scholarly journals Atmospheric and Ocean Dynamics May Explain Cycles in Oceanic Oscillations

Climate ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Knut L. Seip ◽  
Øyvind Grøn

What causes cycles in oceanic oscillations, and is there a change in the characteristics of oscillations in around 1950? Characteristics of oceanic cycles and their sources are important for climate predictability. We here compare cycles generated in a simple model with observed oceanic cycles in the great oceans: The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), El Niño, the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). In the model, we let a stochastic movement in one oceanic oscillation cause a similar but lagging movement in another oceanic oscillation. The two interacting oscillations show distinct cycle lengths depending upon how strongly one oscillation creates lagging cycles in the other. The model and observations both show cycles around two to six, 13 to 16, 22 to 23, and 31 to 32 years. The ultimate cause for the distinct cycles is atmospheric and oceanic “bridges” that connect the ocean basins, but the distinct pattern in cycle lengths is determined by properties of statistical distributions. We found no differences in the leading or lagging strength between well separated basins (the North Atlantic and the Pacific) and overlapping ocean basins (both in the Pacific). The cyclic pattern before 1950 appears to be different from the cyclic pattern after 1950.

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 2990-3001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasios A. Tsonis ◽  
Kyle L. Swanson ◽  
Geli Wang

Abstract In a recent application of networks to 500-hPa data, it was found that supernodes in the network correspond to major teleconnection. More specifically, in the Northern Hemisphere a set of supernodes coincides with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and another set is located in the area where the Pacific–North American (PNA) and the tropical Northern Hemisphere (TNH) patterns are found. It was subsequently suggested that the presence of atmospheric teleconnections make climate more stable and more efficient in transferring information. Here this hypothesis is tested by examining the topology of the complete network as well as of the networks without teleconnections. It is found that indeed without teleconnections the network becomes less stable and less efficient in transferring information. It was also found that the pattern chiefly responsible for this mechanism in the extratropics is the NAO. The other patterns are simply a linear response of the activity in the tropics and their role in this mechanism is inconsequential.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 907-923 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bianca Mezzina ◽  
Javier García-Serrano ◽  
Ileana Bladé ◽  
Fred Kucharski

AbstractThe winter extratropical teleconnection of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the North Atlantic–European (NAE) sector remains controversial, concerning both the amplitude of its impacts and the underlying dynamics. However, a well-established response is a late-winter (January–March) signal in sea level pressure (SLP) consisting of a dipolar pattern that resembles the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Clarifying the relationship between this “NAO-like” ENSO signal and the actual NAO is the focus of this study. The ENSO–NAE teleconnection and NAO signature are diagnosed by means of linear regression onto the sea surface temperature (SST) Niño-3.4 index and an EOF-based NAO index, respectively, using long-term reanalysis data (NOAA-20CR, ERA-20CR). While the similarity in SLP is evident, the analysis of anomalous upper-tropospheric geopotential height, zonal wind, and transient-eddy momentum flux, as well as precipitation and meridional eddy heat flux, suggests that there is no dynamical link between the phenomena. The observational results are further confirmed by analyzing two 10-member ensembles of atmosphere-only simulations (using an intermediate-complexity and a state-of-the-art model) with prescribed SSTs over the twentieth century. The SST-forced variability in the Northern Hemisphere is dominated by the extratropical ENSO teleconnection, which provides modest but significant SLP skill in the NAE midlatitudes. The regional internally generated variability, estimated from residuals around the ensemble mean, corresponds to the NAO pattern. It is concluded that distinct dynamics are at play in the ENSO–NAE teleconnection and NAO variability, and caution is advised when interpreting the former in terms of the latter.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeineddine Nouaceur ◽  
Ovidiu Murărescu ◽  
George Murătoreanu

AbstractThe IPCC climate models predict, for the Central Europe, are for climate changes, being seen variability of temperature, with a growing trend of 1-2,5° C (with 1° C for alpine zone – Carpathians and 2-2,5° C for plains). Current observations in the Romanian plain are not consistent, with an existence of a multiannual variability of temperature and precipitations depending on cyclonal and anti-ciclonal activity. The research is based on calculation of reduced centered index, also the graphical chronological method in information processing (MGCTI) of „Bertin Matrix” type, to show current trends of the spatio-temporal variability of precipitation in the context of global climate change. These are in line with the movement of air masses in Europe in general, and implicitly in Romania, with particular regard to the southern region of the country where the Romanian Plain. The variability of short-term global climate is generally associated with coupling phases of oceanic and atmospheric phenomena including El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). While El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) affects climate variability in the world, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is the climate model dominant in the North Atlantic region. The latter cyclic oscillation whose role is still under debate could explain the variability of rainfall in much of the, central Europe area, and support the hypothesis of a return of the rains marking the end of years of drought in Romanian plain. Faced with such great changes that today affect the central Europe region and given the complexity of spatial and temporal dimensions of the climatic signal, a more thorough research of causes and retroactions would allow for a better understanding of the mechanisms behind this new trend.


2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (23) ◽  
pp. 4955-4969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio D’Andrea ◽  
Arnaud Czaja ◽  
John Marshall

Abstract Coupled atmosphere–ocean dynamics in the North Atlantic is studied by means of a simple model, featuring a baroclinic three-dimensional atmosphere coupled to a slab ocean. Anomalous oceanic heat transport due to wind-driven circulation is parameterized in terms of a delayed response to the change in wind stress curl due to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Climate variability for different strengths of ocean heat transport efficiency is analyzed. Two types of behavior are found depending on time scale. At interdecadal and longer time scales, a negative feedback is found that leads to a reduction in the spectral power of the NAO. By greatly increasing the efficiency of ocean heat transport, the NAO in the model can be made to completely vanish from the principal modes of variability at low frequency. This suggests that the observed NAO variability at these time scales must be due to mechanisms other than the interaction with wind-driven circulation. At decadal time scales, a coupled oscillation is found in which SST and geopotential height fields covary.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (11) ◽  
pp. 4563-4584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernat Jiménez-Esteve ◽  
Daniela I. V. Domeisen

Abstract El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) exerts an influence on the North Atlantic–European (NAE) region. However, this teleconnection is nonlinear and nonstationary owing to the superposition and interaction of a multitude of influences on this region. The stratosphere is one of the major players in terms of the influence of the ENSO signal on this sector. Nevertheless, there are tropospheric dynamical links between the North Pacific and the North Atlantic that are clearly influenced by ENSO. This tropospheric pathway of ENSO to the NAE has received less attention. In view of this, the present study revisits the tropospheric pathway of ENSO to the North Atlantic using ECMWF reanalysis products. Anomalous propagation of transient and quasi-stationary waves across North America is analyzed with respect to their sensitivity to ENSO. Transient (quasi-stationary zonal waves 1–3) wave activity flux (WAF) from the Pacific to the Atlantic increases during El Niño (La Niña) conditions leading to a negative (positive) phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). This response is observed from January to March for El Niño and only visible during February for La Niña events. However, the stratosphere strongly modulates this response. For El Niño (La Niña) conditions a weaker (stronger) stratospheric vortex tends to reinforce the negative (positive) NAO with the stratosphere and troposphere working in tandem, contributing to a stronger and more persistent tropospheric circulation response. These findings may have consequences for the prediction of the NAO during times with an inactive stratosphere.


2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 21065-21099
Author(s):  
I. Petropavlovskikh ◽  
R. Evans ◽  
G. McConville ◽  
G. L. Manney ◽  
H. E. Rieder

Abstract. Continuous measurements of total ozone (by Dobson spectrophotometers) across the contiguous United States (US) began in the early 1960s. Here, we analyze temporal and spatial variability and trends in total ozone from the five US sites with long-term records. While similar long-term ozone changes are detected at all five sites, we find differences in the patterns of ozone variability on shorter time scales. In addition to standard evaluation techniques, STL-decomposition methods (Seasonal Trend decomposition of time series based on LOcally wEighted Scatterplot Smoothing, LOESS) are used to address temporal variability and trends in the Dobson data. The LOESS-smoothed trend components show a decline of total ozone between the 1970s and 2000s and a "stabilization" at lower levels in recent years, which is also confirmed by linear trend analysis. Methods from statistical extreme value theory (EVT) are used to characterize days with high and low total ozone (termed EHOs and ELOs, respectively) at each station and to analyze temporal changes in the frequency of ozone extremes and their relationship to dynamical features such as the North Atlantic Oscillation and El Niño Southern Oscillation. A comparison of the "fingerprints" detected in the frequency distribution of the extremes with those for standard metrics (i.e., the mean) shows that more "fingerprints" are found for the extremes, particularly for the positive phase of the NAO, at all five US monitoring sites. Results from the STL-decomposition support the findings of the EVT analysis. Finally, we analyze the relative influence of low and high ozone events on seasonal mean column ozone at each station. The results show that the influence of ELOs and EHOs on seasonal mean column ozone can be as much as ±5%, or about twice as large as the overall long-term decadal ozone trends.


2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. García ◽  
P. Ribera ◽  
L. Gimenoo ◽  
E. Hernández

Abstract. The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Southern Oscillation (SO) are compared from the standpoint of a possible common temporal scale of oscillation. To do this a cross-spectrum of the temporal series of NAO and SO indices was determined, finding a significant common oscillation of 6-8 years. To assure this finding, both series were decomposed in their main oscillations using singular spectrum analysis (SSA). Resulting reconstructed series of 6-8 years oscillation were then cross-correlated without and with pre-whitened, the latter being significant. The main conclusion is a possible relationship between a common oscillation of 6-8 years' that represents about 20% of the SO variance and about 25% of the NAO variance.Key words: Meteorology and atmospheric dynamics (climatology; ocean-atmosphere interactions)


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