scholarly journals The fast-acting “pulse” of Heinrich Stadial 3 in a mid-latitude boreal ecosystem

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Federica Badino ◽  
Roberta Pini ◽  
Paolo Bertuletti ◽  
Cesare Ravazzi ◽  
Barbara Delmonte ◽  
...  

Abstract A 3800 year-long radiocarbon-dated and highly-resolved palaeoecological record from Lake Fimon (N-Italy) served to investigate the effects of potential teleconnections between North Atlantic and mid-to-low latitudes at the transition from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 to 2. Boreal ecosystems documented in the Fimon record reacted in a sensitive way to millennial and sub-millennial scale Northern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation patterns. The high median time-resolution of 58 years allows the identification of five abrupt event-boundaries (i.e., main forest expansion and decline excursions) synchronous with the sharp stadial/interstadial (GS/GI) transitions within dating uncertainties. During Heinrich Stadial 3 (HS 3) we reconstruct more open and dry conditions, compared to the other GS, with a dominant regional scale fire signal. Linkages between local fires and climate-driven fuel changes resulted in high-magnitude fire peaks close to GI/GS boundaries, even exacerbated by local peatland conditions. Finally, palaeoecological data from the HS 3 interval unveiled an internal variability suggesting a peak between 30,425 and 29,772 cal BP (2σ error) which matches more depleted δ18O values in alpine speleothems. We hypothesise that this signal, broadly resembling that of other mid-latitudes proxies, may be attributed to the southward shift of the Northern Hemisphere storm tracks and the associated delayed iceberg discharge events as documented during other HS.

2009 ◽  
Vol 59 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 106-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carles García ◽  
Glòria Martí ◽  
Pere Oller ◽  
Ivan Moner ◽  
Jordi Gavaldà ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathrin Wehrli ◽  
Mathias Hauser ◽  
Sonia I. Seneviratne

Abstract. Extreme temperatures were experienced over a large part of the Northern Hemisphere during the 2018 boreal summer (hereafter referred to as NH2018 event), leading to major impacts to agriculture and society in the affected countries. Previous studies highlighted both the anomalous atmospheric circulation patterns during the event and the background warming due to human greenhouse gas emissions as main drivers for the event. In this study, we present Earth System Model experiments investigating different storylines of the NH2018 event given the same atmospheric circulation and alternative background global warming for: no human imprint, the 2018 conditions, and different mean global warming levels (1.5 °C, 2 °C, 3 °C, and 4 °C). The results reveal that the human-induced background warming was a strong contributor to the intensity of the NH2018 event, and that resulting extremes under similar atmospheric circulation conditions at higher levels of global warming would reach very dangerous levels. About 32 % (61 %) of the inhabited or agricultural area in the investigated region would reach maximum temperatures over 40 °C under 2 °C (4 °C) of global warming and similar atmospheric circulation conditions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Eduard Y. Osipov ◽  
Olga P. Osipova

Abstract. Precipitation in high-mountain regions is characterized by a strong heterogeneity due to complex interaction between atmospheric circulation and steep topography, however, extremely rare network of high elevation stations hampers the adequate high resolution regional climate modeling. In this study we present new data of precipitation directly measured in high-mountain catchment, on the continental glacier (East Sayan Range, south of East Siberia) during the summer periods of 2015–2017 using automatic weather station. The precipitation record was compared with near located weather stations and ERA Interim and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data. Precipitation mode similar to the glacier site was found at the stations located west and northwest, while ERA Interim and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data underestimated the precipitation by 40 % and 70 %, respectively. Atmospheric circulation patterns in days with precipitation were analyzed by using mean sea level pressure, geopotential height at 700 and 500 hPa and classification of macro scale atmospheric processes of the Northern Hemisphere by Dzerdzeevskii. Summer precipitation was mostly associated with meridional southern group of large scale circulation the Northern Hemisphere, while at synoptic scale it basically fell in cyclonic (49 % of precipitation) and low-gradient cyclonic (30 %) baric fields. Six typical atmospheric circulation patterns over the East Sayan were identified for days with precipitation. The sources and atmospheric moisture transfer to the glacier was defined by using the HYSPLIT trajectory model. The most of summer precipitation (70 %) was related with western cyclones, while about 25 % of rainfalls (mainly of moderate to strong intensity) was originated from the south-east (Pacific monsoon influence).


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rune Grand Graversen

<p>Mid-latitude continental weather and climate are strongly affected by the atmospheric circulation patterns such as Rossby waves and cyclones. For instance these patterns may lead to warm- and humid-air advection over western part of the continents in winter and cold-air advection in these regions during summer. By applying a newly developed method for splitting the atmospheric latent and dry-static energy transport into waves, hereby decomposing the energy transport into parts accomplished by e.g. Rossby waves and synoptic-scale weather systems, the effect of different atmospheric circulation patterns on Northern-Hemisphere continental climate is investigated.</p><p>Climate change and the associated Arctic temperature amplification may impact mid-latitude atmospheric circulation. Here we investigate the effect on Northern-Hemisphere continental climate from changes over recent decades in the atmospheric circulation patterns using the above-mentioned method.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 855-873
Author(s):  
Kathrin Wehrli ◽  
Mathias Hauser ◽  
Sonia I. Seneviratne

Abstract. Extreme temperatures were experienced over a large part of the Northern Hemisphere during the 2018 boreal summer (hereafter referred to as “NH2018 event”), leading to major impacts on agriculture and society in the affected countries. Previous studies highlighted both the anomalous atmospheric circulation patterns during the event and the background warming due to human greenhouse gas emissions as main drivers of the event. In this study, we present Earth system model experiments investigating different storylines of the NH2018 event given the same atmospheric circulation and alternative background global warming for no human imprint, the 2018 conditions, and different mean global warming levels 1.5, 2, 3 and 4 ∘C. The results reveal that the human-induced background warming was a strong contributor to the intensity of the NH2018 event, and that resulting extremes under similar atmospheric circulation conditions at higher levels of global warming would reach dangerous levels. Compared to 9 % during the NH2018 event, about 13 % (34 %) of the inhabited or agricultural area in the investigated region would reach daily maximum temperatures over 40 ∘C under 2 ∘C (4 ∘C) of global warming and similar atmospheric circulation conditions.


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