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Caltech

Environmental Science and Engineering Seminar

Wednesday, April 17, 2024
4:00pm to 5:00pm
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South Mudd 365
The Stirring Tropics
Ángel F. Adames Corraliza, University of Wisconsin, Madison,

The tropics are characterized by steady circulations such as the Hadley cell as well as a menagerie of tropical weather systems. Despite progress in our understanding of both, little is known about how the mean circulations and the weather systems interact with one another. Here we show that tropical waves can grow by extracting moisture from the Hadley cell, thereby weakening it. They also transport moisture to higher latitudes. Our results challenge the notion that the Hadley cell is the sole transporter of energy out of the tropics and instead favor a view where tropical waves are also essential for the global energy balance. They dry the humid regions and moisten the drier regions via stirring.

For more information, please contact Bronagh Glaser by email at [email protected] or visit Environmental Science and Engineering.