Seasonal Emergence and Circulation Coupling of Moist Layers Over the Tropical Atlantic

Abstract

Abstract Mid‐tropospheric elevated moist layers (EMLs) near the melting level have been found in various regional observational studies in the tropics. Recently, a preponderance of EMLs in the presence of aggregated convection was found in cloud resolving simulations of radiative convective equilibrium (RCE), highlighting a significant circulation coupling. Here, we present global monthly EML occurrence rates based on reanalysis, yielding a broader view on where and when EMLs occur in the real world. Over the Atlantic, EML occurrence follows a seasonal cycle that maximizes in summer, aligning with maximized ITCZ intensity and organization. Resembling the results in RCE, the large‐scale circulation over the Atlantic shifts from a deep overturning in January to a bottom‐heavy circulation in July. While EMLs embedded in the July cross‐equatorial Hadley cell are found to be sourced from the ITCZ, EMLs north of the ITCZ emerge from the strongly sheared zonal flow over West Africa.

Keywords

• humidity
• circulation
• tropical Atlantic
• convection
• African easterly waves
• convective aggregation