scholarly journals Multidecadal Fluctuation of the Wintertime Arctic Oscillation Pattern and Its Implication

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (14) ◽  
pp. 5595-5608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hainan Gong ◽  
Lin Wang ◽  
Wen Chen ◽  
Debashis Nath

The multidecadal fluctuations in the patterns and teleconnections of the winter mean Arctic Oscillation (AO) are investigated based on observational and reanalysis datasets. Results show that the Atlantic center of the AO pattern remains unchanged throughout the period 1920–2010, whereas the Pacific center of the AO is strong during 1920–59 and 1986–2010 and weak during 1960–85. Consequently, the link between the AO and the surface air temperature over western North America is strong during 1920–59 and 1986–2010 and weak during 1960–85. The time-varying Pacific center of the AO motivates a revisit to the nature of the AO from the perspective of decadal change. It reveals that the North Pacific mode (NPM) and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) are the inherent regional atmospheric modes over the North Pacific and North Atlantic, respectively. Their patterns over the North Pacific and North Atlantic remain stable and change little with time during 1920–2010. The Atlantic center of the AO always resembles the NAO over the North Atlantic, but the Pacific center of the AO only resembles the NPM over the North Pacific when the NPM–NAO coupling is strong. These results suggest that the AO seems to be fundamentally rooted in the variability over the North Atlantic and that the annular structure of the AO very likely arises from the coupling of the atmospheric modes between the North Pacific and North Atlantic.

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>


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (16) ◽  
pp. 5235-5250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hainan Gong ◽  
Lin Wang ◽  
Wen Chen ◽  
Renguang Wu ◽  
Wen Zhou ◽  
...  

AbstractThe wintertime Arctic Oscillation (AO) pattern in phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) climate models displays notable differences from the reanalysis. The North Pacific center of the AO pattern is larger in the ensemble mean of 27 models than in the reanalysis, and the magnitude of the North Pacific center of the AO pattern varies largely among the models. This study investigates the plausible sources of the diversity of the AO pattern in the models. Analysis indicates that the amplitude of the North Pacific center is associated with the coupling between the North Pacific and North Atlantic, which in turn is primarily modulated by the strength of the stratospheric polar vortex. A comparative analysis is conducted for the strong polar vortex (SPV) and weak polar vortex (WPV) models. It reveals that a stronger stratospheric polar vortex induces more planetary waves to reflect from the North Pacific to the North Atlantic and more wave activity fluxes to propagate from the North Pacific to the North Atlantic in the SPV models than in the WPV models. Thus, the coupling of atmospheric circulation between the North Pacific and North Atlantic is stronger in the SPV models, which facilitates more North Pacific variability to be involved in the AO variability and induces a stronger North Pacific center in the AO pattern. The increase in vertical resolution may improve the simulation of the stratospheric polar vortex and thereby reduces the model biases in the North Pacific–North Atlantic coupling and thereby the amplitude of the North Pacific center of the AO pattern in models.


2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (10) ◽  
pp. 2602-2615 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Deng ◽  
Mankin Mak

Abstract On the basis of an intraseasonal variability index of storm track evaluated for 40 winters (1963–64 through 2003–04) of NCEP–NCAR reanalysis data, it is found that well-defined midwinter minimum [MWMIN; (midwinter maximum MWMAX)] occurs in 21 (8) winters over the North Pacific. In contrast, MWMIN (MWMAX) occurs in 4 (25) of the 40 winters over the North Atlantic. The power spectrum of such an index for the Pacific has a broad peak between 5 and 10 yr, whereas the spectrum of the index for the Atlantic has comparable power in two spectral bands: 2–2.8 and 3.5–8 yr. Over the North Pacific, the increase in the zonal asymmetry of the background baroclinicity as well as in the corresponding horizontal deformation of the time-mean jet from early/late winter to midwinter is distinctly larger in an MWMIN winter. Associated with these changes, there is a distinctly stronger barotropic damping rate in the January of an MWMIN winter. The increase in the net conversion rate of eddy kinetic energy from early/late winter to midwinter is much larger in an MWMAX winter than that in an MWMIN winter. Even though there is a modest increase in the barotropic damping from early/late winter to midwinter over the North Atlantic, it is overcompensated by a larger increase in the baroclinic conversion rate. That would result in MWMAX. These results are empirical evidences in support of a hypothesis that a significant enhancement of the barotropic damping relative to the baroclinic growth from early/late winter to midwinter is a major contributing factor to MWMIN of the Pacific storm track.


2006 ◽  
Vol 134 (4) ◽  
pp. 1161-1173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis P. Robinson ◽  
Robert X. Black

Abstract Comparative diagnostic analyses of developing synoptic-scale baroclinic disturbances in NCEP–NCAR reanalyses and the NASA–NCAR (NASCAR) and Aries [NASA’s Seasonal-to-Interannual Prediction Project (NSIPP)] general circulation model simulations are performed. In particular, lag composite analyses of wintertime cyclonic and anticyclonic events occurring in the North Pacific and North Atlantic storm tracks are constructed to pursue a synoptic and dynamic characterization of eddy development. The data are also seasonally stratified to study aspects of the North Pacific midwinter suppression phenomenon. Winter-averaged results indicate that the model-simulated events are generally too weak in amplitude, particularly in the upper troposphere. For the North Pacific storm track, model-simulated events are also anomalously distended in the meridional direction. The existing model biases in eddy structure and magnitude lead to anomalously weak baroclinic energy conversions for both cyclonic and anticyclonic events over the North Pacific. For the North Atlantic storm track the NASCAR model provides a very good representation of the structure of developing cyclonic events. However, growing North Atlantic cyclones in the NSIPP model are anomalously weak and horizontally too isotropic (meridionally retracted). These latter two characteristics are also observed in both models for developing anticyclonic flow anomalies over the North Atlantic. The relative weakness of NSIPP synoptic events over the North Atlantic region is largely responsible for the 50% deficiency in areal-averaged baroclinic energy conversions. Conversely, the NASCAR model climatology features anomalously strong temperature gradients over the western North Atlantic that provide local enhancements to the baroclinic energy conversion field. A seasonally stratified diagnostic analysis reveals that the simulated climatological storm tracks over the North Pacific undergo larger spatial migrations during the cool season compared to observations. It is further determined that the suppression of synoptic eddy activity observed in the Pacific storm track is associated with a relative midwinter weakness in the magnitude of the growing cyclonic anomalies. Specifically, during midwinter the cyclonic perturbations entering the Pacific storm track are deficient in magnitude compared to their early and late winter counterparts. It is also discovered that the midwinter suppression pattern over the North Pacific region has a clear organized extension upstream into Siberia, the region from which incipient upper-tropospheric short-wave features emanate. This behavior is found in both observations and the model simulations. The results herein support the idea that the North Pacific midwinter suppression phenomenon is linked to a midwinter weakness in the upstream formation of upper-level short waves, leading to anomalously weak “seeding” of baroclinic disturbances in the Pacific storm track.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (14) ◽  
pp. 5563-5584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panxi Dai ◽  
Benkui Tan

Through a cluster analysis of daily NCEP–NCAR reanalysis data, this study demonstrates that the Arctic Oscillation (AO), defined as the leading empirical orthogonal function (EOF) of 250-hPa geopotential height anomalies, is not a unique pattern but a continuum that can be well approximated by five discrete, representative AO-like patterns. These AO-like patterns grow simultaneously from disturbances in the North Pacific, the North Atlantic, and the Arctic, and both the feedback from the high-frequency eddies in the North Pacific and North Atlantic and propagation of the low-frequency wave trains from the North Pacific across North America into the North Atlantic play important roles in the pattern formation. Furthermore, it is shown that the structures and frequencies of occurrence of the five AO-like patterns are significantly modulated by El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Warm (cold) ENSO enhances the negative (positive) AO phase, compared with ENSO neutral winters. Finally, the surface weather effects of these AO-like patterns and their implications for the AO-related weather prediction and the AO-North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) relationship are discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (23) ◽  
pp. 8047-8068 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Drouard ◽  
Christophe Cassou

Abstract Considerable uncertainties remain about the expected changes of ENSO and associated teleconnectivity as the climate is warming. Two ensembles of pacemaker experiments using the CNRM-CM5 coupled model are designed in a perfect model framework to contrast ENSO-forced teleconnectivity between the preindustrial period versus a warmer background state (obtained from a long stabilized simulation under late-twenty-first-century RCP8.5 constant forcing). The most notable sensitivity to the mean background state is found over the North Atlantic, where the ENSO–NAO teleconnection is considerably reinforced in a warmer world. We attribute this change to (i) a stronger and eastward-extended mean upper-level jet over the North Pacific, (ii) an eastward-shifted ENSO teleconnection over the North Pacific, and (iii) an equatorward-shifted and reinforced mean jet over the North Atlantic. These altogether act as a more efficient waveguide, leading to a better penetration of synoptic storms coming from the Pacific into the Atlantic. This downstream penetration into the North Atlantic basin forces more systematically the NAO through wave breaking. The reinforcement in the teleconnection is asymmetrical with respect to the ENSO phase and is mainly sensitive to La Niña events. Even though the Pacific jet tends to retract westward and move northward during cold events, mean changes are such that both Pacific and Atlantic jets remain connected in a warmer climate by contrast to the preindustrial period, thus ensuring preferred anticyclonic wave breaking downstream over the North Atlantic leading ultimately to NAO+ events.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Schwartz ◽  
Chaim Garfinkel

<p>The representation of upward and downward stratosphere-troposphere coupling and its influence on the teleconnections of the Madden Julian oscillation (MJO) to the European sector is examined in five subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) models. We show that while the models simulate a realistic stratospheric response to transient anomalies in troposphere, they overestimate the downward coupling. The models with a better stratospheric resolution capture a more realistic stratospheric response to the MJO, particularly after the first week of the integration. However, in all models examined here the connection between the MJO and vortex variability is weaker than that observed. Finally, we focus on the MJO-SSW teleconnection in the NCEP model, and specifically initializations during the MJO phase with enhanced convection in the west/central pacific (i.e. 6 and 7) that preceded observed SSW. The integrations that simulated a SSW (as observed) can be distinguished from those that failed to simulate a SSW by the realism of the Pacific response to MJO 6/7, with only the simulations that successfully simulate a SSW capturing the North Pacific low. Furthermore, only the simulations that capture the SSW, subsequently simulate a realistic surface response over the North Atlantic and Europe.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 2111-2130
Author(s):  
Woo Geun Cheon ◽  
Jong-Seong Kug

AbstractIn the framework of a sea ice–ocean general circulation model coupled to an energy balance atmospheric model, an intensity oscillation of Southern Hemisphere (SH) westerly winds affects the global ocean circulation via not only the buoyancy-driven teleconnection (BDT) mode but also the Ekman-driven teleconnection (EDT) mode. The BDT mode is activated by the SH air–sea ice–ocean interactions such as polynyas and oceanic convection. The ensuing variation in the Antarctic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) that is indicative of the Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) formation exerts a significant influence on the abyssal circulation of the globe, particularly the Pacific. This controls the bipolar seesaw balance between deep and bottom waters at the equator. The EDT mode controlled by northward Ekman transport under the oscillating SH westerly winds generates a signal that propagates northward along the upper ocean and passes through the equator. The variation in the western boundary current (WBC) is much stronger in the North Atlantic than in the North Pacific, which appears to be associated with the relatively strong and persistent Mindanao Current (i.e., the southward flowing WBC of the North Pacific tropical gyre). The North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) formation is controlled by salt advected northward by the North Atlantic WBC.


2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 505-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Ritchie ◽  
Kimberly M. Wood ◽  
Oscar G. Rodríguez-Herrera ◽  
Miguel F. Piñeros ◽  
J. Scott Tyo

Abstract The deviation-angle variance technique (DAV-T), which was introduced in the North Atlantic basin for tropical cyclone (TC) intensity estimation, is adapted for use in the North Pacific Ocean using the “best-track center” application of the DAV. The adaptations include changes in preprocessing for different data sources [Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-East (GOES-E) in the Atlantic, stitched GOES-E–Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-West (GOES-W) in the eastern North Pacific, and the Multifunctional Transport Satellite (MTSAT) in the western North Pacific], and retraining the algorithm parameters for different basins. Over the 2007–11 period, DAV-T intensity estimation in the western North Pacific results in a root-mean-square intensity error (RMSE, as measured by the maximum sustained surface winds) of 14.3 kt (1 kt ≈ 0.51 m s−1) when compared to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center best track, utilizing all TCs to train and test the algorithm. The RMSE obtained when testing on an individual year and training with the remaining set lies between 12.9 and 15.1 kt. In the eastern North Pacific the DAV-T produces an RMSE of 13.4 kt utilizing all TCs in 2005–11 when compared with the National Hurricane Center best track. The RMSE for individual years lies between 9.4 and 16.9 kt. The complex environment in the western North Pacific led to an extension to the DAV-T that includes two different radii of computation, producing a parametric surface that relates TC axisymmetry to intensity. The overall RMSE is reduced by an average of 1.3 kt in the western North Pacific and 0.8 kt in the eastern North Pacific. These results for the North Pacific are comparable with previously reported results using the DAV for the North Atlantic basin.


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