Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Midlatitude storms transport warm and moist air poleward and upward, releasing latent heat. Latent heating is thus organized by the circulation but then modifies temperature gradients and winds, constituting a nonlinear feedback. We define the latent heating feedback as the effects that arise from latent heating being coupled with the circulation. Because of its nonlinearity, the climatic effects of this feedback are difficult to isolate and remain poorly understood. By decoupling latent heating from the circulation in an atmospheric general circulation model, we show that the latent heating feedback enhances storm track eddy diffusivity, modifying eddy heat fluxes beyond changes in mean baroclinicity. Simultaneously, tracked storms occur at lower latitudes, intensify more, and propagate further poleward, while the subtropical jet strengthens as coupled latent heating preserves lower latitude baroclinicity. The feedback response supports the idea that diabatic effects cause the “too zonal, too equatorward” storm track biases in climate models.
Source: Geophysical Research Letters
DOI: 10.1029/2025gl116437
Institutions: University of Oxford, Imperial College London
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,190
Award: G8612102656
OpenAlex ID: W4414531007