A link between June cold air outbreaks in Moscow and long range air transport

Author(s):  
Karim A. Shukurov ◽  
Vladimir A. Semenov
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik T. Smith ◽  
Scott Sheridan

Abstract Historical and future simulated temperature data from five climate models in the Coupled Model Intercomparing Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) are used to understand how climate change might alter cold air outbreaks (CAOs) in the future. Three different Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), SSP 1 – 2.6, SSP 2 – 4.5, and SSP 5 – 8.5 are examined to identify potential fluctuations in CAOs across the globe between 2015 and 2054. Though CAOs may remain persistent or even increase in some regions through 2040, all five climate models show CAOs disappearing by 2054 based on current climate percentiles. Climate models were able to accurately simulate the spatial distribution and trends of historical CAOs, but there were large errors in the simulated interannual frequency of CAOs in the North Atlantic and North Pacific. Fluctuations in complex processes, such as Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, may be contributing to each model’s inability to simulate historical CAOs in these regions.


2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 1999-2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Fletcher ◽  
Shannon Mason ◽  
Christian Jakob

Abstract A comparison of marine cold air outbreaks (MCAOs) in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres is presented, with attention to their seasonality, frequency of occurrence, and strength as measured by a cold air outbreak index. When considered on a gridpoint-by-gridpoint basis, MCAOs are more severe and more frequent in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) than the Southern Hemisphere (SH) in winter. However, when MCAOs are viewed as individual events regardless of horizontal extent, they occur more frequently in the SH. This is fundamentally because NH MCAOs are larger and stronger than those in the SH. MCAOs occur throughout the year, but in warm seasons and in the SH they are smaller and weaker than in cold seasons and in the NH. In both hemispheres, strong MCAOs occupy the cold air sector of midlatitude cyclones, which generally appear to be in their growth phase. Weak MCAOs in the SH occur under generally zonal flow with a slight northward component associated with weak zonal pressure gradients, while weak NH MCAOs occur under such a wide range of conditions that no characteristic synoptic pattern emerges from compositing. Strong boundary layer deepening, warming, and moistening occur as a result of the surface heat fluxes within MCAOs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (5) ◽  
pp. 1245-1264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinlong Huang ◽  
Wenshou Tian

Abstract This study analyzes the differences and similarities of Eurasian cold air outbreaks (CAOs) under the weak (CAOW), strong (CAOS), and neutral (CAON) stratospheric polar vortex states and examines the potential links between the polar vortex and Eurasian CAOs. The results indicate that the colder surface air temperature (SAT) over Europe in the earlier stages of CAOW events is likely because the amplitude of the preexisting negative North Atlantic Oscillation pattern is larger in CAOW events than in CAON and CAOS events. Marked by the considerably negative stratospheric Arctic Oscillation signals entering the troposphere, the SAT at midlatitudes over eastern Eurasia in CAOW events is colder than in CAON events. A larger diabatic heating rate related to a positive sensible heat flux anomaly in CAOW events likely offsets, to some degree, the cooling effect caused by the stronger cold advection and makes the differences in area-averaged SAT anomalies over northern Eurasia between the CAOW and CAON events look insignificant in most stages. Massive anomalous waves from the low-latitude western Pacific merge over northeastern Eurasia, then weaken the westerly wind over this region to create favorable conditions for southward advection of cold air masses in the earlier stages of all three types of CAOs. This study further analyzes the interannual relationship between the stratospheric polar vortex strength and the intensity of Eurasian CAOs and finds that climate models participating in phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) relative to the reanalysis dataset tend to underestimate the correlation between them. The relationship between them is strengthening under representative concentration pathway 4.5 (RCP4.5) and 8.5 (RCP8.5) scenarios over the period 2006–60. In addition, the intensity of Eurasian CAOs exhibits a decreasing trend in the past and in the future.


2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (19) ◽  
pp. 5205-5217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mong-Ming Lu ◽  
Chih-Pei Chang

Abstract The highest frequency of late-winter cold-air outbreaks in East and Southeast Asia over 50 years was recorded in 2005, when three strong successive cold surges occurred in the South China Sea within a span of 30 days from mid-February to mid-March. These events also coincided with the first break of 18 consecutive warm winters over China. The strong pulsation of the surface Siberian Mongolia high (SMH) that triggered these events was found to result from the confluence of several events. To the east, a strong Pacific blocking with three pulses of westward extension intensified the stationary East Asian major trough to create a favorable condition for cold-air outbreaks. To the west, the dominance of the Atlantic blocking and an anomalous deepened trough in the Scandinavian/Barents Sea region provided the source of a succession of Rossby wave activity fluxes for the downstream development. An upper-level central Asian anticyclone that is often associated with a stronger SMH was anomalously strong and provided additional forcing. In terms of the persistence and strength, this central Asian anticyclone was correlated with the Arctic Oscillation (AO) and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) only when SMH is weak (warm winters). During strong SMH seasons (cold winters) the correlation vanishes. However, during late winter 2005 the central Asian anticyclone was strengthened by the Atlantic blocking through both the downstream wave activities and a circulation change that affected the Atlantic and west Asian jets. As a result, the period from mid-February to mid-March of 2005 stands out as a record-breaking period in the Asian winter monsoon.


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