Tropical Indian Ocean subsurface temperature variability and the forcing mechanisms

The first two leading modes of interannual variability of sea surface temperature in the Tropical Indian Ocean (TIO) are governed by El Niño Southern Oscillation and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) respectively. TIO subsurface however does not co-vary with the surface. The patterns of the first mode of TIO subsurface temperature variability and their vertical structure are found to closely resemble the patterns of IOD and El Niño co-occurrence years. These co-occurrence years are characterized by a north–south subsurface dipole rather than a conventional IOD forced east–west dipole. This subsurface dipole is forced by wind stress curl anomalies, driven mainly by meridional shear in the zonal wind anomalies. A new subsurface dipole index (SDI) has been defined in this study to quantify the intensity of the north–south dipole mode. The SDI peaks during December to February (DJF), a season after the dipole mode index peaks. It is found that this subsurface north–south dipole is a manifestation of the internal mode of variability of the Indian Ocean forced by IOD but modulated by Pacific forcing. The seasonal evolution of thermocline, subsurface temperature and the corresponding leading modes of variability further support this hypothesis. Positive wind stress curl anomalies in the south and negative wind stress curl anomalies in the north of 5°S force (or intensify) downwelling and upwelling waves respectively during DJF. These waves induce strong subsurface warming in the south and cooling in the north (especially during DJF) and assist the formation and/or maintenance of the north–south subsurface dipole. A thick barrier layer forms in the southern TIO, supporting the long persistence of anomalous subsurface warming. To the best of our knowledge the existence of such north–south subsurface dipole in TIO is being reported for the first time.     

Association between Tropical Convection and Boreal Wintertime Extratropical Circulation in 1982／83 and 1988／89

Boreal wintertime extratropical circulation is studied in relation to the tropical convection during the 1982/83 El Nino and 1988/89 La Nina. The anomaly structure of 1982/83 and 1988/89 over the extratropics reveals remarkably different features as the longitudinal tropical forcing region changes. The Rossby wave source (Positive) shows the largest maximum over East Asia in both years due to the persistent heating from the western Pacific warm pool area. However, the sink term shows contrasting features over the subtropics and extratropics between the two years. In the El Nino year, enhanced tropical convection over the eastern Pacific produces the Rossby wave sink at 10?N and shifted eastward over the North Pacific, while in the La Nina year, the sink area is shifted westward over the North Pacific. The contrasting features between the two events in mean-eddy interaction appears especially over the downstream area of the East Asian Jet. The extension (retraction) of the meanflow eastward (westward) to     

Subseasonal variability of North American wintertime surface air temperature

Climate Dynamics - Using observational pentad data of the recent 34 Northern Hemisphere extended winters, subseasonal variability of surface air temperature (SAT) over North America is analyzed....     

Decadal variability of characteristics of the Black Sea pycnocline and geostrophic circulation in the wintertime

The Black Sea density fields and geostrophic circulation in the 0–300-dbar layer are reconstructed from the February archive hydrological data for several decades from 1951 to 1995 and then their interdecadal variability is studied. A gradual rise of the pycnocline is noted in the dome region of large-scale cyclonic gyrals from 5 m at the top of the pycnocline to 10–15 m at 100–300-m levels. Differently directed tendencies of long-term variability of the winter circulation are revealed: circulation intensification in the upper 0–50-m layer (except for the southwestern sea) and weakening in the lower pycnocline 200–300-m layer. The connection with the wind vorticity variability, river runoff, precipitation, and air temperature is analyzed. Strengthening of the cyclonic wind vorticity in the 1960s and the early 1970s is in good agreement with the circulation intensification of that time in the eastern sea.     

Effect of tropospheric temperature change on the zonal mean circulation and SH winter extratropical cyclones

This study aims to understand the mechanisms which cause an overall reduction of SH extratropical cyclone activity with a slight increase in the high latitudes in a warmer climate simulated in general circulation models (GCMs) with increasing CO₂. For this purpose, we conducted idealized model experiments by forcing warm temperature anomalies to the areas where climate change models exhibit local maximum warming—the tropics in the upper troposphere and the polar regions in the lower troposphere—simultaneously and separately. The Melbourne University atmospheric GCM (R21) coupled with prescribed SST was utilized for the experiments. Our results demonstrate that the reduction of SH extratropical cyclone frequency and depth in the midlatitudes but the slight increase in the high latitudes suggested in climate change models result essentially from the tropical upper tropospheric warming. With this tropical warming, the enhanced static stability which decreases baroclinicity in the low and midlatitudes turns out to be a major contributor to the decrease of cyclone activity equatorward of 45°S whereas the increased meridional temperature gradient in the high latitudes seems an important mechanism for the increase of cyclone activity over 50°–60°S.     

Year-to-Year and interdecadal variability in the activity of intraseasonal fluctuations in the Northern Hemisphere wintertime circulation

Summary Interannual variability in the activity of fluctuations with subseasonal time scales is investigated based upon observed data of the extratropical Northern Hemisphere circulation over the recent 38 winters. Their activity is represented in the root mean square (RMS) field of filtered geopotential height in which the fluctuations with time scales between 10 days and a season are retained. The singular value decomposition (SVD) was applied to the covariance matrix between the seasonal mean and RMS fields for the 500-hPa height.The leading SVD mode for the north Pacific represents the strong relationship between the polarity of the Pacific/North American (PNA) pattern in the seasonal-mean anomalies and the amplitude of a meridionally-oriented dipole-like oscillation within the season. It tends to be more active when the seasonal-mean jet stream is strongly diffluent over the central Pacific than when the jet is extended zonally across the Pacific. The leading SVD mode for the north Atlantic is indicative of stronger intraseasonal fluctuations near Greenland in the presence of anticyclonic seasonal-mean anomalies associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO).The intraseasonal variability in the extratropics is strongly correlated with the underlying sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies, and that in the north Pacific also exhibits significant but rather weak correlation with SST anomalies in the equatorial Pacific. The activity of the atmospheric intraseasonal fluctuations is found to be modulated in accordance with interdecadal variability in the seasonal-mean circulation and SST.On leave from Department of Earth & Planetary Physics, University of Tokyo.With 12 Figures     

ENSO对中国冬季天气尺度气温变率的影响及可能机理

基于1960—2017年中国国家气象信息中心整编的753站逐日平均温度资料、美国国家海洋大气中心(NOAA)重建的逐月海表温度资料以及美国国家环境预测中心/国家大气研究中心(NCEP/NCAR)提供的再分析大气环流资料,分析了ENSO对中国冬季天气尺度气温变率的影响。结果表明,ENSO与中国东部大部分地区的冬季天气尺度气温变率呈显著正相关,即厄尔尼诺年冬季,中国气温波动幅度增大,天气尺度气温变率明显较强;而拉尼娜年冬季,气温变化相对平稳,天气尺度温度变率较小。进一步研究发现,厄尔尼诺事件加强了冬季欧亚大陆中高纬度地区的经向温度梯度,根据热成风原理,局地大气斜压性增强,西伯利亚地区的风暴活动和下游东亚地区大气环流的天气尺度变异也随之加强,因而有利于中国大部分地区天气尺度温度变率的增大。拉尼娜年冬季,异常情况与之大致相反。     

The extratropical sensitivity to the meridional extent of tropical ENSO forcing

The extratropical response to tropical remote forcing has been examined with so-called tropical ocean-global atmosphere experiments, which use prescribed sea surface temperature (SST) in the tropical Pacific and a slab mixed-layer ocean model elsewhere. In this study we have revisited this experimental design and found that the extratropical response is quite sensitive to the meridional extent of tropical prescribed SST domain. Even in the case of a prescribed annual cycle only (i.e., no ENSO), the differences in the prescribed SST regions lead to different atmospheric motions in the adjacent extratropics. When the tropical forcing includes ENSO, the sensitivity to the meridional domain is more prominent, especially during La Niña events. In La Niña, the prescribed SST is warmer than the simulated SST in the northern subtropics, and the warmer SST differences continue to 30°N. This broad SST differences accompany enhanced atmospheric meridional circulation that directly connects the tropics and extratropics within the Pacific basin. Moreover, the Rossby wave excitation also increases, so the effect of prescribed region difference is felt beyond the Pacific basin. On the other hand, the effect of ENSO sea surface temperature anomalie (i.e., ENSO experiment composite minus control experiment annual cycle, both of which have the same prescribed SST domain) is stronger in the broad tropical forcing experiment. However, the ENSO anomaly composite from own annual cycle is similar regardless of the meridional extent of forcing region, and commonly mimics the Northern Hemisphere El Niño composite of nature in the boreal winter season.     

Tropical and extratropical cyclone damages under climate change

This paper provides the first quantitative synthesis of the rapidly growing literature on future tropical and extratropical cyclone damages under climate change. We estimate a probability distribution for the predicted impact of changes in global surface air temperatures on future storm damages, using an ensemble of 478 estimates of the temperature-damage relationship from nineteen studies. Our analysis produces three main empirical results. First, we find strong but not conclusive support for the hypothesis that climate change will cause damages from tropical cyclones and wind storms to increase, with most models predicting higher future storm damages due to climate change. Second, there is substantial variation in projected changes in losses across regions. Potential changes in damages are greatest in the North Atlantic basin, where the multi-model average predicts that a 2.5 °C increase in global surface air temperature would cause hurricane damages to increase by 63 %. The ensemble predictions for Western North Pacific tropical cyclones and European wind storms (extratropical cyclones) are +28 % and +23 %, respectively. Finally, our analysis shows that existing models of storm damages under climate change generate a wide range of predictions, ranging from moderate decreases to very large increases in losses.     

Contrasting the tropical responses to zonally asymmetric extratropical and tropical thermal forcing

The mechanism is investigated by which extratropical thermal forcing with a finite zonal extent produces global impact. The goal is to understand the near-global response to a weakened Atlantic meridional overturning circulation suggested by paleoclimate data and modeling studies. An atmospheric model coupled to an aquaplanet slab mixed layer ocean, in which the unperturbed climate is zonally symmetric, is perturbed by prescribing cooling of the mixed layer in the Northern Hemisphere and heating of equal magnitude in the Southern Hemisphere, over some finite range of longitudes. In the case of heating/cooling confined to the extratropics, the zonally asymmetric forcing is homogenized by midlatitude westerlies and extratropical eddies before passing on to the tropics, inducing a zonally symmetric tropical response. In addition, the zonal mean responses vary little as the zonal extent of the forced region is changed, holding the zonal mean heating fixed, implying little impact of stationary eddies on the zonal mean. In contrast, when the heating/cooling is confined to the tropics, the zonally asymmetric forcing produces a highly localized response with slight westward extension, due to advection by mean easterly trade winds. Regardless of the forcing location, neither the spatial structure nor the zonal mean responses are strongly affected by wind–evaporation–sea surface temperature feedback.     

North African climate variability. Part 2: Tropical circulation systems

Summary Tropical North African climate variability is investigated using a Sahel rainfall index and streamflow of the Nile River in the 20^th century. The mechanisms that govern tropical North Africa climate are diagnosed from NCEP reanalysis data in the period 1958–1998: spatially – using composite and correlation analysis, and temporally – using wavelet co-spectral analysis. The Sahelian climate is characterised by a decadal rhythm, whilst the mountainous eastern and equatorial regions exhibit interannual cycles. ENSO-modulated zonal circulations over the Atlantic/Pacific sector are important for decadal variations, and create a climatic polarity between South America and tropical North Africa as revealed through upper-level velocity potential and convection patterns. A more localised N–S shift in convection between the Sahel and Guinea coast is associated with the African Easterly Jet.     

Climate mean,variability and dominant patterns of the Northern Hemisphere wintertime mean atmospheric circulation in the NCEP CFSv2

In this study, the climate mean, variability, and dominant patterns of the Northern Hemisphere wintertime mean 200 hPa geopotential height (Z200) in a CMIP and a set of AMIP simulations from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Climate Forecast System Version 2 (CFSv2) are analyzed and compared with the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis. For the climate mean, it is found that a component of the bias in stationary waves characterized with wave trains emanating from the tropics into both the hemispheres can be attributed to the precipitation deficit over the Maritime continent. The lack of latent heating associated with the precipitation deficit may have served as the forcing of the wave trains. For the variability of the seasonal mean, both the CMIP and AMIP successfully simulated the geographical locations of the major centers of action, but the simulated intensity was generally weaker than that in the reanalysis, particularly for the center over the Davis Strait-southern Greenland area. It is also noted that the simulated action center over Aleutian Islands was southeastward shifted to some extent. The shift was likely caused by the eastward extension of the Pacific jet. Differences also existed between the CMIP and the AMIP simulations, with the center of actions over the Aleutian Islands stronger in the AMIP and the center over the Davis Strait-southern Greenland area stronger in the CMIP simulation. In the mode analysis, the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) teleconnection pattern in each dataset was first removed from the data, and a rotated empirical orthogonal function (REOF) analysis was then applied to the residual. The purpose of this separation was to avoid possible mixing between the ENSO mode and those generated by the atmospheric internal dynamics. It was found that the simulated ENSO teleconnection patterns from both model runs well resembled that from the reanalysis, except for a small eastward shift. Based on the REOF modes of the residual data, six dominant modes of the reanalysis data had counterparts in each model simulation, though with different rankings in explained variance and some distortions in spatial structure. By evaluating the temporal coherency of the REOF modes between the reanalysis and the AMIP, it was found that the time series associated with the equatorially displaced North Atlantic Oscillation in the two datasets were significantly correlated, suggesting a potential predictability for this mode.     

Impacts of the extratropical North Pacific on boreal summer Arctic circulation

北极夏季大气环流的一个显着特征是以北冰洋为中心的异常反气旋环流,与北极增暖存在紧密的联系.先前的研究已将其形成的潜在机制与早春欧亚融雪,热带太平洋海表温度异常联系起来.本研究发现北极夏季反气旋环流异常与春季副热带北太平洋海表温度异常(SSTA)存在显着联系,表明副热带北太平洋与北极之间存在遥相关.该SSTA的特点是北太平洋中纬度地区有暖的SSTA,周围有明显的冷SSTA,类似于太平洋年代际振荡(PDO)的负位相,但热带地区没有明显的信号(本研究称之为类负位相PDO).5月份,这种类负位相PDO可以激发从白令海传播到北极的罗斯贝波,导致北极出现反气旋环流异常.这种反气旋环流异常可以持续到夏季.同时,这种类负位相PDO的SSTA可以持续到夏季,并在夏季引起白令海上空的低压异常.这种低层的低压异常会导致异常的上升运动,并引起高层的辐散异常,从而进一步加剧夏季北极对流层上层的反气旋环流异常.这种反气旋环流异常可迫使北极上空出现异常绝热下沉运动,导致北极出现显著的绝热加热.于是,北极上空出现显著的暖异常,其暖中心位于北极对流层中部.数值模拟试验证实了5月份类负位相PDO的SSTA与夏季北极反气旋...     

Multidecadal to decadal variability in the equatorial Indian Ocean subsurface temperature and the forcing mechanisms

Climate Dynamics - The Tropical Indian Ocean (TIO) is seen to exhibit robust warming after the 1950s. Most of the previous studies on the Indian Ocean (IO) surface and subsurface temperature...     

The role of diabatic heating, torques and stabilities in forcing the radial-vertical circulation within cyclones part ii: case study of extratropical and tropical cyclones

Utilizing Eliassen’s concepts, the forcing of the isentropic azimuthally-averaged mass-weighted radial-vertical circulation by diabatic heating and torques within an extratropical cyclone and a typhoon was studied through nu-merical simulations based on the linear diagnostic equation derived previously. The structure of the forcing associated with diabatic heating and torques was determined from quasi-Lagrangian diagnostic analyses of actual case studies. The two cyclones studied were the Ohio extratropical cyclone of 25-27 January 1978 and typhoon Nancy of 18-23 September 1979. The Ohio cyclone, which formed over the Gulf Coast and moved through Ohio and eastern Michigan, was one of the most intense storms with blizzard conditions to ever occur in this region. Typhoon Nancy which occurred over the South China Sea during the FGGE year was selected since relatively high quality assimilated data were available. Within the Ohio cyclone, the dominant internal processes forcing the mean circulation with em-bedded relatively strong hydrodynamic stability were the pressure torque associated with baroclinic (asymmetric) structure and the horizontal eddy angular momentum transport associated with the typical S-shaped thermal and wind structures of self-development. Within typhoon Nancy, the dominant internal process forcing the mean circula-tion with embedded weak hydrodynamic stability was the latent heat release. This analysis shows that the simulated azimuthally-averaged mass-weighted radial motions within these two cy?clones agree quite well with the “observed” azimuthally-averaged mass-weighted radial motions. This isentropic nu?merical study also provides insight into the relatively important internal forcing processes and the trade off between forcing and stability within both extratropical and tropical cyclones.     

渤海冬季环流的数值研究

本文利用一个等距、跳点、隐式的总能量守恒型差分方案,对渤海冬季环流进行数值研究。计算结果和海上观测的一致性是令人满意的,对于渤海冬季环流的形成机制和黄海暖流余脉的影响也作了十分有意义的探讨。     

1961—2019年黑龙江省冬季气温季节内变化及环流异常特征

利用1961—2019年黑龙江省冬季气温、NCEP再分析资料和环流指数资料,采用多变量经验正交函数分解、合成分析、相关分析等方法,分析黑龙江省冬季气温季节内变化及其环流异常特征,并进一步对比了主要环流因子在冬季气温季节内演变不同模态中的相对贡献。结果表明：季节内变化是黑龙江省冬季气温变化的基本特征。黑龙江省冬季气温存在季节内一致变化、12月和翌年1—2月反位相变化、12月至翌年1月和2月反位相变化三个主要模态。当冬季气温处于第一模态分布一致偏暖(冷)时,环流呈现北极涛动(AO)正(负)位相的分布特征,东亚冬季风(EAWM)偏弱(强)。当冬季气温发生季节内冷暖转换时,季内极涡、高空急流、西伯利亚高压(SH)和EAWM强度、中高纬环流经向度等均有明显调整。第二模态1月和第三模态2月环流场分别呈现类似极地欧亚型(PEA)和东大西洋型(EA)遥相关的分布特征。AO、SH、EAWM、PEA和EA是冬季气温季节内演变的重要影响因子。