Carex lyngbyei excluded from the flora of eastern North America, and taxonomic notes on related species and hybrids

1987 ◽  
Vol 65 (6) ◽  
pp. 1187-1198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques Cayouette

Carex lyngbyei has been reported from a few stations in eastern North America over the last century. Herbarium specimens so identified from that area are morphologically very diverse and are quite different from the typical C. lyngbyei along the North Pacific coastline and Iceland. This eastern material was found to belong to four species (C. aquatilis, C. crinita var. gynandra, C. paleacea, and C. recta) and six different hybrids (C. ×saxenii, C. ×gardneri, C. ×exsalina, C. ×subnigra, C. ×super-goodenoughii, and C. ×grantii). Pollen stainability of typical C. lyngbyei and of putative C. lyngbyei from eastern North America supported these revisions: it was high in species and low in hybrids or in species of hybrid origin such as C. recta. In western North America, C. lyngbyei has either 2n = 68, 70, or 72 chromosomes and meiosis appears to be regular. In contrast, some putative C. lyngbyei from eastern Quebec showed a highly disturbed meiosis. Consequently C. lyngbyei is excluded from eastern North America.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Binhe Luo ◽  
Dehai Luo ◽  
Aiguo Dai ◽  
Lixin Wu

<p>Winter surface air temperature (SAT) over North America exhibits pronounced variability on sub-seasonal-to-interdecadal timescales, but its causes are not fully understood. Here observational and reanalysis data from 1950-2017 are analyzed to investigate these causes. Detrended daily SAT data reveals a known warm-west/cold-east (WWCE) dipole over midlatitude North America and a cold-north/warm-south (CNWS) dipole over eastern North America. It is found that while the North Pacific blocking (PB) is important for the WWCE and CNWS dipoles, they also depend on the phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). When a negative-phase NAO (NAO-) concurs with PB, the WWCE dipole is enhanced (compared with the PB alone case) and it also leads to a warm north/cold south dipole anomaly in eastern North America; but when PB occurs with a positive-phase NAO (NAO<sup>+</sup>), the WWCE dipole weakens and the CNWS dipole is enhanced. In particular, the WWCE dipole is favored by a combination of eastward-displaced PB and NAO<sup>-</sup> that form a negative Arctic Oscillation. Furthermore, a WWCE dipole can form over midlatitude North America when PB occurs together with southward-displaced NAO<sup>+</sup>.The PB events concurring with NAO<sup>-</sup> (NAO<sup>+</sup>) and SAT WWCE (CNWS) dipole are favored by the El Nio-like (La Nia-like) SST mode, though related to the North Atlantic warm-cold-warm (cold-warm-cold) SST tripole pattern. It is also found that the North Pacific mode tends to enhance the WWCE SAT dipole through increasing PB-NAO<sup>-</sup> events and producing the WWCE SAT dipole component related to the PB-NAO<sup>+</sup> events because the PB and NAO<sup>+</sup> form a more zonal wave train in this case.</p>


2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (20) ◽  
pp. 8109-8117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Baxter ◽  
Sumant Nigam

Abstract The 2013/14 boreal winter (December 2013–February 2014) brought extended periods of anomalously cold weather to central and eastern North America. The authors show that a leading pattern of extratropical variability, whose sea level pressure footprint is the North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) and circulation footprint the West Pacific (WP) teleconnection—together, the NPO–WP—exhibited extreme and persistent amplitude in this winter. Reconstruction of the 850-hPa temperature, 200-hPa geopotential height, and precipitation reveals that the NPO–WP was the leading contributor to the winter climate anomaly over large swaths of North America. This analysis, furthermore, indicates that NPO–WP variability explains the most variance of monthly winter temperature over central-eastern North America since, at least, 1979. Analysis of the NPO–WP related thermal advection provides physical insight on the generation of the cold temperature anomalies over North America. Although NPO–WP’s origin and development remain to be elucidated, its concurrent links to tropical SSTs are tenuous. These findings suggest that notable winter climate anomalies in the Pacific–North American sector need not originate, directly, from the tropics. More broadly, the attribution of the severe 2013/14 winter to the flexing of an extratropical variability pattern is cautionary given the propensity to implicate the tropics, following several decades of focus on El Niño–Southern Oscillation and its regional and far-field impacts.


2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 2717-2728 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. L. Zhao ◽  
S. L. Gong ◽  
X. Y. Zhang ◽  
D. A. Jaffe

Abstract. New observational evidence of the trans-Pacific transport of Asian dust and its contribution to the ambient particulate matter (PM) levels in North America was revealed, based on the interannual variations between Asian dust storms and the ambient PM levels in western North America from year 2000 to 2006. A high correlation was found between them with an R2 value of 0.83. From analysis of the differences in the correlation between 2005 and 2006, three factors explain the variation of trans-Pacific transport and influences of Asian dust storms on PM levels in western North America. These were identified by modeling results and the re-analysis data. They were 1) Strength of frontal cyclones from Mongolia to north eastern China: The frontal cyclones in East Asia not only bring strong cold air outbreaks, generating dust storms in East Asia, but also lift Asian dust into westerly winds of the free troposphere for trans-Pacific transport; 2) Pattern of transport pathway over the North Pacific: The circulation patterns of westerlies over the North Pacific govern the trans-Pacific transport pattern. Strong zonal airflow of the westerly jet in the free troposphere over the North Pacific favor significant trans-Pacific transport of Asian dust; 3) Variation of precipitation in the North Pacific: The scavenging of Asian dust particles by precipitation is a major process of dust removal on the trans-Pacific transport pathway. Therefore, variation of precipitation in the North Pacific could affect trans-Pacific transport of Asian dust.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (16) ◽  
pp. 7101-7123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Binhe Luo ◽  
Dehai Luo ◽  
Aiguo Dai ◽  
I. Simmonds ◽  
Lixin Wu

AbstractWinter surface air temperature (SAT) over North America exhibits pronounced variability on subseasonal, interannual, decadal, and interdecadal time scales. Here, reanalysis data from 1950–2017 are analyzed to investigate the atmospheric and surface ocean conditions associated with its subseasonal to interannual variability. Detrended daily SAT data reveal a known warm west/cold east (WWCE) dipole over midlatitude North America and a cold north/warm south (CNWS) dipole over eastern North America. It is found that while the North Pacific blocking (PB) is important for the WWCE and CNWS dipoles, they also depend on the phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). When a negative-phase NAO (NAO−) coincides with PB, the WWCE dipole is enhanced (compared with the PB alone case) and it also leads to a warm north/cold south dipole anomaly in eastern North America; but when PB occurs with a positive-phase NAO (NAO+), the WWCE dipole weakens and the CNWS dipole is enhanced. The PB events concurrent with the NAO− (NAO+) and SAT WWCE (CNWS) dipole are favored by the Pacific El Niño–like (La Niña–like) sea surface temperature mode and the positive (negative) North Pacific mode. The PB-NAO+ has a larger component projecting onto the SAT WWCE dipole during the La Niña winter than during the El Niño winter because a more zonal wave train is formed. Strong North American SAT WWCE dipoles and enhanced projections of PB-NAO+ events onto the SAT WWCE dipole component are also readily seen for the positive North Pacific mode. The North Pacific mode seems to play a bigger role in the North American SAT variability than ENSO.


2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 9663-9686 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. L. Zhao ◽  
S. L. Gong ◽  
X. Y. Zhang ◽  
D. A. Jaffe

Abstract. New observational evidence of the trans-Pacific transport of Asian dust and its contribution to the ambient particulate matter (PM) levels in North America was revealed, based on the interannual variations between Asian dust storms and the ambient PM levels in western North America from year 2000 to 2006. A high correlation was found between them with an R2 value of 0.83. From analysis of the differences in the correlation between 2005 and 2006, three factors explain the variation of trans-Pacific transport and influences of Asian dust storms on PM levels in western North America. These were identified by modeling results and the re-analysis data. They were 1) Strength of frontal cyclones from Mongolia to north eastern China: The frontal cyclones in East Asia not only bring strong cold air outbreaks, generating dust storms in East Asia, but also lift Asian dust into westerly winds of the free troposphere for trans-Pacific transport; 2) Pattern of transport pathway over the North Pacific: The circulation patterns of westerlies over the North Pacific govern the trans-Pacific transport pattern. Strong zonal airflow of the westerly jet in the free troposphere over the North Pacific favor significant trans-Pacific transport of Asian dust; 3) Variation of precipitation in the North Pacific: The scavenging of Asian dust particles by precipitation is a major process of dust removal on the trans-Pacific transport pathway; therefore, variation of precipitation in the North Pacific could affect trans-Pacific transport of Asian dust.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (20) ◽  
pp. 8339-8349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Goss ◽  
Sukyoung Lee ◽  
Steven B. Feldstein ◽  
Noah S. Diffenbaugh

A daily El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) index is developed based on precipitation rate and is used to investigate subseasonal time-scale extratropical circulation anomalies associated with ENSO-like convective heating. The index, referred to as the El Niño precipitation index (ENPI), is anomalously positive when there is El Niño–like convection. Conversely, the ENPI is anomalously negative when there is La Niña–like convection. It is found that when precipitation becomes El Niño–like (La Niña–like) on subseasonal time scales, the 300-hPa geopotential height field over the North Pacific and western North America becomes El Niño–like (La Niña–like) within 5–10 days. The composites show a small association with the MJO. These results are supported by previous modeling studies, which show that the response over the North Pacific and western North America to an equatorial Pacific heating anomaly occurs within about one week. This suggests that the mean seasonal extratropical response to El Niño (La Niña) may in effect simply be the average of the subseasonal response to subseasonally varying El Niño–like (La Niña–like) convective heating. Implications for subseasonal to seasonal forecasting are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 2781-2794
Author(s):  
Melissa L. Breeden ◽  
Amy H. Butler ◽  
John R. Albers ◽  
Michael Sprenger ◽  
Andrew O'Neil Langford

Abstract. Stratosphere-to-troposphere mass transport to the planetary boundary layer (STT-PBL) peaks over the western United States during boreal spring, when deep stratospheric intrusions are most frequent. The tropopause-level jet structure modulates the frequency and character of intrusions, although the precise relationship between STT-PBL and jet variability has not been extensively investigated. In this study, we demonstrate how the North Pacific jet transition from winter to summer leads to the observed peak in STT-PBL. We show that the transition enhances STT-PBL through an increase in storm track activity which produces highly amplified Rossby waves and more frequent deep stratospheric intrusions over western North America. This dynamic transition coincides with the gradually deepening PBL, further facilitating STT-PBL in spring. We find that La Niña conditions in late winter are associated with an earlier jet transition and enhanced STT-PBL due to deeper and more frequent tropopause folds. An opposite response is found during El Niño conditions. El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions also influence STT-PBL in late spring or early summer, during which time La Niña conditions are associated with larger and more frequent tropopause folds than both El Niño and ENSO-neutral conditions. These results suggest that knowledge of ENSO state and the North Pacific jet structure in late winter could be leveraged for predicting the strength of STT-PBL in the following months.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Leah Breeden ◽  
Amy Hawes Butler ◽  
John Robert Albers ◽  
Michael Sprenger ◽  
Andrew O’Neil Langford

Abstract. Stratosphere-to-troposphere mass transport to the planetary boundary layer (STT-PBL) peaks over the western United States during boreal spring, when deep stratospheric intrusions are most frequent. The tropopause-level jet structure modulates the frequency and character of intrusions, although the precise relationship between STT-PBL and jet variability has not been extensively investigated. In this study, we demonstrate how the north Pacific jet transition from winter to summer leads to the observed peak in STT-PBL. We show that the transition enhances STT-PBL through an increase in storm track activity which produces highly-amplified Rossby waves and more frequent deep stratospheric intrusions over western North America. This dynamic transition coincides with the gradually deepening planetary boundary layer, further facilitating STT-PBL in spring. We find that La Niña conditions in late winter are associated with an earlier jet transition and enhanced STT-PBL due to deeper and more frequent tropopause folds. An opposite response is found during El Niño conditions. ENSO conditions also influence STT-PBL in late spring/early summer, during which time La Niña conditions are associated with larger and more frequent tropopause folds than both El Niño and ENSO neutral conditions. These results suggest that knowledge of ENSO state and the north Pacific jet structure in late winter could be leveraged for predicting the strength of STT-PBL in the following months.


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