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Title: Daily-scale planetary wave patterns and the modulation of cold season weather in the northern extratropics

Abstract

Here, tropospheric planetary waves, often linked to asymmetries in lower boundary forcing,significantly modulate atmospheric blocking and storm track structures that are, in turn, linked to extremesurface weather events. Day-to-day variability in the planetary scale circulation, taken as wave numbers 1 to 5in the daily 500 hPa geopotential heights, and the associated impact on storm tracks and regional weather arestudied for the period 1950–2005. Six boreal cold-season distinct planetary wave patterns are identified viahierarchical cluster analysis. The first, second, and sixth patterns feature a prominent zonal wave number 1structure, while the fourth and fifth patterns resemble the negative and positive phases of northern annularmode, respectively. The second pattern represents an amplification of the climatological mean wavestructure, while the third pattern resembles the zonal wave number 3 pattern. A multitaper spectral analysisof the daily projection indices indicates that the planetary wave patterns are primarily intraseasonal innature. The first (sixth) pattern combines the positive (negative) phase of the Pacific-North Americanteleconnection pattern and negative (positive) phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation, inducing poleward(equatorward) shifts in the Pacific storm track and a weakened (strengthened) Atlantic storm track. Incontrast, the fourth (fifth) pattern results in a simultaneous equatorward (poleward) displacement of bothstorm tracks. Extreme cold wavesmore » over the continental United States (U.S.) are favored during occurrences ofthe fourth and sixth patterns. During episodes of the first pattern, increased rainfall prevails over much ofthe U.S., while precipitation anomalies induced by the other patterns are more regional in nature.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [2]
  1. Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
  2. Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
OSTI Identifier:
1474274
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1375523
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0012554
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 122; Journal Issue: 16; Journal ID: ISSN 2169-897X
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; planetary wave; storm track; extreme cold waves; harmonic analysis; northern annual mode

Citation Formats

Xie, Z., Black, R. X., and Deng, Y. Daily-scale planetary wave patterns and the modulation of cold season weather in the northern extratropics. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1002/2017JD026768.
Xie, Z., Black, R. X., & Deng, Y. Daily-scale planetary wave patterns and the modulation of cold season weather in the northern extratropics. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD026768
Xie, Z., Black, R. X., and Deng, Y. 2017. "Daily-scale planetary wave patterns and the modulation of cold season weather in the northern extratropics". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD026768. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1474274.
@article{osti_1474274,
title = {Daily-scale planetary wave patterns and the modulation of cold season weather in the northern extratropics},
author = {Xie, Z. and Black, R. X. and Deng, Y.},
abstractNote = {Here, tropospheric planetary waves, often linked to asymmetries in lower boundary forcing,significantly modulate atmospheric blocking and storm track structures that are, in turn, linked to extremesurface weather events. Day-to-day variability in the planetary scale circulation, taken as wave numbers 1 to 5in the daily 500 hPa geopotential heights, and the associated impact on storm tracks and regional weather arestudied for the period 1950–2005. Six boreal cold-season distinct planetary wave patterns are identified viahierarchical cluster analysis. The first, second, and sixth patterns feature a prominent zonal wave number 1structure, while the fourth and fifth patterns resemble the negative and positive phases of northern annularmode, respectively. The second pattern represents an amplification of the climatological mean wavestructure, while the third pattern resembles the zonal wave number 3 pattern. A multitaper spectral analysisof the daily projection indices indicates that the planetary wave patterns are primarily intraseasonal innature. The first (sixth) pattern combines the positive (negative) phase of the Pacific-North Americanteleconnection pattern and negative (positive) phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation, inducing poleward(equatorward) shifts in the Pacific storm track and a weakened (strengthened) Atlantic storm track. Incontrast, the fourth (fifth) pattern results in a simultaneous equatorward (poleward) displacement of bothstorm tracks. Extreme cold waves over the continental United States (U.S.) are favored during occurrences ofthe fourth and sixth patterns. During episodes of the first pattern, increased rainfall prevails over much ofthe U.S., while precipitation anomalies induced by the other patterns are more regional in nature.},
doi = {10.1002/2017JD026768},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1474274}, journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres},
issn = {2169-897X},
number = 16,
volume = 122,
place = {United States},
year = {Sun Jul 30 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Sun Jul 30 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}

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Cited by: 8 works
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Works referencing / citing this record:

Planetary and synoptic-scale dynamic control of extreme cold wave patterns over the United States
journal, February 2019