Link between Hadley circulation widening and cloud-area changes

Ascertain the physical linkage between the observed widening of the Hadley circulation and the related poleward shift in midlatitude storm tracks and the changes in the cloud areas representing the midlatitude and tropical storm zones, to clarify how these coupled circulation–cloud adjustments evolve over recent decades.

Background

In the discussion of top-down solar influences on climate, the paper highlights the potential importance of stratospheric–tropospheric coupling and associated changes in large-scale circulation patterns, including the Hadley circulation and midlatitude storm tracks. The authors note recent work suggesting that changes in cloud-area distributions may be a primary contributor to increased solar absorption.

However, the authors explicitly state that the detailed link between the widening of the Hadley circulation (and poleward shift of storm tracks) and the concurrent changes in cloud areas across midlatitude and tropical storm zones remains insufficiently understood, motivating a focused investigation of this coupling.