Yamaguchi et al. (2026) Dynamical and Radiative Influence on the Hadley Circulation by Aerosol‐Cloud Interactions

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-04-01
• Authors: Takanobu Yamaguchi, Ryuji Yoshida, Yaosheng Chen, Isabel L. McCoy, Graham Feingold
• DOI: 10.1029/2025ms005465

Research Groups

Information not available in the provided abstract.

Short Summary

This study investigates how aerosols influence large-scale atmospheric circulation and the cloud radiative effect (CRE) using a 2D Hadley circulation model, revealing that aerosols intensify circulation and brighten clouds, but this effect is significantly weaker when coupled with a slab ocean model, indicating a moderating role of the Hadley circulation in a dynamically coupled atmosphere-ocean system.

Objective

• To explore how aerosols modulate large-scale circulation and the cloud radiative effect (CRE) using a two-dimensional Hadley circulation model.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Two-dimensional (meridional-vertical) Hadley circulation model with near-large eddy simulation resolution.
• Temporal Scale: Six 30-day simulations.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Two-dimensional Hadley circulation model, prescribed sea surface temperature (SST0) model, slab ocean model (SOM).
• Data sources: Model simulations.

Main Results

• Aerosol perturbations intensify large-scale circulation and brighten clouds, consistent with previous findings, but this effect is weaker under the slab ocean model (SOM) configuration.
• Hadley circulation intensification due to large aerosol perturbations in the subsidence region is linked to radiative-dynamical adjustments of the shallow meridional circulation, driven by enhanced reflectance of shallow clouds.
• The CRE response to aerosol perturbations is primarily driven by changes in cloud water path (CWP) and cloud fraction (f_c).
• The contribution from droplet number concentration (Nd) to the CRE response is similar to that from CWP and fc under SST0 but is reduced under SOM.
• The CRE response is dominated by the deep convection region, where aerosol effects amplify CRE along with a slight increase in fc for SST0, whereas under SOM, the weaker aerosol effect coincides with a slight decrease in fc.
• In the subsidence region, CRE enhancement diminishes at high aerosol concentrations, likely due to a negative microphysical-dynamical feedback identified in shallow clouds.
• Causal inference analysis in the deep convection region indicates that the fc response to Nd differs between SST treatments at high aerosol loadings, leading to a muted CRE response under SOM.
• These results suggest that the Hadley circulation moderates aerosol effects under a dynamically coupled atmosphere-ocean system.

Contributions

• Provides a detailed exploration of aerosol modulation of large-scale circulation and cloud radiative effect using a high-resolution 2D Hadley circulation model.
• Identifies the moderating role of the Hadley circulation on aerosol effects within a dynamically coupled atmosphere-ocean system (Slab Ocean Model).
• Quantifies the relative contributions of cloud water path, cloud fraction, and droplet number concentration to the cloud radiative effect response under different sea surface temperature treatments.
• Utilizes causal inference analysis to elucidate the differing cloud fraction response to droplet number concentration under varying aerosol loadings and SST treatments.

Funding

Information not available in the provided abstract.

Citation

@article{Yamaguchi2026Dynamical,
  author = {Yamaguchi, Takanobu and Yoshida, Ryuji and Chen, Yaosheng and McCoy, Isabel L. and Feingold, Graham},
  title = {Dynamical and Radiative Influence on the Hadley Circulation by Aerosol‐Cloud Interactions},
  journal = {Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1029/2025ms005465},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2025ms005465}
}