Euro-Mediterranean climate variability in boreal winter: a potential role of the East Asian trough

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (11) ◽  
pp. 7071-7084 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omer Lutfi Sen ◽  
Yasemin Ezber ◽  
Deniz Bozkurt
2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 2557-2577 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Song ◽  
Lin Wang ◽  
Wen Chen ◽  
Yang Zhang

Abstract The East Asian trough (EAT) is a distinct component of the boreal winter circulation whose strength corresponds to the amplitude of the Northern Hemispheric stationary waves. In this study, the mechanism and climatic impacts of the intraseasonal variations of the EAT’s strength are investigated through composite analysis and dynamical diagnostics. The significant roles played by the low-frequency Rossby wave (RW) and synoptic transient eddy (TE) are revealed. Before the peaks of strong EAT events, an upper-tropospheric RW train propagates across northern Eurasia and interacts with preexisting surface cold anomalies over central Siberia. This pattern intensifies the Siberian high and causes RW convergence toward the EAT, leading to 30% of the EAT’s amplification directly via the RW-induced feedback forcing. Meanwhile, RW weakens the background baroclinicity and reduces TE activities near the entrance region of the North Pacific storm track. The TE-induced feedback forcing leads to another 30% of the EAT’s amplification. The evolution and dynamical processes of the weak EAT events generally resemble those of the strong events with opposite signs. These results are consistent with the knowledge on the mechanism of the strong and weak EAT events regarding the role of RWs with additional quantitative description and provide new insights regarding the role of TEs. Variations of the EAT’s strength exert significant climatic impacts on East Asia and its downstream region. Near-surface air temperature is below (above) normal over East Asia during the growth and peak stages of the strong (weak) EAT events and above (below) normal over North America afterward.


2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 373-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alain Samson

AbstractIn an article aimed at complementing Boyer and Sperber's (relatively structural) views of counter-intuitive concepts and their robustness in the religious domain, Franks (2003) has recently drawn attention to the fact that the tolerance of such conflict or contradiction appears to be less domain-specific in some cultures, such as those found in East Asia. This paper follows up on this important point by highlighting the similarities and differences of the tolerance for contradictions evident in East Asian 'naïve dialecticism' and nonnatural religious representations. It is argued that, despite their dissimilarity with respect to the content represented, both types of tolerances may be structurally similar. Both could also be anchored in intuition, albeit in qualitatively different ways. Given the general tolerance of psychological contradiction among persons of East Asian cultures and the potential role of religion, the question whether there is a place for the study of 'tolerance of contradiction' in cross-cultural psychology and cognitive anthropology is raised.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nik Hazlina Nik Hussain ◽  
Azidah Abdul Kadir

<p><em>Labisia pumila</em> (Myrsinaceae), also called Kacip Fatimah, is a herbal medicine that has been widely used in South East Asian communities mainly for women’s health. The extensive use of this plant has led to many speculations and studies on its phytoestrogenic properties. This review highlights the studies that involved<em> Labisia pumila,</em> which include phytochemical profiling and its safety. In addition, we also look into its use as an alternative to hormonal therapy in postmenopausal women, and its role in cardiovascular protection and osteoporosis. Further studies are needed to highlight the potential benefits of this plant in promoting advantageous health properties. <em></em></p>


2013 ◽  
Vol 115 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 667-683 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shangfeng Chen ◽  
Xiaolong Chen ◽  
Ke Wei ◽  
Wen Chen ◽  
Tianjun Zhou

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 4443-4462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danqing Huang ◽  
Aiguo Dai ◽  
Jian Zhu ◽  
Yaocun Zhang ◽  
Xueyuan Kuang

Global-mean surface temperature has experienced fast warming during 1985–98 but stabilized during 1999–2013, especially in boreal winter. Climate changes over East Asia between the two warming periods and the associated mechanisms have not been fully understood. Analyses of observation and reanalysis data show that winter precipitation has decreased (increased) over southern (northeastern) China from 1985–98 to 1999–2013. Winds at 300 hPa over East Asia strengthened during 1999–2013 around 30°–47.5°N but weakened to the north and south of it. This change pattern caused the East Asian polar front jet (EAPJ) and the East Asian subtropical jet (EASJ) to shift, respectively, equatorward and poleward during 1999–2013. Associated with these jet displacements, the Siberian high enhanced and the East Asian trough shifted westward. The enhanced Siberian high strengthened the East Asian winter monsoon and weakened southwesterly winds over the South China Sea, leading to precipitation decreases over southern China. The westward shift of the East Asian trough enhanced convergence and precipitation over northeastern China. A combination of a negative phase of the interdecadal Pacific oscillation and a positive phase of the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation during 1999–2013 resulted in significant tropospheric warming over the low and high latitudes and cooling over the midlatitudes of East Asia. These changes enhanced the meridional temperature gradient and thus westerlies over the region between the two jets but weakened them to the south and north of it, thereby contributing to the wind change patterns and the jet displacements.


2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (14) ◽  
pp. 5183-5195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiaoyan Wu ◽  
Ying Yan ◽  
Dake Chen

Abstract A linear Markov model has been developed to predict the short-term climate variability of the East Asian monsoon system, with emphasis on precipitation variability. Precipitation, sea level pressure, zonal and meridional winds at 850 mb, along with sea surface temperature and soil moisture, were chosen to define the state of the East Asian monsoon system, and the multivariate empirical orthogonal functions of these variables were used to construct the statistical Markov model. The forecast skill of the model was evaluated in a cross-validated fashion and a series of sensitivity experiments were conducted to further validate the model. In both hindcast and forecast experiments, the model showed considerable skill in predicting the precipitation anomaly a few months in advance, especially in boreal winter and spring. The prediction in boreal summer was relatively poor, though the model performance was better in an ENSO decaying summer than in an ENSO developing summer. Also, the prediction skill was better over the ocean than the land. The model's forecast ability is attributed to the domination of the East Asian monsoon climate variability by a few distinctive modes in the coupled atmosphere–ocean–land system, to the strong influence of ENSO on these modes, and to the Markov model's capability to capture these modes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 1393-1404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Brand

Abstract The Popeye domain-containing gene family encodes a novel class of cAMP effector proteins in striated muscle tissue. In this short review, we first introduce the protein family and discuss their structure and function with an emphasis on their role in cyclic AMP signalling. Another focus of this review is the recently discovered role of POPDC genes as striated muscle disease genes, which have been associated with cardiac arrhythmia and muscular dystrophy. The pathological phenotypes observed in patients will be compared with phenotypes present in null and knockin mutations in zebrafish and mouse. A number of protein–protein interaction partners have been discovered and the potential role of POPDC proteins to control the subcellular localization and function of these interacting proteins will be discussed. Finally, we outline several areas, where research is urgently needed.


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