北极涛动低空大气环流特征及其与太阳活动的联系

通过北极涛动AO正负位相时期北半球1000 hPa月平均位势高度、位势高度距平和气温月距平图对比分析可知,北极区域异常增暖时期对应着AO负位相时期,而北极区域异常偏冷时期对应着AO正位相时期,说明北极区域气温异常变化是决定AO异常变化的重要因子.逐次滤波法分析可知,冬季1月北极涛动现象表现出十分清楚的与太阳活动密切联系的准110a世纪周期和准22a年代际周期,具体表现为：（1）冬季1月北极涛动现象具有十分清楚的与太阳活动密切联系的准110a世纪周期.准110a世纪周期对于北极涛动指数的方差贡献率达到44.4%,是冬季1月北极涛动现象最显著的世纪际变化特征.（2）谱分析结果表明,滤除准110a世纪周期变化以后的1月北极涛动指数具有显著的22a周期,其方差贡献率达到18.5%,乃仅次于准110a世纪周期之后北极涛动指数年代际变化重要特征.对比分析表明,太阳活动尤其是太阳磁场磁性指数变化与1月北极涛动22a周期变化呈密切的反相关关系,二者变化趋势基本相反,即多数情况当太阳磁性指数MI由最低值转为上升以后都可引起北极涛动AO由最高值转为下降;当太阳磁性指数MI由最高值转为下降以后都可引起北极涛动AO由最低值转为上升.综上所述,北极涛动的准110a世纪周期变化、22a年代际周期变化对于北极涛动方差贡献率达到62.9%,标志着太阳活动是北极涛动的重要驱动因子.     

BCC_CSM1.1(m)模式对于夏季亚洲-太平洋涛动的模拟

亚洲-太平洋涛动是北半球夏季亚洲大陆和北太平洋副热带地区对流层中高层扰动温度场上大尺度的东西反相的遥相关现象,其异常变化与亚洲-太平洋地区夏季风气候有着密切的联系.基于欧洲中心的ERA-40再分析资料和国家气候中心BCC_CSM1.1（m）气候系统模式多年的数值模拟结果,本文主要评估了BCC_CSM1.1（m）模式对于夏季亚洲-太平洋涛动的空间分布、指数的时间演变及与其变化所对应的亚洲地区夏季环流异常等方面的模拟能力,结果表明：BCC_CSM1.1（m）模式能够较好地模拟出北半球夏季对流层中高层扰动温度在亚-太地区中纬度存在的西高东低"跷跷板"现象;模式能够模拟出夏季亚洲-太平洋涛动指数的年际变率,但是不能模拟出该指数在20世纪60-70年代明显下降的年代际趋势;模式还能较好地模拟出亚洲-太平洋涛动高低指数年亚洲-太平洋地区夏季环流的异常：指数偏高年份,南亚高压增强,高空西风急流带和热带东风急流均加强,索马里越赤道气流增强,南亚热带季风和东亚副热带季风均增强,东亚季风低压槽加强,西北太平洋副热带高压增强,南亚和东亚北部降水增加,菲律宾地区、中国长江流域-朝鲜半岛-日本一带地区降水减少,反之亦然.     

北半球大气遥相关型与区域尺度大气扰动

北极涛动(AO)、北大西洋涛动(NAO)和太平洋-北美型(PNA)等北半球大气遥相关型,可以用大气位势高度的物理分解扰动分量解释.结果发现,AO反映的是北极地区行星尺度纬圈平均扰动分量的变化,PNA与持续性天气尺度扰动分量相联系,NAO是行星尺度纬圈平均扰动与天气尺度扰动共同作用的结果.对行星尺度纬圈平均扰动分量和天气尺度扰动分量用旋转经验正交函数(REOF)展开,不但可以证实人们已经命名的区域性大气涛动,还新发现了北极地区的两对偶极涛动、欧亚涛动(EAO)和"大西洋-欧亚型"(AEA)波列.这些涛动连接了相邻地区的异常天气和异常气候.     

高空大气涛动现象与太阳活动的联系

本文根据全球高空10 hPa位势高度距平场EOF分析得知,存在于地面层大气中的南北向涛动现象~北极高空大气涛动和南极涛动,在高空大气中更为清楚,而且这种高空南北向涛动现象是波及全球的;存在于地面层大气中著名的纬向涛动现象~南方涛动(Southern Oscillation,SO)和北方涛动(North Oscillation,NO),在高空大气中则变得不甚清楚.表征北极高空大气涛动的第一模态与表征南极涛动的第二模态的方差贡献率分别为41.47%和27.04%,二者累积方差贡献率达到68.51%,构成了平流层高空大气年代际振荡的主要形式;另外还存在两半球对称性中高纬度南极涛动模态和两半球不对称性中高纬度南极涛动模态,是高空大气中出现概率比较小的振荡形式.谱分析表明,无论北极高空大气涛动模态、南极涛动模态还是中高纬度纬向涛动模态,都存在与太阳磁场磁性指数相一致的22年准周期变化以及与太阳黑子相对数相一致的11年准周期变化;采用逐次滤波法的滤波分析和对比分析表明,高空大气涛动现象的重要影响因子乃太阳活动,其中太阳磁场的大幅度涨落及其磁性变化是主要因素,太阳黑子相对数的变化为次要因素.     

近60年全球大气环流经向模态的气候变化

本文根据1948～2004年NCEP/NCAR 1000 hPa、500 hPa、100 hPa高度场逐月再分析资料,分析了近60年全球大气环流经向模态的气候变化. 结果表明：近60年来第一模态从低层到高层都表现出高纬与低纬地区之间明显的反向变化关系,且随时间有明显的增强趋势. 第一模态位相发生了相反的改变,低纬地区由负距平演变为正距平,高纬地区由正距平演变为负距平. 1000 hPa和500 hPa高度场上的南半球比北半球变化激烈,而100 hPa高度场上的北半球比南半球变化激烈. 第二模态在1000 hPa高度场上,主要表现为南极涛动（AAO）和北极涛动(AO),且两涛动在年际、年代际尺度上表现出明显的负相关关系;在100 hPa高度场上,主要表现为南北半球高纬度地区之间的反向变化;500 hPa高度场是1000 hPa和100 hPa的一个过渡层次,主要表现出明显的南极涛动(AAO). 第二模态可能是南北半球中高纬环流相互作用的桥梁.     

2009/2010年冬季北极涛动异常及其影响分析

2009/2010年冬季出现了持续的北极涛动（AO）负异常,同时北半球的天气气候也发生了大范围的异常,两者的关系是大家极为关注的重要问题.本文的分析表明2009/2010年冬季北半球经历了两次显著的AO负异常过程,2009年12月和2010年2月AO指数分别达到了同期历史的最低值.2009年12月的AO负异常过程又可以又分为两个阶段,第一个阶段是由于前期行星波上传的增强导致平流层极涡减弱,随后平流层环流异常向下发展造成了对流层的AO负异常;第二个阶段是因为对流层低层高纬地区的温度正异常维持了第一个阶段在对流层高纬地区的位势高度正异常,使得AO负异常得以较长时间维持,这两个阶段的接连发生和共同作用使得对流层低层经历了一个较强的AO负异常过程.而2010年2月的AO负异常过程则是由平流层爆发性增温所造成的平流层异常环流下传造成的.通过对历史上11个AO负异常事件的统计分析,可以认为AO负异常事件可能由平流层爆发性增温以及平流层极区弱的环流异常下传造成,也可能来源于对流层内部的动力过程.进一步研究表明,2009/2010年冬季持续的极端AO负异常与该冬季北半球大范围的温度和降水异常有密切联系,关注AO异常及其影响是天气预报、气候预测的重要问题.     

北极涛动主模态下北极冷空气的优势路径和影响地区的研究

本文以拉格朗日观点分析北极涛动(Arctic Oscillation,AO),也被称为北半球环状模(Northern Hemisphere Annular Mode,NAM)的指数异常事件中北极近地面冷气团的活动路径,直接地表现出了异常事件中冷气团运动的优势路径,从而反映出AO/NAM对地面气温的直接调控作用.在正AO/NAM指数异常事件中,极区近地面冷气团活动轨迹以纬向环流为主,表现为环绕北半球中高纬地区的冷气团活动轨迹特征明显.而在负AO/NAM指数异常事件中,极区冷气团以反气旋式轨迹流出极区后,流入中纬度海洋上的低气压区,这种由极区向中纬度地区流动的经向运动轨迹特点显著.并且在指数下降的中后期出现两种强烈影响欧亚大陆的运动轨迹.正负事件中冷气团运动轨迹很好地解释了传统公认的AO/NAM对北半球不同地区冬季气温的影响.特别是对中国冬季气温的影响上,正AO/NAM指数异常事件中的中低层冷气团活动有利于南支槽加深,进而为南方地区冰冻雨雪天气提供了有利条件;而负事件中的极地近地面冷气团可直接影响东北地区,形成寒潮降温天气.     

北极海冰与夏季欧亚遥相关型年际变化的联系及对我国夏季降水的影响

本文利用NCEP/NCAR等再分析资料和CAM3.1数值模式研究了夏季欧亚中高纬遥相关型年际变率与前期春季北极海冰变化的联系及其对我国夏季降水影响的可能机制.结果表明,夏季北大西洋-欧亚中高纬地区500 hPa位势高度场自然正交分解第二模态表现为"-+-+"遥相关波列,其中格陵兰岛-北大西洋和乌拉尔山地区为异常高空槽区所控制,而欧洲和贝加尔湖附近地区则为异常高压脊区,这种波列分布与欧亚中高纬EU型遥相关型十分类似.当遥相关波列为"-+-+"（"+-+-"）型分布时,前期春季巴伦支海北部和巴芬湾一带海冰偏少（多）,同期夏季巴伦支海北部一带海冰亦持续偏少（多）,同时在我国东北北部地区、长江和黄河之间地区降水明显偏少（多）.深入分析发现,巴伦支海北部和巴芬湾一带海冰偏少后,由于该地区湍流热通量明显偏强,在动力过程影响方面会形成异常Rossby波源,准定常Rossby波活动通量将向东亚地区传播,使得夏季欧亚中高纬"-+-+"遥相关波列出现.另外,海冰异常偏少后,在热动力过程影响方面,4-5月欧亚中高纬乌拉尔山-贝加尔湖以北地区积雪会出现"西少东多"偶极子型异常分布,其通过影响后期土壤湿度及下垫面热通量异常,也有利于夏季欧亚中高纬遥相关波列的维持.伴随着欧亚中高纬"-+-+"遥相关波列的出现,乌山阻塞高压偏弱,东亚槽偏浅,且亚洲副热带急流随之加强,贝加尔湖以北的副极地地区出现西风异常,东亚副热带急流北侧出现东风异常,贝加尔湖以南地区为异常反气旋控制,南下冷空气活动减弱.受到上述环流形势影响,我国东北北部地区、黄河和长江之间地区降水明显偏少.当巴伦支海北部和巴芬湾区域海冰偏多时,结论则反之.最后,基于春季海冰指数和晚春偶极子型积雪指数,我们建立了江淮流域夏季降水的预测模型,回报结果表明其对江淮流域夏季降水的年际变率具有较高的预测技巧.     

动力统计相结合的未来30年东亚气温年代际预测

基于实际气候主要由气候系统自然变率和外强迫影响二者叠加而形成的认识,利用统计和动力相结合的方法对东亚表面气温(EATs)未来30年的演变进行了预测.关于自然变率部分,利用1901~1999年的观测资料,通过计算海温模态与EATs内部变率(EATs_int)的超前-滞后相关,选取几个主要海温模态作为预测因子,建立了EATs_int年代际内部变率的多元线性回归模型.首先对2000~2005年进行了后报检验,发现该模型有较好的预测能力.于是,根据海温模态的准周期性,利用该模型对未来30年进行了预测试验,得到了内部变率的预测结果.关于外强迫影响部分,利用参与政府间气候变化专门委员会第5次评估报告的19个耦合模式的历史试验和21世纪RCP4.5情景的预估结果,通过二阶拟合,得到EATs相对于1970~1999年的趋势变化(即外强迫的影响信号).将得到的内部变率和趋势进行叠加,形成最后的预测结果(Re_EATs).该结果显示:在2010~2040年,温度将呈波动性变化,其中在2015~2030年缓慢降温,之后开始上升.将这一结果与第五期耦合模式相互比较计划(CMIP5)的年代际预测进行对比,发现它与多数单个模式得到的预测结果及多模式预测集合平均的结果定性一致,表明利用统计和动力相结合的方法来预测东亚气温具有一定的合理性.     

CMIP5全球气候模式对中国上空空气静稳日数模拟能力评估

空气静稳日数变化与污染物浓度变化密切相关,评估气候模式对空气静稳日数的模拟能力是进行未来预估的基础.本文利用15个CMIP5(Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5)全球模式的模拟结果与观测数据,分别计算了1961-2005年逐年中国上空空气静稳日数,并利用统计方法分析了中国上空空气静稳日数的标准差、相对均方根误差、区域平均的时间序列、趋势分布和EOF(Empirical Orthogonal Function)主要模态变化特征,评估了CMIP5模式对中国上空空气静稳日数的模拟能力.结果表明:多模式集合平均结果可以模拟出空气静稳日数由沿海向内陆逐渐增加的分布特征,单个模式对空气静稳日数空间分布的模拟能力相差较大.多模式集合平均可以较好地再现夏、冬季的空气静稳日数.15个模式中,CanESM2和:IPSL-CM5B-LR对中国大部分区域的模拟效果较好,多模式集合平均的模拟能力优于单个模式.与观测相比,多模式集合平均的1961-2005年空气静稳日数年际变化波动较小,多数区域的多模式集合平均的空气静稳日数高于观测值.对于逐年的冬季空气静稳日数,大多数区域的多模式集合平均存在高估.在中国东部和新疆大部,多模式集合平均可以较好的模拟出空气静稳日数变化趋势的空间分布特征,但是数值偏小.多模式集合平均也能较好的模拟出空气静稳日数的EOF1和EOF2特征向量分布型,但对前三个EOF的时间系数序列模拟能力差.     

Simulation of future climate scenarios with a weather generator

Numerous studies across multiple disciplines search for insights on the effects of climate change at local spatial scales and at fine time resolutions. This study presents an overall methodology of using a weather generator for downscaling an ensemble of climate model outputs. The downscaled predictions can explicitly include climate model uncertainty, which offers valuable information for making probabilistic inferences about climate impacts. The hourly weather generator that serves as the downscaling tool is briefly presented. The generator is designed to reproduce a set of meteorological variables that can serve as input to hydrological, ecological, geomorphological, and agricultural models. The generator is capable of reproducing a wide set of climate statistics over a range of temporal scales, from extremes, to low-frequency interannual variability; its performance for many climate variables and their statistics over different aggregation periods is highly satisfactory. The use of the weather generator in simulations of future climate scenarios, as inferred from climate models, is described in detail. Using a previously developed methodology based on a Bayesian approach, the stochastic downscaling procedure derives the frequency distribution functions of factors of change for several climate statistics from a multi-model ensemble of outputs of General Circulation Models. The factors of change are subsequently applied to the statistics derived from observations to re-evaluate the parameters of the weather generator. Using embedded causal and statistical relationships, the generator simulates future realizations of climate for a specific point location at the hourly scale. Uncertainties present in the climate model realizations and the multi-model ensemble predictions are discussed. An application of the weather generator in reproducing present (1961-2000) and forecasting future (2081-2100) climate conditions is illustrated for the location of Tucson (AZ). The stochastic downscaling is carried out using simulations of eight General Circulation Models adopted in the IPCC 4AR, A1B emission scenario.     

North Sea wave conditions: an analysis of four transient future climate realizations

The multi-decadal wave conditions in the North Sea can be influenced by anthropogenic climate change. That may lead to the intensification of wave extremes in the future and consequently increase risks for the coastal areas as well as for on- and offshore human activities. Potential changes caused by alteration of atmospheric patterns are investigated. Four transient climate projections (1961–2100), reflecting two IPCC emission scenarios (A1B and B1) and two different initial states, are used to simulate the wave scenarios. The potential wind-induced changes in waves are studied by comparing future statistics (2001–2100) with the corresponding reference conditions (1961–2000). Generally, there is a small increase in future 99th percentile significant wave height for most eastern parts of the North Sea towards the end of the twenty-first century. This small increase is superimposed by a strong variability of the annual extremes on time scales of decades. Opposite to the differences in wave height, the change in wave direction to more waves propagating east shows less decadal variability and is more uniform among all realizations. Nevertheless, temporal and spatial differences of the wave height in the four climate projections point to the uncertainties in the climate change signals.     

North Atlantic Oscillation – Concepts And Studies

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of previous studies and concepts concerning the North Atlantic Oscillation. The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and its recent homologue, the Arctic Oscillation/Northern Hemisphere annular mode (AO/NAM), are the most prominent modes of variability in the Northern Hemisphere winter climate. The NAO teleconnection is characterised by a meridional displacement of atmospheric mass over the North Atlantic area. Its state is usually expressed by the standardised air pressure difference between the Azores High and the Iceland Low. ThisNAO index is a measure of the strength of the westerly flow (positive with strong westerlies, and vice versa). Together with the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon, the NAO is a major source of seasonal to interdecadal variability in the global atmosphere. On interannual and shorter time scales, the NAO dynamics can be explained as a purely internal mode of variability of the atmospheric circulation. Interdecadal variability maybe influenced, however, by ocean and sea-ice processes.     

Simulating precipitation in the Northeast United States using a climate-informed K-nearest neighbour algorithm

Decadal prediction using climate models faces long-standing challenges. While global climate models may reproduce long-term shifts in climate due to external forcing, in the near term, they often fail to accurately simulate interannual climate variability, as well as seasonal variability, wet and dry spells, and persistence, which are essential for water resources management. We developed a new climate-informed K-nearest neighbour (K-NN)-based stochastic modelling approach to capture the long-term trend and variability while replicating intra-annual statistics. The climate-informed K-NN stochastic model utilizes historical data along with climate state information to provide improved simulations of weather for near-term regional projections. Daily precipitation and temperature simulations are based on analogue weather days that belong to years similar to the current year's climate state. The climate-informed K-NN stochastic model is tested using 53 weather stations in the Northeast United States with an evident monotonic trend in annual precipitation. The model is also compared to the original K-NN weather generator and ISIMIP-2b GFDL general circulation model bias-corrected output in a cross-validation mode. Results indicate that the climate-informed K-NN model provides improved simulations for dry and wet regimes, and better uncertainty bounds for annual average precipitation. The model also replicates the within-year rainfall statistics. For the 1961–1970 dry regime, the model captures annual average precipitation and the intra-annual coefficient of variation. For the 2005–2014 wet regime, the model replicates the monotonic trend and daily persistence in precipitation. These improved modelled precipitation time series can be used for accurately simulating near-term streamflow, which in turn can be used for short-term water resources planning and management.     

Performance of ALADIN-Climate/CZ over the area of the Czech Republic in comparison with ENSEMBLES regional climate models

Nowadays Regional Climate Models (RCMs) are increasingly used for downscaling of information from the coarse resolution of global climate models (GCMs) and they represent a more and more popular tool for assessment of future climate changes and their impacts at regional scales. In spite of continual progress of RCMs, their outputs still suffer from many uncertainties and biases. Therefore, it is necessary to assess their ability to simulate observed climate characteristics and uncertainties in their outputs before they are applied in subsequent studies. In the present study, the assessment of RCM performance in simulating climate in the reference period of 1961–1990 over the area of Czech Republic is presented. Furthermore, we focused on the intercomparison of the models’ results, mainly on the comparison of the Czech model ALADIN-Climate/CZ with outputs of other RCMs. Simulation of ALADIN-Climate/CZ in 25-km horizontal resolution, and thirteen RCM simulations from the ENSEMBLES project were assessed. Attention was paid especially to comparison of simulated and observed spatial and temporal variability of several climatic variables. The monthly and seasonal values of surface air temperature, precipitation totals and relative humidity were examined for evaluation of temporal variability and 30-year seasonal and monthly values with respect to spatial variability. Climate model performance was evaluated in several ways, namely by boxplots, maps of variability characteristics, skill scores based on mean square error and Taylor diagrams. Model errors detected by model evaluation depend on many factors (e.g. considered variables and their characteristics, area of analysis, time scale of interest and the method of assessment). On the basis of incorporated performance criteria model ALADIN-Climate/CZ belonged to a better group of RCMs in most cases. However, it was definitely the worst in simulating spring monthly means of air temperature and relative humidity in all seasons.     

交互集合耦合模式系统对北太平洋SST变率和ENSO的模拟检验

清华大学地球系统科学研究中心在一个标准耦合模式（SC）的基础上建立了交互集合耦合模式系统（IE）,该系统可以实现多个不同大气模式或者同一大气模式采取不同初值组成的多个分量集合之后与海、陆、冰模式进行耦合.本文利用同一大气模式七个不同初值分量与其它模式分量开展在线集合耦合试验,利用积分稳定之后100年的试验结果,分析了IE在减小海-气界面大气噪音的情况下,对北太平洋海表面温度（SST）变率和ENSO的模拟,并与SC模拟结果进行了对比.分析表明,IE减小了北太平洋中高纬度SST方差的85%以上,表明该区域SST变率主要受大气的影响,且主要是通过改变海表湍流热通量实现的.黑潮延伸体区和北太平洋中部副热带涡旋区域平均SST 8年左右的低频周期主要受来自大气内部动力过程的驱动.在集合耦合模拟中,无论是副热带涡旋区SST与ENSO的联系,还是ENSO与北太平洋中高纬度SST的联系都能模拟出来,而标准模式未能模拟出这些现象,意味着大气噪音过强将掩盖ENSO与太平洋热带外SST的联系.IE对与ENSO关联的“太平洋-北美”（PNA）遥相关型的合理模拟,并通过湍流热通量对海表温度的影响,是其能够更好模拟ENSO与北太平洋中高纬度SST关系的重要原因.本文通过分析验证了所建立的交互集合耦合模式系统的合理性,揭示了该系统在海-气相互作用研究领域方面具有一定应用前景.     

A theoretical investigation of the tropical Indo-Pacific tripole mode

The El Ni o-Southern Oscillation(ENSO)phenomenon in the tropical Pacific has been a focus of ocean and climate studies in the last few decades.Recently,the short-term climate variability in the tropical Indian Ocean has attracted increasingly more attention,especially with the proposition of the Indian Ocean Dipole(IOD)mode.However,these phenomena are often studied separately without much consideration of their interaction.Observations reveal a striking out-of-phase relationship between zonal gradients of sea surface height anomaly(SSHA)and sea surface temperature anomaly(SSTA)in the tropical Indian and Pacific Oceans.Since the two oceans share the ascending branch of the Walker cells over the warm pool,the variation within one of them will affect the other.The accompanied zonal surface wind anomalies are always opposite over the two basins,thus producing a tripole structure with opposite zonal gradients of SSHA/SSTA in the two oceans.This mode of variability has been referred to as Indo-Pacific Tripole(IPT).Based on observational data analyses and a simple ocean-atmosphere coupled model,this study tries to identify the characteristics and physical mechanism of IPT with a particular emphasis on the relationships among ENSO,IOD,and IPT.The model includes the basic oceanic and atmospheric variables and the feedbacks between them,and takes into account the inter-basin connection through an atmospheric bridge,thus providing a valuable framework for further research on the short-term tropical climate variability.     

Simulation of the stratospheric ozone and temperature response to the solar irradiance variability during sun rotation cycle

Despite substantial progress in atmospheric modeling, the agreement of the simulated atmospheric response to decadal scale solar variability with the solar signal in different atmospheric quantities obtained from the statistical analysis of the observations cannot be qualified as successful. An alternative way to validate the simulated solar signal is to compare the sensitivity of the model to the solar irradiance variability on shorter time scales. To study atmospheric response to the 28-day solar rotation cycle, we used the chemistry–climate model SOCOL that represents the main physical–chemical processes in the atmosphere from the ground up to the mesopause. An ensemble simulation has been carried out, which is comprised of nine 1-year long runs, driven by the spectral solar irradiance prescribed on a daily basis using UARS SUSIM measurements for the year 1992. The correlation of zonal mean hydroxyl, ozone and temperature averaged over the tropics with solar irradiance time series have been analyzed. The hydroxyl has robust correlations with solar irradiance in the upper stratosphere and mesosphere, because the hydroxyl concentration is defined mostly by the photolysis. The simulated sensitivity of the hydroxyl to the solar irradiance changes is in good agreement with previous estimations. The ozone and temperature correlations are more complicated because their behavior depends on non-linear dynamics and transport in the atmosphere. The model simulates marginally significant ozone response to the solar irradiance variability during the Sun rotation cycle, but the simulated temperature response is not robust. The physical nature of this is not clear yet. It seems likely that the temperature (and partly the ozone) daily fields possess their own internal variability, which is not stable and can differ from year to year reflecting different dynamical states of the system.     

The northern annular mode in summer and its relation to solar activity variations in the GISS ModelE

The northern annular mode (NAM) has been successfully used in several studies to understand the variability of the winter atmosphere and its modulation by solar activity. The variability of summer circulation can also be described by the leading empirical orthogonal function (EOF) of geopotential heights. We compare the annular modes of the summer geopotential heights in the northern hemisphere stratosphere and troposphere in the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) ModelE with those in the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) reanalysis. In the stratosphere, the summer NAM obtained from NCEP/NCAR reanalysis as well as from the ModelE simulations has the same sign throughout the northern hemisphere, but shows greater variability at low latitudes. The patterns in both analyses are consistent with the interpretation that low NAM conditions represent an enhancement of the seasonal difference between the summer and the annual averages of geopotential height, temperature and velocity distributions, while the reverse holds for high NAM conditions. Composite analysis of high and low NAM cases in both model and observation suggests that the summer stratosphere is more “summer-like” when the solar activity is near a maximum. This means that the zonal easterly wind flow is stronger and the temperature is higher than normal. Thus increased irradiance favors a low summer NAM. A quantitative comparison of the anti-correlation between the NAM and the solar forcing is presented in the model and in the observation, both of which show lower/higher NAM index in solar maximum/minimum conditions. The temperature fluctuations in simulated solar minimum conditions are greater than in solar maximum throughout the summer stratosphere.The summer NAM in the troposphere obtained from NCEP/NCAR reanalysis has a dipolar zonal structure with maximum variability over the Asian monsoon region. The corresponding EOF in ModelE has a qualitatively similar structure but with less variability in the Asian monsoon region which is displaced eastward of its observed position. In both the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis and the GCM the negative anomalies associated with the NAM in the Euro-Atlantic and Aleutian island regions are enhanced in the solar minimum conditions, though the results are not statistically significant.