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Increased Quasi Stationarity and Persistence of Winter Ural Blocking and Eurasian Extreme Cold Events in Response to Arctic Warming. Part II: A Theoretical Explanation

Journal Article · · Journal of Climate
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [2]
  1. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China); DOE/OSTI
  2. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
  3. State Univ. of New York (SUNY), Albany, NY (United States); National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
  4. Univ. of Melbourne (Australia)
+ Show Author Affiliations
In Part I of this study, it was shown that the Eurasian cold anomalies related to Arctic warming depend strongly on the quasi stationarity and persistence of the Ural blocking (UB). The analysis here revealed that under weak mean westerly wind (MWW) and vertical shear (VS) (quasi barotropic) conditions with weak synoptic-scale eddies and a large planetary wave anomaly, the growth of UB is slow and its amplitude is small. For this case, a quasi-stationary and persistent UB is seen. However, under strong MWW and VS (quasi baroclinic) conditions, synoptic-scale eddies are stronger and the growth of UB is rapid; the resulting UB is less persistent and has large amplitude. In this case, a marked retrogression of the UB is observed. The dynamical mechanism behind the dependence of the movement and persistence of UB upon the background conditions is further examined using a nonlinear multiscale model. The results show that when the blocking has large amplitude under quasi-baroclinic conditions, the blocking-induced westward displacement greatly exceeds the strong mean zonal-wind-induced eastward movement and hence generates a marked retrogression of the blocking. By contrast, under quasi-barotropic conditions because the UB amplitude is relatively small the blocking-induced westward movement is less distinct, giving rise to a quasi-stationary and persistent blocking. It is further shown that the strong mid–high-latitude North Atlantic mean zonal wind is the quasi-barotropic condition that suppresses UB’s retrogression and thus is conducive to the quasi stationarity and persistence of the UB. The model results show that the blocking duration is longer when the mean zonal wind in the blocking region or eddy strength is weaker.
Research Organization:
State Univ. of New York (SUNY), Albany, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012602
OSTI ID:
1537011
Journal Information:
Journal of Climate, Journal Name: Journal of Climate Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 30; ISSN 0894-8755
Publisher:
American Meteorological SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (9)

Dryland climate change: Recent progress and challenges: Dryland Climate Change journal September 2017
The impact of Arctic sea ice on the inter-annual variations of summer Ural blocking journal August 2018
Climatological features of blocking highs from the perspective of air mass and mass transport journal August 2019
Changes in winter stationary wave activity during weak mid‐latitude and Arctic thermal contrast period journal September 2019
Anomalous winter moisture transport associated with the recent surface warming over the Barents–Kara seas region since the mid‐2000s journal October 2019
Trends in northern midlatitude atmospheric wave power from 1950 to 2099 journal February 2020
Ural Blocking Driving Extreme Arctic Sea Ice Loss, Cold Eurasia, and Stratospheric Vortex Weakening in Autumn and Early Winter 2016–2017 journal November 2019
Recent Trends of Extreme Precipitation and Their Teleconnection with Atmospheric Circulation in the Beijing-Tianjin Sand Source Region, China, 1960–2014 journal April 2017
Effects of Northern Hemisphere Atmospheric Blocking on Arctic Sea Ice Decline in Winter at Weekly Time Scales journal August 2018

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