scholarly journals Northern Eurasian Heat Waves and Droughts

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (9) ◽  
pp. 3169-3207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siegfried D. Schubert ◽  
Hailan Wang ◽  
Randal D. Koster ◽  
Max J. Suarez ◽  
Pavel Ya. Groisman
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Heat Wave ◽  
Extreme Events ◽  
Decadal Variability ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
Precipitation Variability ◽  
Northern Eurasia ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
Warming World

Abstract This article reviews the understanding of the characteristics and causes of northern Eurasian summertime heat waves and droughts. Additional insights into the nature of temperature and precipitation variability in Eurasia on monthly to decadal time scales and into the causes and predictability of the most extreme events are gained from the latest generation of reanalyses and from supplemental simulations with the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System model, version 5 (GEOS-5). Key new results are 1) the identification of the important role of summertime stationary Rossby waves in the development of the leading patterns of monthly Eurasian surface temperature and precipitation variability (including the development of extreme events such as the 2010 Russian heat wave); 2) an assessment of the mean temperature and precipitation changes that have occurred over northern Eurasia in the last three decades and their connections to decadal variability and global trends in SST; and 3) the quantification (via a case study) of the predictability of the most extreme simulated heat wave/drought events, with some focus on the role of soil moisture in the development and maintenance of such events. A literature survey indicates a general consensus that the future holds an enhanced probability of heat waves across northern Eurasia, while there is less agreement regarding future drought, reflecting a greater uncertainty in soil moisture and precipitation projections. Substantial uncertainties remain in the understanding of heat waves and drought, including the nature of the interactions between the short-term atmospheric variability associated with such extremes and the longer-term variability and trends associated with soil moisture feedbacks, SST anomalies, and an overall warming world.

Intraseasonal to decadal variability of Rossby wave packet properties

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgios Fragkoulidis ◽  
Volkmar Wirth
Keyword(s):  
Rossby Wave ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Decadal Variability ◽  
Phase Speed ◽  
Diagnostic Methods ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
Ongoing Work ◽  
Large Scale Flow

<p>The large-scale extratropical upper-tropospheric flow tends to organize itself into eastward-propagating Rossby wave packets (RWPs). Investigating the spatiotemporal evolution of RWPs and the underlying physical processes has been beneficial in showcasing the role of the upper-tropospheric flow in temperature and precipitation extremes. The use of recently developed diagnostics of local in space and time wave properties has provided further insight in this regard. Motivated by the above, these diagnostic methods are now being employed to investigate the intraseasonal to decadal variability of key RWP properties such as their amplitude, phase speed, and group velocity in reanalysis datasets. It is shown that these properties exhibit a distinct seasonal and interregional variability, while interesting patterns thereof emerge. Moreover, the interannual and long-term variability in these RWP properties is explored and significant decadal trends for specific regions and seasons are highlighted. Ongoing work aims at further utilizing the presented diagnostics and analyses toward an improved understanding of the extratropical large-scale flow variability from weather to climate time scales.</p>

Climate Extremes and Compound Hazards in a Warming World

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 519-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir AghaKouchak ◽  
Felicia Chiang ◽  
Laurie S. Huning ◽  
Charlotte A. Love ◽  
Iman Mallakpour ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Extreme Events ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
Climate Extremes ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Theoretical Research ◽  
Aging Infrastructure ◽  
Climate Hazards ◽  
Projected Changes ◽  
Warming World

Climate extremes threaten human health, economic stability, and the well-being of natural and built environments (e.g., 2003 European heat wave). As the world continues to warm, climate hazards are expected to increase in frequency and intensity. The impacts of extreme events will also be more severe due to the increased exposure (growing population and development) and vulnerability (aging infrastructure) of human settlements. Climate models attribute part of the projected increases in the intensity and frequency of natural disasters to anthropogenic emissions and changes in land use and land cover. Here, we review the impacts, historical and projected changes,and theoretical research gaps of key extreme events (heat waves, droughts, wildfires, precipitation, and flooding). We also highlight the need to improve our understanding of the dependence between individual and interrelated climate extremes because anthropogenic-induced warming increases the risk of not only individual climate extremes but also compound (co-occurring) and cascading hazards. ▪  Climate hazards are expected to increase in frequency and intensity in a warming world. ▪  Anthropogenic-induced warming increases the risk of compound and cascading hazards. ▪  We need to improve our understanding of causes and drivers of compound and cascading hazards.

scholarly journals Southeastern Australian Heat Waves from a Trajectory Viewpoint

2017 ◽  
Vol 145 (10) ◽  
pp. 4109-4125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian F. Quinting ◽  
Michael J. Reeder
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Heat Wave ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
The South ◽  
South Indian Ocean ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
South Indian ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Upper Level

Although heat waves account for more premature deaths in the Australian region than any other natural disaster, an understanding of their dynamics is still incomplete. The present study identifies the dynamical mechanisms responsible for heat waves in southeastern Australia using 10-day backward trajectories computed from the ERA-Interim reanalyses. Prior to the formation of a heat wave, trajectories located over the south Indian Ocean and over Australia in the lower and midtroposphere ascend diabatically ahead of an upper-level trough and over a baroclinic zone to the south of the continent. These trajectories account for 44% of all trajectories forming the anticyclonic upper-level potential vorticity anomalies that characterize heat waves in the region. At the same time, trajectories located over the south Indian Ocean in the lower part of the troposphere descend and aggregate over the Tasman Sea. This descent is accompanied by a strong adiabatic warming. A key finding is that the temperatures are raised further through diabatic heating in the boundary layer over eastern Australia but not over the inner Australian continent. From eastern Australia, the air parcels are advected southward as they become incorporated into the near-surface anticyclone that defines the heat wave. In contrast to past studies, the importance of cloud-diabatic processes in the evolution of the midlatitude large-scale flow and the role of adiabatic compression in elevating the near-surface temperatures is emphasized. Likewise, the role of the local surface sensible heat fluxes is deemphasized.

scholarly journals Analysis of Ocean-Atmospheric features associated with extreme temperature variation over east coast of India-A special emphasis to Orissa heat waves of 1998 and 2005

MAUSAM ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-422
Author(s):  
RAJENDRAKUMAR JENAMANI
Keyword(s):  
Heat Wave ◽  
Andhra Pradesh ◽  
East Coast ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
Extreme Temperature ◽  
Sea Breeze ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
East Coast Of India ◽  
Heat Indices

During the decade of 1998-2007, both Orissa and Andhra Pradesh at east Coast of India have been affected by heat waves more frequently and more severely causing very high damages to human lives. The most severe heat wave years for the region in the recent past are summer of 1998 over Orissa and 2003 over Andhra Pradesh when 2,042 and nearly 3054 people lost their lives respectively. In summer of 2005, though severe heat wave conditions were experienced for some days over Orissa and adjoining east coasts, the damages were not high as before. In view of such extreme temperature events have been regularly affected the region during the period where their normal frequency is low, analyses of their long period temperature data and study of their relationship with various regional and global ocean-atmospheric features are very much necessary, to find possible causes and then use them in forecasting. In the present study, an attempt has been made to analyze various temperature time series as available, varying from large domain to small domain, e.g., all India temperature, east coast of India temperature etc., to understand whether years which had recorded extreme temperatures in these larger domains have any relationship with that occurred over its very smaller domain, e.g., Orissa from station data, of which later is a part. To understand the relation between the magnitude of heat indices and loss to total human lives it caused during respective whole periods of heat waves, different heat indices, viz., general heat indices, Thom’s discomfort and Webb’s comfort indices have been computed during these extreme years over Orissa and Andhra Pradesh states and compared with total heat wave related human deaths over the respective states for the corresponding years. In addition to various heat indices, various Ocean-atmospheric characteristics, e.g., monthly SST over Bay of Bengal, day-to-day synoptic flow pattern, recurving Cyclonic Storms which strengthen low-level westerly and prohibit onset of Sea breeze over the coastal stations in the region causing persistent of heat waves, have also been critically analyzed both spatially and temporally to find role of these features in such occurrences. Their statistical lag correlations if any with ensuing temperature rise have been tested to explore the possibility of using them in forecasting these events much in advance.

scholarly journals Severe summer heat waves over Georgia: trends, patterns and driving forces

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 2273-2322 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Keggenhoff ◽  
M. Elizbarashvili ◽  
L. King
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Heat Wave ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
Longwave Radiation ◽  
Meridional Wind ◽  
Surface Heating ◽  
Ural Mountains ◽  
Summer Heat ◽  
Excess Heat Factor

Abstract. During the last 50 years Georgia experienced a rising number of severe summer heat waves causing increasing heat-health impacts. In this study, the 10 most severe heat waves between 1961 and 2010 and recent changes in heat wave characteristics have been detected from 22 homogenized temperature minimum and maximum series using the Excess Heat Factor (EHF). A composite and Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) have been performed to study summer heat wave patterns and their relationships to the selected predictors: mean Sea Level Pressure (SLP), Geopotential Height at 500 mb (Z500), Sea Surface Temperature (SST), Zonal (u-wind500) and Meridional Wind at 500 mb (v-wind500), Vertical Velocity at 500 mb (O500), Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR), Relative Humidity (RH500), Precipitation (RR) and Soil Moisture (SM). Most severe heat events during the last 50 years are identified in 2007, 2006 and 1998. Largest significant trend magnitudes for the number, intensity and duration of low and high-impact heat waves have been found during the last 30 years. Significant changes in the heat wave predictors reveal that all relevant surface and atmospheric patterns contributing to heat waves have been intensified between 1961 and 2010. Composite anomalies and CCA patterns provide evidence of a large anticyclonic blocking pattern over the southern Ural Mountains, which attracts warm air masses from the Southwest, enhances subsidence and surface heating, shifts the African Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) northwards, and causes a northward shift of the subtropical jet. Moreover, pronounced precipitation and soil moisture deficiency throughout Georgia contribute to the heat wave formation and persistence over Georgia. Due to different large- to mesoscale circulation patterns and the local terrain, heat wave effects over Eastern Georgia are dominated by subsidence and surface heating, while convective rainfall and cooling are observed in the West.

Watershed Hydrological and Chemical Responses to Precipitation Variability in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Schaefer
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Extreme Events ◽  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Precipitation Variability ◽  
Extreme Rainfall Events ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
The North ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
The North Atlantic

Variations in temperature and precipitation are both components of climate variability. Based on coral growth rates measured near Puerto Rico, the Caribbean was 2–3ºC cooler during the “Little Ice Age” during the seventeenth century (Winter et al. 2000). At the millennial scale, temperature variations in tropical regions have been inferred to have substantial biological effects (such as speciation and extinction), but not at the multidecadal timescales considered here. My focus is on precipitation variability in particular, because climate models examining effects of increased greenhouse gases suggest greater changes in precipitation than in temperature patterns in tropical regions. Some correspondence between both the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Northern Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and average temperatures and total annual precipitation have been reported for the LTER site at Luquillo (Greenland 1999; Greenland and Kittel 2002), but those studies did not refer to extreme events. Based on climate records for Puerto Rico since 1914, Malmgren et al. (1997) found small increases in air temperature during El Niño years and somewhat greater total rainfall during the positive phase of the NAO. Similar to ENSO, the NAO index is characterized by differences in sea-level atmospheric pressure, in this case based on measurements in Iceland and Portugal (Walker and Bliss 1932). Its effects on climate have largely been described in terms of temperature and precipitation anomalies in countries bordering the North Atlantic (e.g., Hurrell 1995). Puerto Rico is in the North Atlantic hurricane zone, and hurricanes clearly play a major role in precipitation variability. The association between extreme rainfall events and hurricanes is discussed in detail in this chapter. I examine the degree to which extreme rainfall events are associated with hurricanes and other tropical storms. I discuss whether the occurrence of these extreme events has changed through time in Puerto Rico or can be linked to the recurrent patterns of the ENSO or the NAO. I examine the 25-year daily precipitation record for the Luquillo LTER site, the 90-year monthly record from the nearest site to Luquillo with such a long record, Fajardo, and those of the two other Puerto Rico stations with the longest daily precipitation records, Manati and Mayaguez (figure 8.1).

scholarly journals Defining and Predicting Heat Waves in Bangladesh

2017 ◽  
Vol 56 (10) ◽  
pp. 2653-2670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Nissan ◽  
Katrin Burkart ◽  
Erin Coughlan de Perez ◽  
Maarten Van Aalst ◽  
Simon Mason
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Heat Wave ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Circulation Pattern ◽  
Westerly Winds ◽  
Additive Regression Model ◽  
Additive Regression ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Moisture Conditions

AbstractThis paper proposes a heat-wave definition for Bangladesh that could be used to trigger preparedness measures in a heat early warning system (HEWS) and explores the climate mechanisms associated with heat waves. A HEWS requires a definition of heat waves that is both related to human health outcomes and forecastable. No such definition has been developed for Bangladesh. Using a generalized additive regression model, a heat-wave definition is proposed that requires elevated minimum and maximum daily temperatures over the 95th percentile for 3 consecutive days, confirming the importance of nighttime conditions for health impacts. By this definition, death rates increase by about 20% during heat waves; this result can be used as an argument for public-health interventions to prevent heat-related deaths. Furthermore, predictability of these heat waves exists from weather to seasonal time scales, offering opportunities for a range of preparedness measures. Heat waves are associated with an absence of normal premonsoonal rainfall brought about by anomalously strong low-level westerly winds and weak southerlies, detectable up to approximately 10 days in advance. This circulation pattern occurs over a background of drier-than-normal conditions, with below-average soil moisture and precipitation throughout the heat-wave season from April to June. Low soil moisture increases the odds of heat-wave occurrence for 10–30 days, indicating that subseasonal forecasts of heat-wave risk may be possible by monitoring soil-moisture conditions.

scholarly journals How Important is Vegetation Phenology for European Climate and Heat Waves?

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (24) ◽  
pp. 10077-10100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Lorenz ◽  
Edouard L. Davin ◽  
David M. Lawrence ◽  
Reto Stöckli ◽  
Sonia I. Seneviratne
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Heat Wave ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
Daily Maximum ◽  
Vegetation Phenology ◽  
Area Index ◽  
Summer Climate ◽  
European Climate ◽  
The Impact

Abstract It has been hypothesized that vegetation phenology may play an important role for the midlatitude climate. This study investigates the impact of interannual and intraseasonal variations in phenology on European climate using regional climate model simulations. In addition, it assesses the relative importance of interannual variations in vegetation phenology and soil moisture on European summer climate. It is found that drastic phenological changes have a smaller effect on mean summer and spring climate than extreme changes in soil moisture (roughly ¼ of the temperature anomaly induced by soil moisture changes). However, the impact of phenological anomalies during heat waves is found to be more important. Generally, late and weak greening has amplifying effects and early and strong greening has dampening effects on heat waves; however, regional variations are found. The experiments suggest that in the extreme hot 2003 (western and central Europe) and 2007 (southeastern Europe) summers the decrease in leaf area index amplified the heat wave peaks by about 0.5°C for daily maximum temperatures (about half of the effect induced by soil moisture deficit). In contrast to earlier hypotheses, no anomalous early greening in spring 2003 is seen in the phenological dataset employed here. Hence, the results indicate that vegetation feedbacks amplified the 2003 heat wave but were not responsible for its initiation. In conclusion, the results suggest that phenology has a limited effect on European mean summer climate, but its impact can be as important as that induced by soil moisture anomalies in the context of specific extreme events.

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