different imposed longwave optical thickness profiles representing cold, Earth-like and warm climates. Consistent with previous studies, we find a shift of the Hadley circulation terminus towards the equator and a concomitant increase in subtropical baroclinicity for equatorial warming, and vice versa for an equatorial cooling. Together with the Hadley circulation terminus, the subtropical jets, regions of poleward eddy momentum and heat fluxes as well as storm tracks, shift towards (away from) the equator for simulations with imposed equatorial warming (cooling). We account for the circulation response with theoretical arguments for the structure of baroclinic eddies.