scholarly journals The Role of an Indian Ocean Heating Dipole in the ENSO Teleconnection to the North Atlantic European Region in Early Winter during the Twentieth Century in Reanalysis and CMIP5 Simulations

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 1047-1060
Author(s):  
Manish K. Joshi ◽  
Muhammad Adnan Abid ◽  
Fred Kucharski

AbstractIn this study the role of an Indian Ocean heating dipole anomaly in the transition of the North Atlantic–European (NAE) circulation response to El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) from early to late winter is analyzed using a twentieth-century reanalysis and simulations from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). It is shown that in early winter a warm (cold) ENSO event is connected through an atmospheric bridge with positive (negative) rainfall anomalies in the western Indian Ocean and negative (positive) anomalies in the eastern Indian Ocean. The early winter heating dipole, forced by a warm (cold) ENSO event, can set up a wave train emanating from the subtropical South Asian jet region that reaches the North Atlantic and leads to a response that spatially projects onto the positive (negative) phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation. The Indian Ocean heating dipole is partly forced as an atmospheric teleconnection by ENSO, but can also exist independently and is not strongly related to local Indian Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) forcing. The Indian Ocean heating dipole response to ENSO is much weaker in late winter (i.e., February and March) and not able to force significant signals in the North Atlantic region. CMIP5 multimodel ensemble reproduces the early winter Indian Ocean heating dipole response to ENSO and its transition in the North Atlantic region to some extent, but with weaker amplitude. Generally, models that have a strong early winter ENSO response in the subtropical South Asian jet region along with tropical Indian Ocean heating dipole also reproduce the North Atlantic response.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred Kucharski ◽  
Manish K. Joshi ◽  
Mohammad Adnan Abid

<p>In this study the role of an Indian Ocean heating dipole anomaly in the transition of the North Atlantic circulation response to ENSO from early to late winter is analysed using 20th century observations and simulations from the fifth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). It is shown that in early winter a warm (cold) ENSO even is connected trough an atmospheric bridge with positive (negative) rainfall anomalies in the western and negative (positive) anomalies in the eastern Indian Ocean. The early winter heating dipole teleconnected to a warm (cold) ENSO event can set up a wavetrain emanating from the south Asian subtropical jet region that reaches the North Atlantic and leads to response that spatially projects onto the positive (negative) phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The Indian Ocean heating dipole is partly forced as an atmospheric teleconnection by ENSO, but can also exist independently and is not related to local Indian Ocean SST forcing. The Indian Ocean heating dipole response to ENSO is much weaker in late winter (February and March) and not able to force significant signals in the North Atlantic region. CMIP5 models reproduce the early winter heating dipole reponse to ENSO and the ENSO response transition in the North Atlantic region to some extend, but with weaker amplitude. Generally models that have a strong early winter ENSO heating dipole teleconnection to the Indian Ocean also reproduce the North Atlantic response. If an Indian Ocean vertical velocity dipole index is defined, overall CMIP5 models are able to reproduce the extratropical responses in early winter reasonably well.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (17) ◽  
pp. 7455-7478
Author(s):  
Nanxuan Jiang ◽  
Qing Yan ◽  
Zhiqing Xu ◽  
Jian Shi ◽  
Ran Zhang

AbstractTo advance our knowledge of the response of midlatitude westerlies to various external forcings, we investigate the meridional shift of midlatitude westerlies over arid central Asia (ACA) during the past 21 000 years, which experienced more varied forcings than the present day based on a set of transient simulations. Our results suggest that the evolution of midlatitude westerlies over ACA and driving factors vary with time and across seasons. In spring, the location of midlatitude westerlies over ACA oscillates largely during the last deglaciation, driven by meltwater fluxes and continental ice sheets, and then shows a long-term equatorward shift during the Holocene controlled by orbital insolation. In summer, orbital insolation dominates the meridional shift of midlatitude westerlies, with poleward and equatorward migration during the last deglaciation and the Holocene, respectively. From a thermodynamic perspective, variations in zonal winds are linked with the meridional temperature gradient based on the thermal wind relationship. From a dynamic perspective, variations in midlatitude westerlies are mainly induced by anomalous sea surface temperatures over the Indian Ocean through the Matsuno–Gill response and over the North Atlantic Ocean by the propagation of Rossby waves, or both, but their relative importance varies across forcings. Additionally, the modeled meridional shift of midlatitude westerlies is broadly consistent with geological evidence, although model–data discrepancies still exist. Overall, our study provides a possible scenario for a meridional shift of midlatitude westerlies over ACA in response to various external forcings during the past 21 000 years and highlights important roles of both the Indian Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean in regulating Asian westerlies, which may shed light on the behavior of westerlies in the future.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (19) ◽  
pp. 6491-6511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh S. Baker ◽  
Tim Woollings ◽  
Chris E. Forest ◽  
Myles R. Allen

Abstract The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and eddy-driven jet contain a forced component arising from sea surface temperature (SST) variations. Due to large amounts of internal variability, it is not trivial to determine where and to what extent SSTs force the NAO and jet. A linear statistical–dynamic method is employed with a large climate ensemble to compute the sensitivities of the winter and summer NAO and jet speed and latitude to the SSTs. Key regions of sensitivity are identified in the Indian and Pacific basins, and the North Atlantic tripole. Using the sensitivity maps and a long observational SST dataset, skillful reconstructions of the NAO and jet time series are made. The ability to skillfully forecast both the winter and summer NAO using only SST anomalies is also demonstrated. The linear approach used here allows precise attribution of model forecast signals to SSTs in particular regions. Skill comes from the Atlantic and Pacific basins on short lead times, while the Indian Ocean SSTs may contribute to the longer-term NAO trend. However, despite the region of high sensitivity in the Indian Ocean, SSTs here do not provide significant skill on interannual time scales, which highlights the limitations of the imposed SST approach. Given the impact of the NAO and jet on Northern Hemisphere weather and climate, these results provide useful information that could be used for improved attribution and forecasting.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 99
Author(s):  
Umut Sakine Demir ◽  
Abdullah Cem Koc

Predicting the future behavior of precipitation is of the utmost importance for planning agriculture or water resource management and in designing water structures. Determining the relationships between precipitation and the oceans may enable more accurate predictions. Therefore, oceanic and other persistent indices called teleconnection patterns can be used, namely the North Atlantic oscillation (NAO) and the Indian Ocean dipole (IOD). The NAO affects the precipitation patterns in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean countries, such as in Turkey. The IOD is related to temperature and precipitation in the Indian Ocean coastal countries and in some areas far from the Indian Ocean. In this study, the effects of the NAO and IOD indices on precipitation in Turkey were investigated by means of cross-spectral analysis between the monthly total precipitation (mm) and monthly NAO and IOD index values. Phase shift values were also calculated for the selected periods and their accuracy was evaluated statistically, using the determination coefficient (R2) and Akaike information criterion (AIC) as performance criteria for the linear model. The results indicated strong correlations for the 13-, 14-, 16-, and 22–23-month periods between the NAO index and precipitation values; and for the 13-, 14-, 16–17-, and 20–21-month periods between the IOD index and precipitation values. After cross-spectral analysis between the NAO and IOD indices and precipitation values, the maximum phase shift values increased as the periods increased, while the maximum phase shift value for each period was almost half of the period value. Moreover, the maximum cross-power spectral density (CPSD) values increased as the periods increased. High CPSD values were observed in the west of Turkey for the NAO and in the east of Turkey for the IOD.


2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (24) ◽  
pp. 5382-5389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jürgen Bader ◽  
Mojib Latif

Abstract The dominant pattern of atmospheric variability in the North Atlantic sector is the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Since the 1970s the NAO has been well characterized by a trend toward its positive phase. Recent atmospheric general circulation model studies have linked this trend to a progressive warming of the Indian Ocean. Unfortunately, a clear mechanism responsible for the change of the NAO could not be given. This study provides further details of the NAO response to Indian Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies. This is done by conducting experiments with a coupled ocean–atmosphere general circulation model (OAGCM). The authors develop a hypothesis of how the Indian Ocean impacts the NAO.


The results are given of fifty-eight gravity measurements made at sea in H. M. Submarine Acheron between April and October 1955. Of these, six lie in the North Atlantic, eight in the South Atlantic and thirty-seven in the Indian Ocean. The remainder are in the Red Sea (four), the Mediterranean Sea (two) and off the Isle of Wight (one).


2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 480-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiling Peng ◽  
Walter A. Robinson ◽  
Shuanglin Li ◽  
Martin P. Hoerling

Abstract Recent observational studies reveal that a fall Pan-Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly, composed of a horseshoe-like dipole in the North Atlantic and a southern center in the equatorial Atlantic, tends to precede the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and its related SST tripole by several months. This study seeks to understand this relationship using large ensembles of atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) experiments and experiments with the AGCM coupled to a mixed layer ocean (AGCM_ML). The models are forced either by the North Atlantic horseshoe (NAH) or by the tropical SST anomalies over the boreal winter months. The AGCM results show that the NAH anomaly induces a baroclinic response in geopotential heights throughout the winter, with little projection on the NAO. Since the NAH anomaly is ineffective in forcing the wintertime NAO, it cannot account for observations that the NAH SST leads the NAO. In contrast, in the AGCM_ML, the coupled North Atlantic response forced by the tropical anomaly exhibits a strong seasonal dependence. In early winter, the positive anomaly induces a trough east of Newfoundland with a wave train to the northeast, and in late winter the response projects strongly on a negative NAO. Correspondingly, the extratropical SST response features an NAH-like pattern in early winter and a tripole in late winter. These results suggest that tropical Atlantic SST anomalies can significantly influence the coupled extratropical variability. The observed relationship between the fall NAH SST and the winter NAO (or the SST tripole) may be a consequence of persistent forcing of the seasonally varying atmosphere by tropical SST anomalies. Comparisons with the parallel AGCM results indicate that the largely sign-symmetric NAO responses developed in the AGCM_ML are in part due to active extratropical SST feedbacks. Diagnostic experiments using a linear model further illustrate that, in the absence of transient-eddy feedbacks, an idealized tropical heating induces anomalous flows that are qualitatively similar in early and late winter, with a trough southeast of Newfoundland and a ridge to the northeast. The enhanced seasonality in the SST-induced coupled response likely arises from the seasonal modulation of transient-eddy feedbacks on the heating-forced anomalous flow.


2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 320-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Li ◽  
Ngar-Cheung Lau

Abstract The dynamical mechanism for the late-winter teleconnection between El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is examined using the output from a 2000-yr integration of a coupled general circulation model (GCM). The coupled model captures many salient features of the observed behavior of both ENSO and NAO, as well as their impact on the surface climate in late winter. Both the observational and model data indicate more occurrences of negative phase of NAO in late winter during El Niño events, and positive NAO in La Niña episodes. The potential role of high-frequency transient eddies in the above teleconnection is diagnosed. During El Niño winters, the intensified transient disturbances along the equatorward-shifted North Pacific storm track extend their influences farther downstream. The eddy-induced negative height tendencies are found to be more coherent and stronger over North Atlantic than that over North Pacific. These negative height tendencies over the North Atlantic are coincident with the southern lobe of NAO, and thus favor more occurrences of negative NAO events. During those El Niño winters with relatively strong SST warming in eastern equatorial Pacific, the eastward extension of eddy activity is reinforced by the enhanced near-surface baroclinicity over the subtropical eastern Pacific. This flow environment supports a stronger linkage between the Pacific and Atlantic storm tracks, and is more conducive to a negative NAO phase. These model results are supported by a parallel analysis of various observational datasets. It is further demonstrated that these transient eddy effects can be reproduced in atmospheric GCM integrations subjected to ENSO-related SST forcing in the tropical Pacific.


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