The energetic expression of monthly atmospheric heat transport variability

The poleward transport of energy through the atmosphere is a fundamental characteristic of Earth’s climate system, being consistent with both the dynamic movement of moist static energy and the atmospheric energy budget. The variability of the atmospheric energy budget must therefore be consistent with atmospheric dynamics, but to what extent the relationship holds, the relative importance of the energy budget terms, and the similarity between hemispheres remains unexamined. Here, we examine the monthly relationship between the zonal mean atmospheric heat transport (AHT) and the atmospheric energy budget across the entire globe. We find that for an AHT anomaly across a given latitude, the energetic response is limited to a ±15° latitude band. In other words, enhanced heat transport across 30°N is only associated with atmospheric energy budget anomalies between 15°N and 45°N. Furthermore, enhanced monthly poleward AHT is typically associated with anomalous latent heating on the equatorward side and increased losses of energy through radiative cooling on the poleward side. In fact, gains of energy through radiative heating is only very weakly correlated with enhanced monthly poleward AHT, demonstrating the importance of atmospheric heating from the surface turbulent heat fluxes on monthly AHT anomlies. These conclusions are consistent in both reanalysis and observationally derived data products. This research refines our understanding of monthly AHT anomalies and their connection to the local energy budget, providing a unique, robust benchmark for the representation of Earth’s energy budget within climate models.