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Title: Size of the Atmospheric Blocking Events: Scaling Law and Response to Climate Change

Journal Article · · Geophysical Research Letters
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4]
  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering William Marsh Rice University Houston TX USA
  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering William Marsh Rice University Houston TX USA, Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences William Marsh Rice University Houston TX USA
  3. Department of Land, Air and Water Resources University of California Davis CA USA, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley CA USA
  4. Department of Atmospheric Science Colorado State University Fort Collins CO USA

Abstract Understanding the response of atmospheric blocking events to climate change has been of great interest in recent years. However, potential changes in the blocking area (size), which can affect the spatiotemporal characteristics of the resulting extreme events, have not received much attention. Using two large‐ensemble, fully coupled general circulation model (GCM) simulations, we show that the size of blocking events increases with climate change, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere (by as much as 17%). Using a two‐layer quasi‐geostrophic model and a dimensional analysis technique, we derive a scaling law for the size of blocking events, which shows that area mostly scales with width of the jet times the Kuo scale (i.e., the length of stationary Rossby waves). The scaling law is validated in a range of idealized GCM simulations. Predictions of this scaling law agree well with changes in blocking events' size under climate change in fully coupled GCMs in winters but not in summers.

Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1580281
Journal Information:
Geophysical Research Letters, Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters Vol. 46 Journal Issue: 22; ISSN 0094-8276
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 26 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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