Article,
The Brewer-Dobson circulation
Rev. Geophys., 52 (2): 157--184 (Jun 1, 2014)
DOI: 10.1002/2013rg000448
Abstract
One of the more robust results of greenhouse gas-induced climate change to emerge from chemistry-climate and climate model projections in the last decade is, depending on the greenhouse gas scenario, an ∼2.0–3.2\% per decade acceleration of the global mass circulation of tropospheric air through the stratosphere. This circulation is generally known as the Brewer-Dobson circulation and is characterized by tropospheric air rising into the stratosphere in the Tropics, moving poleward before descending in the middle and high latitudes. The circulation is, however, poorly constrained by observations, and many fundamental questions about it remain. In this review, historical developments in observations, theory, and models describing the Brewer-Dobson circulation are presented along with a reexamination of the basis of the current understanding of the Brewer-Dobson circulation and the mechanisms driving it and its response to climate change. Impacts of anthropogenically driven changes in the Brewer-Dobson circulation are also reviewed.
