Sinuosity of midlatitude atmospheric flow in a warming world

Global warming is expected to affect midlatitude atmospheric dynamics through changes in the equator-to-pole temperature gradient. While the latitudinal expansion of the tropics would induce both a poleward shift and reinforcement of the westerlies, Arctic changes might counterbalance this effect. Beyond position and speed, potential changes in the flow waviness are crucial for midlatitude weather. Here we investigate such changes through an intuitive metric characterizing the flow sinuosity at 50 degrees N. We find that despite a slight increase in recent reanalyses, the midlatitude sinuosity is projected to decrease in response to climate change according to CMIP5 simulations. Recent trends could therefore result from internal variability or different timings of tropical and polar influences. Future uncertainties are dominated by model discrepancies and partially linked to the dispersion in the equator-to-pole temperature gradient response. Our results support the hypothesis that a faster westerly flow is expected to be less sinuous (and vice-versa).