The Impact of Kuroshio Extension Fronts Variation on the Pacific Storm Tracks and the relationship with Temperature over North America

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziniu Xiao
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Temperature Gradient ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Storm Tracks ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Intensity Index ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Kuroshio

<p>The intensity index of Kuroshio Extension and northern front zones (KEF) is defined as the area average of SST meridional gradient by using Hadley Center’s surface sea temperature dataset (1949-2014), and the Kuroshio Extension frontal intensity index (KEFI) has seasonal to interdecadal variations. In winter, the KEFI has significant positive correlation with transient variances in the North Pacific storm tracks area, and the positive relationship appears when KEFI lead storm tracks one month which indicates the intensity of KEF could influence storm tracks in winter. To investigate the possible mechanism, we found: when the winter SST front is stronger, the more significant difference between ocean-air heat flux in both sides of KEF could strengthen the near-surface temperature gradient, which maintains the near-surface baroclincity and benefits the transient heat transport, promote the develop of transient eddies at last. Additional, the large-scale circulation also be response to KEF in winter: when the KEF is stronger, the Aleutian is deepen, the subtropical high is strengthen, the 500 hPa potential high is increased (decreased) in south (north), the subtropical jet is weaker and wider. It is found that the oceanic fronts promote storm tracks by transporting heat upward and maintaining the air temperature gradient in winter. In further, the significant correlation was found between the Kuroshio Extension Oceanic Front intensity and the temperature over North America in autumn and winter.</p>

scholarly journals Lagrangian study of surface transport in the Kuroshio Extension area based on simulation of propagation of Fukushima-derived radionuclides

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 279-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. V. Prants ◽  
M. V. Budyansky ◽  
M. Yu. Uleysky
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Northwest Pacific ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Lagrangian Tracers ◽  
Surface Drifters ◽  
Lagrangian Study ◽  
The Kuroshio

Abstract. Lagrangian approach is applied to study near-surface large-scale transport in the Kuroshio Extension area using a simulation with synthetic particles advected by AVISO altimetric velocity field. A material line technique is proposed and applied to find out the origin of water masses in cold-core cyclonic rings pinched off from the jet in summer 2011. Tracking and Lagrangian maps provide the evidence of cross-jet transport. Fukushima-derived caesium isotopes are used as Lagrangian tracers to study transport and mixing in the area a few months after the 11 March 2011 tsunami that caused heavy damage of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP). Tracking maps are computed to trace the origin of water parcels with measured levels of 134Cs and 137Cs concentrations collected during two research vessel (R/V) cruises in June and July 2011 in the large area of the northwest Pacific (Kaeriyama et al., 2013; Buesseler et al., 2012). It is shown that Lagrangian simulations are useful for finding the surface areas that are potentially dangerous due to the risk of radioactive contamination. The results of simulation are supported by tracks of the surface drifters that were deployed in the area.

scholarly journals The Impact of Large-Scale Orography on Northern Hemisphere Winter Synoptic Temperature Variability

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (18) ◽  
pp. 5799-5814 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas J. Lutsko ◽  
Jane Wilson Baldwin ◽  
Timothy W. Cronin
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
North American ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Temperature Variability ◽  
Temperature Gradients ◽  
Northwest Pacific ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
The North ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The impact of large-scale orography on wintertime near-surface (850 hPa) temperature variability on daily and synoptic time scales (from days to weeks) in the Northern Hemisphere is investigated. Using a combination of theory, idealized modeling work, and simulations with a comprehensive climate model, it is shown that large-scale orography reduces upstream temperature gradients, in turn reducing upstream temperature variability, and enhances downstream temperature gradients, enhancing downstream temperature variability. Hence, the presence of the Rockies on the western edge of the North American continent increases temperature gradients over North America and, consequently, increases North American temperature variability. By contrast, the presence of the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas on the eastern edge of the Eurasian continent damps temperature variability over most of Eurasia. However, Tibet and the Himalayas also interfere with the downstream development of storms in the North Pacific storm track, and thus damp temperature variability over North America, by approximately as much as the Rockies enhance it. Large-scale orography is also shown to impact the skewness of downstream temperature distributions, as temperatures to the north of the enhanced temperature gradients are more positively skewed while temperatures to the south are more negatively skewed. This effect is most clearly seen in the northwest Pacific, off the east coast of Japan.

Potential Impact of the Eurasian Boreal Forest on North Pacific Climate Variability*

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 981-992 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Notaro ◽  
Zhengyu Liu
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Vegetation Feedback ◽  
North Asia ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Kuroshio

Abstract The authors demonstrate that variability in vegetation cover can potentially influence oceanic variability through the atmospheric bridge. Experiments aimed at isolating the impact of variability in forest cover along the poleward side of the Asian boreal forest on North Pacific SSTs are performed using the fully coupled model, Fast Ocean Atmosphere Model–Lund Potsdam Jena (FOAM-LPJ), with dynamic atmosphere, ocean, and vegetation. The northern edge of the simulated Asian boreal forest is characterized by substantial variability in annual forest cover, with an east–west dipole pattern marking its first EOF mode. Simulations in which vegetation cover is allowed to vary over north/central Russia exhibit statistically significant greater SST variance over the Kuroshio Extension. Anomalously high forest cover over North Asia supports a lower surface albedo with higher temperatures and lower sea level pressure, leading to a reduction in cold advection into northern China and in turn a decrease in cold air transport into the Kuroshio Extension region. Variability in the large-scale circulation pattern is indirectly impacted by the aforementioned vegetation feedback, including the enhancement in upper-level jet wind variability along the north–south flanks of the East Asian jet stream.

scholarly journals Decadal variability of the Kuroshio Extension: the response of the jet to increased atmospheric resolution in a coupled ocean–atmosphere model

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giusy Fedele ◽  
Alessio Bellucci ◽  
Simona Masina ◽  
Stefano Pierini
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Decadal Variability ◽  
North Pacific Ocean ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
The North ◽  
Ocean Atmosphere ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Kuroshio

AbstractThe Kuroshio Extension (KE) shifts between elongated and convoluted states on interannual to decadal time scales. The nature of this low frequency variability (LFV) is still under debate since it is known to be driven by intrinsic oceanic mechanisms, but it is also synchronized with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). In this analysis we present the results from two present-climate coupled simulations performed with the CMCC-CM2 model under the CMIP6 HighResMIP protocol and differing only by their atmospheric component resolution. The impact of increased atmospheric resolution on the KE LFV is assessed inspecting several aspects: the KE bimodality, the large-scale variability and the air–sea interactions. The KE LFV and the teleconnection mechanism that connects the KE and the PDO are well captured by both configurations. However, higher atmospheric resolution favors the occurrence of the elongated state and leads to a more realistic PDO representation. Moreover, both simulations qualitatively capture the signatures of atmosphere-driven and ocean-driven regimes over the North Pacific Ocean, even if the higher resolution induces an excessively strong ocean–atmosphere coupling that leads to an overestimation of the air–sea feedbacks. This work highlights that the small scale atmospheric variability (resolution lower than 1°) does not substantially contribute to improve the realism of the KE LFV, but causes significant differences in the air–sea interaction over the KE region likely related to the strengthening of the coupling. The eddy-permitting ocean resolution shared by both configurations is likely responsible for the degree of realism exhibited by the simulated KE LFV in the two analyzed simulations.

scholarly journals A Coupled Decadal Prediction of the Dynamic State of the Kuroshio Extension System

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 1751-1764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Qiu ◽  
Shuiming Chen ◽  
Niklas Schneider ◽  
Bunmei Taguchi
Keyword(s):  
Wind Stress ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Current System ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Storm Tracks ◽  
Dynamic State ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Wind Stress Curl ◽  
The Kuroshio

Abstract Being the extension of a wind-driven western boundary current, the Kuroshio Extension (KE) has long been recognized as a turbulent current system rich in large-amplitude meanders and energetic pinched-off eddies. An important feature emerging from recent satellite altimeter measurements and eddy-resolving ocean model simulations is that the KE system exhibits well-defined decadal modulations between a stable and an unstable dynamic state. Here the authors show that the decadally modulating KE dynamic state can be effectively defined by the sea surface height (SSH) anomalies in the 31°–36°N, 140°–165°E region. By utilizing the SSH-based KE index from 1977 to 2012, they demonstrate that the time-varying KE dynamic state can be predicted at lead times of up to ~6 yr. This long-term predictability rests on two dynamic processes: 1) the oceanic adjustment is via baroclinic Rossby waves that carry interior wind-forced anomalies westward into the KE region and 2) the low-frequency KE variability influences the extratropical storm tracks and surface wind stress curl field across the North Pacific basin. By shifting poleward (equatorward) the storm tracks and the large-scale wind stress curl pattern during its stable (unstable) dynamic state, the KE variability induces a delayed negative feedback that can enhance the predictable SSH variance on the decadal time scales.

scholarly journals Lianas reduce carbon accumulation and storage in tropical forests

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (43) ◽  
pp. 13267-13271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geertje M. F. van der Heijden ◽  
Jennifer S. Powers ◽  
Stefan A. Schnitzer
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Forests ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Net Primary Production ◽  
Carbon Dynamics ◽  
Carbon Accumulation ◽  
Carbon Uptake ◽  
Woody Vines ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Agent Of Change ◽  
The Impact

Tropical forests store vast quantities of carbon, account for one-third of the carbon fixed by photosynthesis, and are a major sink in the global carbon cycle. Recent evidence suggests that competition between lianas (woody vines) and trees may reduce forest-wide carbon uptake; however, estimates of the impact of lianas on carbon dynamics of tropical forests are crucially lacking. Here we used a large-scale liana removal experiment and found that, at 3 y after liana removal, lianas reduced net above-ground carbon uptake (growth and recruitment minus mortality) by ∼76% per year, mostly by reducing tree growth. The loss of carbon uptake due to liana-induced mortality was four times greater in the control plots in which lianas were present, but high variation among plots prevented a significant difference among the treatments. Lianas altered how aboveground carbon was stored. In forests where lianas were present, the partitioning of forest aboveground net primary production was dominated by leaves (53.2%, compared with 39.2% in liana-free forests) at the expense of woody stems (from 28.9%, compared with 43.9%), resulting in a more rapid return of fixed carbon to the atmosphere. After 3 y of experimental liana removal, our results clearly demonstrate large differences in carbon cycling between forests with and without lianas. Combined with the recently reported increases in liana abundance, these results indicate that lianas are an important and increasing agent of change in the carbon dynamics of tropical forests.

scholarly journals Measuring the Impact of Observations on the Predictability of the Kuroshio Extension in a Shallow-Water Model

2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Werner Kramer ◽  
Henk A. Dijkstra ◽  
Stefano Pierini ◽  
Peter Jan van Leeuwen
Keyword(s):  
Shallow Water ◽  
Particle Filtering ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Water Model ◽  
Ensemble Prediction ◽  
Shallow Water Model ◽  
One Year ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Kuroshio

Abstract In this paper, sequential importance sampling is used to assess the impact of observations on an ensemble prediction for the decadal path transitions of the Kuroshio Extension. This particle-filtering approach gives access to the probability density of the state vector, which allows the predictive power—an entropy-based measure—of the ensemble prediction to be determined. The proposed setup makes use of an ensemble that, at each time, samples the climatological probability distribution. Then, in a postprocessing step, the impact of different sets of observations is measured by the increase in predictive power of the ensemble over the climatological signal during one year. The method is applied in an identical-twin experiment for the Kuroshio Extension using a reduced-gravity shallow-water model. This study investigates the impact of assimilating velocity observations from different locations during the elongated and the contracted meandering states of the Kuroshio Extension. Optimal observation locations correspond to regions with strong potential vorticity gradients. For the elongated state the optimal location is in the first meander of the Kuroshio Extension. During the contracted state it is located south of Japan, where the Kuroshio separates from the coast.

scholarly journals Anatomy of a Cyclonic Eddy in the Kuroshio Extension Based on High-Resolution Observations

Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongchui Zhang ◽  
Xi Chen ◽  
Changming Dong
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Mesoscale Eddies ◽  
Cyclonic Eddy ◽  
Intermediate Water ◽  
Dipole Structure ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Kuroshio ◽  
Main Thermocline

Mesoscale eddies are common in the ocean and their surface characteristics have been well revealed based on altimetric observations. Comparatively, the knowledge of the three-dimensional (3D) structure of mesoscale eddies is scarce, especially in the open ocean. In the present study, high-resolution field observations of a cyclonic eddy in the Kuroshio Extension have been carried out and the anatomy of the observed eddy is conducted. The temperature anomaly exhibits a vertical monopole cone structure with a maximum of −7.3 °C located in the main thermocline. The salinity anomaly shows a vertical dipole structure with a fresh anomaly in the main thermocline and a saline anomaly in the North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW). The cyclonic flow displays an equivalent barotropic structure. The mixed layer is deep in the center of the eddy and thin in the periphery. The seasonal thermocline is intensified and the permanent thermocline is upward domed by 350 m. The subtropical mode water (STMW) straddled between the seasonal and permanent thermoclines weakens and dissipates in the eddy center. The salinity of NPIW distributed along the isopycnals shows no significant difference inside and outside the eddy. The geostrophic relation is approximately set up in the eddy. The nonlinearity—defined as the ratio between the rotational speed to the translational speed—is 12.5 and decreases with depth. The eddy-wind interaction is examined by high resolution satellite observations. The results show that the cold eddy induces wind stress aloft with positive divergence and negative curl. The wind induced upwelling process is responsible for the formation of the horizontal monopole pattern of salinity, while the horizontal transport results in the horizontal dipole structure of temperature in the mixed layer.

scholarly journals Storm-Track Response to SST Fronts in the Northwestern Pacific Region in an AGCM

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 1081-1102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akira Kuwano-Yoshida ◽  
Shoshiro Minobe
Keyword(s):  
General Circulation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Storm Track ◽  
Northwestern Pacific ◽  
Jet Stream ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Northeastern Pacific ◽  
The Kuroshio ◽  
Sst Fronts

Abstract The storm-track response to sea surface temperature (SST) fronts in the northwestern Pacific region is investigated using an atmospheric general circulation model with a 50-km horizontal resolution. The following two experiments are conducted: one with 0.25° daily SST data (CNTL) and the other with smoothed SSTs over an area covering SST fronts associated with the Kuroshio, the Kuroshio Extension, the Oyashio, and the subpolar front (SMTHK). The storm track estimated from the local deepening rate of surface pressure (LDR) exhibits a prominent peak in this region in CNTL in January, whereas the storm-track peak weakens and moves eastward in SMTHK. Storm-track differences between CNTL and SMTHK are only found in explosive deepening events with LDR larger than 1 hPa h−1. A diagnostic equation of LDR suggests that latent heat release associated with large-scale condensation contributes to the storm-track enhancement. The SST fronts also affect the large-scale atmospheric circulation over the northeastern Pacific Ocean. The jet stream in the upper troposphere tends to meander northward, which is associated with positive sea level pressure (SLP) anomalies in CNTL, whereas the jet stream flows zonally in SMTHK. A composite analysis for the northwestern Pacific SLP anomaly suggests that frequent explosive cyclone development in the northwestern Pacific in CNTL causes downstream positive SLP anomalies over the Gulf of Alaska. Cyclones in SMTHK developing over the northeastern Pacific enhance the moisture flux along the west coast of North America, increasing precipitation in that region.

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