Sea Surface Temperature and Convection in Tropical Radiative Convective Equilibrium

Abstract

Tropical convection has significant implications for the global climate, and it is helpful to study convection in an idealized framework. This work uses a general circulation model in tropical radiative convective equilibrium, a popular idealized framework for studying the tropics in which convection is approximately balanced by radiative cooling, to explore the interactions between sea surface temperature and convection. This work is divided into three chapters. The first chapter explores inter-annual variability in these idealized tropical model experiments and how this cycle is fueled by the coupling between sea surface temperature and convection. The second chapter focuses on how ocean heat transport could impact the climate's response to increased forcing. Finally, the third chapter explores the role of sea surface temperature and the sea surface temperature gradient in setting the vertical distribution of convection and circulation.