Reconstruction of Sea Surface Wind Fields over the North Pacific using Sea Level Pressure Fields during the Period of 1899-1995

Abstract This study combines k-means cluster analysis with linear unidimensional scaling to illustrate the spatial and temporal variability of the wintertime North Pacific sea level pressure (SLP) field. Daily wintertime SLP data derived from the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis are used to produce 16 SLP anomaly patterns that represent a discretized approximation of the continuum of North Pacific SLP patterns. This study adopts the continuum perspective for teleconnection patterns, which provides a much simpler framework for understanding North Pacific variability than the more commonly used discrete modal approach. The primary focus of this research is to show that variability in the North Pacific—on intraseasonal, interannual, and interdecadal time scales—can be understood in terms of changes in the frequency distribution of the cluster patterns that compose the continuum, each of which has a time scale of about 10 days. This analysis reveals 5–6 Pacific–North American–like (PNA-like) patterns for each phase, as well as dipoles and wave trains. A self-organizing map (SOM) analysis of coupled SLP and outgoing longwave radiation data shows that many of these patterns are associated with convection in the tropical Indo-Pacific region. On intraseasonal time scales, the frequency distribution of these patterns, in particular the PNA-like patterns, is strongly influenced by the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO). On interannual time scales, the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) impacts the North Pacific continuum, with warm ENSO episodes resulting in the increased frequency of easterly displaced Aleutian low pressure anomaly patterns and cold ENSO episodes resulting in the increased frequency of southerly displaced Aleutian high pressure anomaly patterns. In addition, the results of this analysis suggest that the interdecadal variability of the North Pacific SLP field, including the well-known “regime shift” of 1976/77, also results from changes in the frequency distribution within the continuum of SLP patterns.

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The Victoria mode in the North Pacific linking extratropical sea level pressure variations to ENSO

Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres ◽

10.1002/2014jd022221 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 120 (1) ◽

pp. 27-45 ◽

Cited By ~ 56

Author(s):

Ruiqiang Ding ◽

Jianping Li ◽

Yu-heng Tseng ◽

Cheng Sun ◽

Yipeng Guo

Keyword(s):

Sea Level ◽

North Pacific ◽

Sea Level Pressure ◽

Level Pressure ◽

The North ◽

The North Pacific

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The Impact of Hurricane Force Wind Fields on the North Pacific Ocean Environment

Weather and Forecasting ◽

10.1175/waf-d-14-00107.1 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 30 (3) ◽

pp. 742-753 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Steven Businger ◽

Selen Yildiz ◽

Thomas E. Robinson

Keyword(s):

Pacific Ocean ◽

North Pacific ◽

North Pacific Ocean ◽

Surface Wind ◽

Wave Model ◽

Wind Data ◽

Surface Winds ◽

Wind Fields ◽

The North ◽

The North Pacific

AbstractThis study analyzes QuikSCAT surface wind data over the North Pacific Ocean to document the distribution of captured fetches in extratropical cyclones that produced hurricane force (HF) wind fields from January 2003 through May 2008. A case study is presented to introduce the datasets, which include surface wind analyses from the Global Forecast System (GFS) Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS), and wave hindcasts from the third-generation wave model (WAVEWATCH III; hereafter, WW3), in addition to the QuikSCAT surface wind data. The analysis shows significant interannual variability in the location of the captured fetches as documented by QuikSCAT, including a shift in the distribution of captured fetches associated with ENSO. GDAS surface winds over the ocean are consistently underanalyzed when compared to QuikSCAT surface winds, despite the fact that satellite observations of ocean surface winds are assimilated. When the WW3 hindcasts associated with HF cyclones are compared with buoy observations over the eastern and central North Pacific Ocean, the wave model significantly underestimates the large-swell events.

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Future changes in Beijing haze events under different anthropogenic aerosol emission scenarios

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-21-7499-2021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (10) ◽

pp. 7499-7514

Author(s):

Lixia Zhang ◽

Laura J. Wilcox ◽

Nick J. Dunstone ◽

David J. Paynter ◽

Shuai Hu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sea Level ◽

Atmospheric Circulation ◽

North Pacific ◽

Anthropogenic Aerosol ◽

Sea Level Pressure ◽

Level Pressure ◽

The North ◽

Aerosol Emission ◽

Circulation Patterns ◽

The North Pacific

Abstract. Air pollution is a major issue in China and one of the largest threats to public health. We investigated future changes in atmospheric circulation patterns associated with haze events in the Beijing region and the severity of haze events during these circulation conditions from 2015 to 2049 under two different aerosol scenarios: a maximum technically feasible aerosol reduction (MTFR) and a current legislation aerosol scenario (CLE). In both cases greenhouse gas emissions follow the Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 (RCP4.5). Under RCP4.5 with CLE aerosol the frequency of circulation patterns associated with haze events increases due to a weakening of the East Asian winter monsoon via increased sea level pressure over the North Pacific. The rapid reduction in anthropogenic aerosol and precursor emissions in MTFR further increases the frequency of circulation patterns associated with haze events, due to further increases in the sea level pressure over the North Pacific and a reduction in the intensity of the Siberian high. Even with the aggressive aerosol reductions in MTFR periods of poor visibility, represented by above-normal aerosol optical depth (AOD), still occur in conjunction with haze-favorable atmospheric circulation. However, the winter mean intensity of poor visibility decreases in MTFR, so that haze events are less dangerous in this scenario by 2050 compared to CLE and relative to the current baseline. This study reveals the competing effects of aerosol emission reductions on future haze events through their direct contribution to pollutant source and their influence on the atmospheric circulation. A compound consideration of these two impacts should be taken in future policy making.

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The North Pacific Climate Transitions of the Winters of 1976/77 and 1988/89

Journal of Climate ◽

10.1175/2010jcli3325.1 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 24 (4) ◽

pp. 1170-1183 ◽

Cited By ~ 56

Author(s):

Sang-Wook Yeh ◽

Yune-Jung Kang ◽

Yign Noh ◽

Arthur J. Miller

Keyword(s):

Sea Level ◽

North Pacific ◽

Sea Level Pressure ◽

Level Pressure ◽

The North ◽

Sst Variability ◽

Transition Project ◽

Climate Transition ◽

The Tropics ◽

The North Pacific

Abstract This paper examines characteristic changes in North Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) variability during the boreal winter (December–February) for two subperiods (1956–88 and 1977–2009) during which the 1976/77 and the 1988/89 climate transitions occurred. It is found that the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO)-like SST variability plays a dominant role in the 1976/77 climate transition, while both the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO)-like and PDO-like SST variability contribute to the 1988/89 climate transition. Furthermore, the leading mode changes from PDO-like SST variability during the period 1956–88 to NPGO-like SST variability during the period 1977–2009, indicative of an enhancement of NPGO-like SST variability since 1988. Changes in sea level pressure across the 1976/77 climate transition project strongly onto the Aleutian low pressure system. But sea level pressure changes across the 1988/89 climate transition project primarily onto the North Pacific Oscillation, which is associated with remote changes in the Arctic Oscillation over the polar region as well. This contributes to enhancing the NPGO-like SST variability after 1988. The authors also analyze the output from an ensemble of Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere (TOGA) experiments in which the observed SSTs are inserted only at grid points in the tropics between 20°S and 20°N. The results indicate that the changes in the North Pacific atmosphere in the 1976/77 climate transition are mostly due to the tropics, whereas those in the 1988/89 climate transition are not.

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Predictability of Sea Level Pressure Anomalies Over the North Pacific Ocean

Journal of Physical Oceanography ◽

10.1175/1520-0485(1978)008<0233:poslpa>2.0.co;2 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 233-246 ◽

Cited By ~ 83

Author(s):

Russ E. Davis

Keyword(s):

Pacific Ocean ◽

Sea Level ◽

North Pacific ◽

North Pacific Ocean ◽

Sea Level Pressure ◽

Level Pressure ◽

The North ◽

The North Pacific

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Why Does Global Warming Weaken the Gulf Stream but Intensify the Kuroshio?

Journal of Climate ◽

10.1175/jcli-d-18-0895.1 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 32 (21) ◽

pp. 7437-7451 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Changlin Chen ◽

Guihua Wang ◽

Shang-Ping Xie ◽

Wei Liu

Keyword(s):

Sea Level Rise ◽

Sea Level ◽

North Atlantic ◽

North Pacific ◽

Gulf Stream ◽

Sea Surface ◽

Surface Warming ◽

The North ◽

The Kuroshio ◽

The North Pacific

ABSTRACT The Kuroshio and Gulf Stream, the subtropical western boundary currents of the North Pacific and North Atlantic, play important roles in meridional heat transport and ocean–atmosphere interaction processes. Using a multimodel ensemble of future projections, we show that a warmer climate intensifies the upper-layer Kuroshio, in contrast to the previously documented slowdown of the Gulf Stream. Our ocean general circulation model experiments show that the sea surface warming, not the wind change, is the dominant forcing that causes the upper-layer Kuroshio to intensify in a warming climate. Forced by the sea surface warming, ocean subduction and advection processes result in a stronger warming to the east of the Kuroshio than to the west, which increases the isopycnal slope across the Kuroshio, and hence intensifies the Kuroshio. In the North Atlantic, the Gulf Stream slows down as part of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) response to surface salinity decrease in the high latitudes under global warming. The distinct responses of the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio to climate warming are accompanied by different regional patterns of sea level rise. While the sea level rise accelerates along the northeastern U.S. coast as the AMOC weakens, it remains close to the global mean rate along the East Asian coast as the intensifying Kuroshio is associated with the enhanced sea level rise offshore in the North Pacific subtropical gyre.

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