Current Changes in Winter Air Temperature in the Middle and High Latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 219-226
Author(s):  
S. A. Lysenko ◽  
V. F. Loginov
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shunyu Jiang ◽  
Haibo HU ◽  
William Perrie ◽  
Ning Zhang ◽  
Haokun Bai ◽  
...  

Abstract Ice covers in high latitudes play important role in the global atmospheric circulation and abnormal temperature distribution. The observations have revealed the differences in the interannual variability of the Arctic and Antarctic ice covers, but their respective climate effect is not clear. The Liang-Kleeman information flow method is used to reveal the causal relationships from the sea ices of the Arctic and Antarctic to the global air temperature. The results point out that changes of the Arctic or Antarctic sea ices both have significant impacts on the global air temperature. Especially for the air temperature in East Asia and North America, the interannual variation of the Antarctic sea ice has an even stronger impact than the Arctic ice covers. This causality is further proved by the General Atmospheric Circulation Model (CAM4.0). In the numerical experiments, the ice covers in Arctic and Antarctic are changed individually or simultaneously as the forcing fields, and then the respective climate effects are analyzed. The results show that both the Arctic and Antarctic ice cover variations can change the intensity of atmospheric baroclinic disturbance in mid-high latitudes of individual hemisphere, generating wave energy transmission across the equator in the meridional direction, and eventually causing air temperature anomalies in both hemispheres. Furthermore, the Antarctic ice covers are closer to the mid-high latitude atmospheric jets in the southern hemisphere. Therefore, the changes of Antarctic ice covers lead to a larger atmospheric wave-activity flux response, and quickly spread to the northern hemisphere, causing more significant temperature anomalies over the East Asia and North America.


1996 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 464-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. P. Kane

Abstract. The 12-month running means of the surface-to-500 mb precipitable water obtained from analysis of radiosonde data at seven selected locations showed three types of variability viz: (1) quasi-biennial oscillations; these were different in nature at different latitudes and also different from the QBO of the stratospheric tropical zonal winds; (2) decadal effects; these were prominent at middle and high latitudes and (3) linear trends; these were prominent at low latitudes, up trends in the Northern Hemisphere and downtrends in the Southern Hemisphere.


Author(s):  
N. M. DATSENKO ◽  
◽  
D. M. SONECHKIN ◽  
B. YANG ◽  
J.-J. LIU ◽  
...  

The spectral composition of temporal variations in the Northern Hemisphere mean surface air temperature is estimated and compared in 2000-year paleoclimatic reconstructions. Continuous wavelet transforms of these reconstructions are used for the stable estimation of energy spectra. It is found that low-frequency parts of the spectra (the periods of temperature variations of more than 100 years) based on such high-resolution paleoclimatic indicators as tree rings, corals, etc., are similar to the spectrum of white noise, that is never observed in nature. This seems unrealistic. The famous reconstruction called “Hockey Stick” is among such unrealistic reconstructions. Reconstructions based not only on high-resolution but also on low-resolution indicators seem to be more realistic, since the low-frequency parts of their spectra have the pattern of red noise. They include the “Boomerang” reconstruction showing that some warm periods close to the present-day one were observed in the past.


2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (14) ◽  
pp. 5601-5610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Sigmond ◽  
Theodore G. Shepherd

Abstract Following recent findings, the interaction between resolved (Rossby) wave drag and parameterized orographic gravity wave drag (OGWD) is investigated, in terms of their driving of the Brewer–Dobson circulation (BDC), in a comprehensive climate model. To this end, the parameter that effectively determines the strength of OGWD in present-day and doubled CO2 simulations is varied. The authors focus on the Northern Hemisphere during winter when the largest response of the BDC to climate change is predicted to occur. It is found that increases in OGWD are to a remarkable degree compensated by a reduction in midlatitude resolved wave drag, thereby reducing the impact of changes in OGWD on the BDC. This compensation is also found for the response to climate change: changes in the OGWD contribution to the BDC response to climate change are compensated by opposite changes in the resolved wave drag contribution to the BDC response to climate change, thereby reducing the impact of changes in OGWD on the BDC response to climate change. By contrast, compensation does not occur at northern high latitudes, where resolved wave driving and the associated downwelling increase with increasing OGWD, both for the present-day climate and the response to climate change. These findings raise confidence in the credibility of climate model projections of the strengthened BDC.


2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 1879-1893 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Atlaskina ◽  
F. Berninger ◽  
G. de Leeuw

Abstract. Thirteen years of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) surface albedo data for the Northern Hemisphere during the spring months (March–May) were analyzed to determine temporal and spatial changes over snow-covered land surfaces. Tendencies in land surface albedo change north of 50° N were analyzed using data on snow cover fraction, air temperature, vegetation index and precipitation. To this end, the study domain was divided into six smaller areas, based on their geographical position and climate similarity. Strong differences were observed between these areas. As expected, snow cover fraction (SCF) has a strong influence on the albedo in the study area and can explain 56 % of variation of albedo in March, 76 % in April and 92 % in May. Therefore the effects of other parameters were investigated only for areas with 100 % SCF. The second largest driver for snow-covered land surface albedo changes is the air temperature when it exceeds a value between −15 and −10 °C, depending on the region. At monthly mean air temperatures below this value no albedo changes are observed. The Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) and precipitation amount and frequency were independently examined as possible candidates to explain observed changes in albedo for areas with 100 % SCF. Amount and frequency of precipitation were identified to influence the albedo over some areas in Eurasia and North America, but no clear effects were observed in other areas. EVI is positively correlated with albedo in Chukotka Peninsula and negatively in eastern Siberia. For other regions the spatial variability of the correlation fields is too high to reach any conclusions.


Author(s):  
Ana L. Hernández-Damián ◽  
Sergio R. S. Cevallos-Ferriz ◽  
Alma R. Huerta-Vergara

ABSTRACTA new flower preserved in amber in sediments of Simojovel de Allende, México, is identified as an extinct member of Staphyleaceae, a family of angiosperms consisting of only three genera (Staphylea, Turpinia and Euscaphis), which has a large and abundant fossil record and is today distributed over the Northern Hemisphere. Staphylea ochoterenae sp. nov. is the first record of a flower for this group, which is small, pedicelled, pentamer, bisexual, with sepals and petals with similar size, dorsifixed anthers and superior ovary. Furthermore, the presence of stamens with pubescent filaments allows close comparison with extant flowers of Staphylea bulmada and S. forresti, species currently growing in Asia. However, their different number of style (one vs. three) and the apparent lack of a floral disc distinguish them from S. ochoterenae. The presence of Staphyleaceae in southern Mexico ca. 23 to 15My ago is evidence of the long history of integration of vegetation in low-latitude North America, in which some lineages, such as Staphylea, could move southwards from high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, as part of the Boreotropical Flora. In Mexico it grew in association with tropical elements, as suggested by the fossil record of the area.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agathe Toumoulin ◽  
Yannick Donnadieu ◽  
Delphine Tardif ◽  
Jean-Baptiste Ladant ◽  
Alexis Licht ◽  
...  

<p>At the junction of warmhouse and coolhouse climate phases, the Eocene Oligocene Transition (EOT) is a key moment in the history of the Cenozoic climate. Yet, while it is accompanied by severe extinctions and biodiversity turnovers, terrestrial climate evolution remains poorly resolved. On lands, some fossil and geochemistry records suggest a particularly marked cooling in winter, which would have led to the development of more pronounced seasons (higher Mean Annual Range of Temperatures, MATR) in certain regions of the Northern Hemisphere. This type of climate change should have had consequences on biodiversity and an implication in some of the fauna and flora renewals described at the EOT. However, this season strengthening has been studied only superficially by model studies, and questions remain about the geographical extent of this phenomenon and the associated climatic processes. Although other components of the climate system vary seasonally (e.g., precipitation, wind), we therefore focus on the seasonality of temperatures only.</p><p>In order to better understand and describe temperature seasonality change patterns from the middle Eocene to the early Oligocene, we use the Earth System Model IPSL-CM5A2 and a set of simulations reconstructing the EOT through three major climate forcings: pCO2 decrease (1120/840 to 560 ppm), the Antarctic ice-sheet (AIS) formation, and the associated sea-level decrease (-70 m). </p><p>Our results suggest that seasonality changes across the EOT rely on the combined effects of the different tested mechanisms which result in zonal to regional climate responses. Sea-level changes associated with the earliest stage of the AIS formation may have also contributed to middle to late Eocene MATR reinforcement. We reconstruct strong and heterogeneous patterns of seasonality changes across the EOT. Broad continental areas of increased MATR reflect a strengthening of seasonality (from 4°C to > 10°C increase of the MATR) in agreement with MATR and Coldest Month Mean Temperatures (CMMT) changes indicated by a review of existing proxies. pCO2 decrease induces a zonal pattern with alternating increasing and decreasing seasonality bands. In the northern high-latitudes, it results in sea-ice and surface albedo feedback, driving a strong increase in seasonality (up to 8°C MATR increase). Conversely, the onset of the AIS is responsible for a more constant surface albedo, which leads to a strong decrease in seasonality in the southern mid- to high-latitudes (> 40°S). Finally, continental areas emerged due to the sea level lowering cause the largest increase in seasonality and explain most of the global heterogeneity in MATR changes patterns. The seasonality change patterns we reconstruct are consistent with the variability of the EOT biotic crisis intensity across the Northern Hemisphere.</p>


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