scholarly journals The Different Configurations of the East Asian Polar Front Jet and Subtropical Jet and the Associated Rainfall Anomalies over Eastern China in Summer

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (21) ◽  
pp. 8205-8220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan-Qing Huang ◽  
Jian Zhu ◽  
Yao-Cun Zhang ◽  
An-Ning Huang

Abstract To investigate the concurrent impacts of the East Asian polar front jet (EAPJ) and subtropical jet (EASJ) on the summer rainfall over eastern China, positive (strengthened EAPJ with weakened EASJ) and negative (weakened EAPJ with strengthened EASJ) configurations are identified. In the positive configuration, rainfall decreases in the northern part of eastern China and increases in the southern part, vice versa in the negative configuration. The possible mechanisms maintaining the two jet configurations are further proposed from the perspectives of sea surface temperature (SST) and synoptic-scale transient eddy activities (STEA). In the positive configuration, meridional distributed cold–warm SST anomalies over the eastern North Pacific may induce regional circulation and meridional temperature gradient anomalies, which can strengthen the EAPJ and weaken the EASJ. The central Pacific La Niña–like SST anomalies are related with the Arctic vortexlike anomalies in the stratosphere, which may strengthen the EAPJ. Furthermore, the divergence of Eliassen–Palm vectors and the conversion from eddy kinetic energy to mean kinetic energy over the active region of the EAPJ may strengthen the EAPJ, vice versa for the weakened EASJ. In the negative configuration, associated with the warm SST anomalies over the western North Pacific, the enhanced convective activities may lead to a strengthened EASJ via meridional teleconnection. The teleconnection may be intensified by the strengthened easterly vertical shear. Additionally, eastern Pacific La Niña–like SST anomalies may intensify the Walker circulation, which may strengthen the EASJ via the Hadley circulation. The STEA-related anomalies are almost opposite those in the positive configuration, especially for the weakened EAPJ.

Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Rao ◽  
Rongcai Ren ◽  
Xin Xia ◽  
Chunhua Shi ◽  
Dong Guo

Using reanalysis and the sea surface temperature (SST) analysis, the combined impact of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) on the northern winter stratosphere is investigated. The warm and weak stratospheric polar vortex response to El Niño simply appears during positive PDO, whereas the cold and strong stratospheric polar vortex response to La Niña is preferable during negative PDO in the reanalysis. Two mechanisms may account for the enhanced stratospheric response when ENSO and PDO are in phase. First, the asymmetries of the intensity and frequency between El Niño and La Niña can be identified for the two PDO phases. Second, the extratropical SST anomalies in the North Pacific may also play a role in the varying extratropical response to ENSO. The North Pacific SST anomalies related to PDO superimpose ENSO SST anomalies when they are in phase but undermine them when they are out of phase. The superimposed North Pacific SST anomalies help to increase SST meridional gradient anomalies between tropical and extratropics, as well as to lock the local height response to ENSO. Therefore, the passages for the upward propagation of waves from the troposphere is more unimpeded when positive PDO is configured with El Niño, and vice versa when negative PDO is configured with La Niña.


2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 1383-1395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riyu Lu ◽  
Shu Lu

Abstract The summer precipitation anomalies over the tropical western North Pacific (WNP), which greatly affect East Asian climate, are closely related to Indian Ocean (IO) SST anomalies, and this WNP–IO relationship is widely assumed to be linear. This study indicates that the IO SST–WNP precipitation relationship is generally linear only when the IO SST anomalies are positive and not when the IO SST anomalies are negative, that is, a strongly cooler IO, in comparison with a moderately cooler IO, does not correspond to stronger precipitation enhancement over the WNP. Further analysis suggests that the phases of ENSO play a crucial role in modifying the impacts of IO SSTs on WNP anomalies. The reverse IO SST–WNP precipitation relationship, which exists without apparent ENSO development/decay, is intensified by El Niño decay through the enhancement of IO SST anomalies, but weakened by El Niño development and La Niña decay through the concurrence of SST anomalies in the tropical central and eastern Pacific. After removing El Niño developing and La Niña decaying cases, the IO SST and WNP precipitation anomalies show a clear linear relationship. Because of the effects of the phases of ENSO, the years of negative precipitation or anticyclonic anomalies over the WNP are highly concentrated over strongly warmer IO and El Niño decaying years, which is consistent with previous studies. However, the years of positive precipitation anomalies are scattered over cooler IO and moderately warmer IO years, implying a complexity of tropical SST forcing on positive WNP precipitation anomalies.


2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (15) ◽  
pp. 6054-6066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan-Qing Huang ◽  
Jian Zhu ◽  
Yao-Cun Zhang ◽  
Jun Wang ◽  
Xue-Yuan Kuang

Abstract Spring persistent rainfall (SPR) over southern China has great impact on its society and economics. A remarkable feature of the SPR is high frequency. However, SPR frequency obviously decreases over the period of 1997–2011. In this study, the possible causes have been investigated from the perspective of the individual and concurrent effects of the East Asian subtropical jet (EASJ) and East Asian polar front jet (EAPJ). A close relationship is detected between SPR frequency and EASJ intensity (but not EAPJ intensity). Associated with strong EASJ, abundant water vapor is transported to southern China by the southwesterly flow, which may trigger the SPR. Additionally, frequencies of both strong EASJ and weak EAPJ events are positively correlated with SPR frequency. Further investigation of the concurrent effect indicates a significant positive correlation between the frequencies of SPR and the strong EASJ–weak EAPJ configuration. Associated with this configuration, southwesterly flow strengthens in the lower troposphere, while northerly wind weakens in the upper troposphere. This provides a dynamic and moist condition, as enhanced ascending motion and intensified convergence of abundant water vapor over southern China, which favors the SPR. All analyses suggest that the EASJ may play a dominant role in the SPR occurrence and that the EAPJ may play a modulation role. Finally, a possible mechanism maintaining the strong EASJ–weak EAPJ configuration is proposed. Significant cooling over the northeastern Tibetan Plateau may induce a cyclone anomaly in the upper troposphere, which could result in an accelerating EASJ and a decelerating EAPJ.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (18) ◽  
pp. 5761-5783 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Rao ◽  
Chaim I. Garfinkel ◽  
Rongcai Ren

Using the CMIP5 multimodel ensemble (MME) historical experiments, the modulation of the stratospheric El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) teleconnection by the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) is investigated in this study. El Niño (La Niña) significantly impacts the extratropical stratosphere mainly during the positive (negative) PDO in the MME. Although the composite tropical ENSO SST intensities are similar during the positive and negative PDO in models, the Pacific–North American (PNA) responses are only significant when the PDO and ENSO are in phase. The local SST anomalies in the North Pacific can constructively (destructively) interfere with the tropical ENSO forcing to influence the extratropical eddy height anomalies when the PDO and ENSO are in (out of) phase. The difference between the positive and negative PDO in El Niño or La Niña winters filters out the tropical SST forcing, permitting the deduction of the extratropical SST contribution to the atmospheric response. The composite shows that the cold (warm) SST anomalies in the central North Pacific associated with the positive (negative) PDO have a similar impact to that of the warm (cold) SST anomalies in the tropical Pacific, exhibiting a positive (negative) PNA-like response, enhancing (weakening) the upward propagation of waves over the western coast of North America. The composite difference between the positive and negative PDO in El Niño or La Niña winters, as well as in eastern Pacific ENSO or central Pacific ENSO winters, presents a highly consistent atmospheric response pattern, which may imply a linear interference of the PDO’s impact with ENSO’s.


2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 3321-3335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masamichi Ohba ◽  
Masahiro Watanabe

Warm and cold phases of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) exhibit a significant asymmetry in their transition/duration such that El Niño tends to shift rapidly to La Niña after the mature phase, whereas La Niña tends to persist for up to 2 yr. The possible role of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the Indian Ocean (IO) in this ENSO asymmetry is investigated using a coupled general circulation model (CGCM). Decoupled-IO experiments are conducted to assess asymmetric IO feedbacks to the ongoing ENSO evolution in the Pacific. Identical-twin forecast experiments show that a coupling of the IO extends the skillful prediction of the ENSO warm phase by about one year, which was about 8 months in the absence of the IO coupling, in which a significant drop of the prediction skill around the boreal spring (known as the spring prediction barrier) is found. The effect of IO coupling on the predictability of the Pacific SST is significantly weaker in the decay phase of La Niña. Warm IO SST anomalies associated with El Niño enhance surface easterlies over the equatorial western Pacific and hence facilitate the El Niño decay. However, this mechanism cannot be applied to cold IO SST anomalies during La Niña. The result of these CGCM experiments estimates that approximately one-half of the ENSO asymmetry arises from the phase-dependent nature of the Indo-Pacific interbasin coupling.


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