Mahlobo, DawnEngelbrecht, Francois A.Ndarana, ThandoAbubakar, Hadisu BelloOlabanji, Mary FunkeNcongwane, Katlego2024-02-232024-02-232024-02Mahlobo, D., Engelbrecht, F., Ndarana, T. et al. Analysis of the Hadley cell, subtropical anticyclones and their effect on South African rainfall. Theoretical and Applied Climatology 155, 1035–1054 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-023-04674-z.0177-798X (print)1434-4483 (online)10.1007/s00704-023-04674-zhttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/94914DATA AVAILABILITY : The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.This study investigates the behaviour of subtropical high-pressure systems and the Hadley cell, which affect the weather of South Africa, using the ERA-Interim database and ensemble of 14 global circulation models from Phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6). Mass stream function was used to represent the Hadley cell. To analyse the behaviour of the subtropical anticyclones, monthly sea level pressure, the 1018 hPa isobar and the maximum isobar in the study area were used. The seasonal variation of the anticyclones and Hadley circulation is consistent with rainfall over South Africa. During austral summer, a less intense, narrow mass stream function, South Atlantic Subtropical Anticyclone and Mascarene High are located more southwards, causing rainfall over the eastern parts of South Africa. During the austral winter, Hadley circulation, as well as the anticyclones, is stronger and located more northwards, causing rainfall over the southern and southwestern parts of South Africa.en© The Author(s) 2023. Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Mass stream functionSouth Africa (SA)RainfallSubtropical anticyclonesHadley cellCoupled model intercomparison project (CMIP6)SDG-13: Climate actionArticle