Midlatitude Eddies, Storm-Track Diffusivity, and Poleward Moisture Transport in Warm Climates

Recent work using both simplified and comprehensive GCMs has shown that poleward moisture transport across midlatitudes follows Clausius–Clapeyron scaling at temperatures close to modern, but that it reaches a maximum at sufficiently elevated temperatures and then decreases with further warming. This study explores the reasons for this nonmonotonic behavior using a sequence of NCAR Community Atmosphere Model, version 3 (CAM3) simulations in an aquaplanet configuration spanning a broad range of climates. No significant change is found in the scale, structure, or organization of midlatitude eddies across these simulations. Instead, the high-temperature decrease in poleward moisture transport is attributed to the combined effect of decreasing eddy velocities and contracting mixing lengths. The contraction in mixing length is, in turn, a consequence of the decreasing eddy velocities in combination with constant eddy decorrelation time scales.