On the Origin of the Surface Air Temperature Difference between the Hemispheres in Earth's Present-Day Climate

Abstract

In today's climate, the annually averaged surface air temperature in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) is 1°–2°C higher than in the Southern Hemisphere (SH). Historically, this interhemispheric temperature difference has been attributed to a number of factors, including seasonal differences in insolation, the larger area of (tropical) land in the NH, the particularities of the Antarctic in terms of albedo and temperature, and northward heat transport by ocean circulation. A detailed investigation of these factors and their contribution to the temperature difference, however, has to the authors' knowledge not been performed so far. Here the origin of the interhemispheric temperature difference is traced using an assessment of climatological data and the observed energy budget of Earth as well as model simulations. It is found that for the preindustrial climate the temperature difference is predominantly due to meridional heat transport in the oceans, with an additional contribution from the albedo differences between the polar regions. The combination of these factors (that are to some extent coupled) governs the evolution of the temperature difference over the past millennium. Since the beginning of industrialization the interhemispheric temperature difference has increased due to melting of sea ice and snow in the NH. Furthermore, the predicted higher rate of warming over land as compared to the oceans contributes to this increase. Simulations for the twenty-first century show that the interhemispheric temperature difference continues to grow for the highest greenhouse gas emission scenarios due to the land–ocean warming contrast and the strong loss of Arctic sea ice, whereas the decrease in overturning strength dominates for the more moderate scenarios.