The impact of combined ENSO and PDO on the PNA climate: a 1,000-year climate modeling study

This study analyzes the atmospheric response to the combined Pacific interannual ENSO and decadal–interdecadal PDO variability, with a focus on the Pacific-North American (PNA) sector, using a 1,000-year long integration of the Canadian Center for Climate Modelling and Analysis (CCCma) coupled climate model. Both the tropospheric circulation and the North American temperature suggest an enhanced PNA-like climate response and impacts on North America when ENSO and PDO variability are in phase. The anomalies of the centers of action for the PNA-like pattern are significantly different from zero and the anomaly pattern is field significant. In association with the stationary wave anomalies, large stationary wave activity fluxes appear in the mid-high latitudes originating from the North Pacific and flowing downstream toward North America. There are significant Rossby wave source anomalies in the extratropical North Pacific and in the subtropical North Pacific. In addition, the axis of the Pacific storm track shifts southward with the positive PNA. Atmospheric heating anomalies associated with ENSO variability are confined primarily to the tropics. There is an anomalous heating center over the northeast Pacific, together with anomalies with the same polarity in the tropical Pacific, for the PDO variability. The in-phase combination of ENSO and PDO would in turn provide anomalous atmospheric energy transports towards North America from both the Tropical Pacific and the North Pacific, which tends to favor the occurrence of stationary wave anomalies and would lead to a PNA-like wave anomaly structure. The modeling results also confirm our analysis based on the observational record in the twentieth century.     

Covariability of SST and surface heat fluxes in reanalyses and CMIP3 climate models

The generation and dissipation of SST anomalies is mediated by the covariability of SST and surface heat fluxes. The connection between the variability of heat flux (including its radiative and turbulent components) and that of SST is investigated using the NCEP-NCAR and ERA-40 reanalyses and the CMIP3 multi-model collection of climate simulations. The covariance patterns of SST and heat flux are broadly similar in the two reanalyses. The upward heat fluxes are positively correlated with the SST anomalies in the tropics, the northern Pacific mid-latitudes, and over the Gulf Stream, and negatively correlated in the northern subtropics and the SPCZ region. Common covariance features are seen in all climate models in the tropics and the subtropics, while covariances differ considerably among models at northern mid-latitudes, where weak values of the ensemble mean are seen. Lagged covariances are broadly similar in the two reanalyses and among the models, implying that heat flux feedback is also similar. The heat flux feedback parameter is determined from the lagged cross-covariances together with the auto-covariance of SST. Feedback is generally negative and is dominated by the turbulent component. The strongest feedback is found at mid-latitudes in both hemispheres, with the largest values occurring in the western and central portions of the oceans with extensions to higher latitudes. The latter are also areas with large inter-model differences. The heat flux feedback strengthens in winter and fall and weakens in spring and summer. The magnitudes of the annual and seasonal feedback parameters are slightly weaker in most models compared to the reanalysis-based estimates. The mean model feedback parameter has the best pattern correlation and the smallest mean square difference compared to the reanalysis-based values, although spatial variances are weak. Model resolution shows no relationship with the heat flux feedback parameters obtained from model results. The SST-heat flux covariance is decomposed into components associated with surface heat flux feedback and atmospheric forcing processes. Heat flux feedback dominates over the atmospheric forcing and heat flux damps SST anomalies on average at northern Pacific mid-latitudes and southern Atlantic mid-latitudes; while the reverse occurs in the SPCZ and northern Atlantic mid-latitudes.     

夏季海洋性大陆区域气候与赤道太平洋中部型海温异常的直接和间接联系

利用1979-2015年NCEP/NCAR月平均再分析资料、美国国家海洋和大气管理局（NOAA）的月平均降水资料（CMAP）以及英国哈得来中心海表温度月平均资料,采用2009年Kao等定义的中部型ENSO指数,给出了夏季中部型海表温度（SST）异常指数,并分析了中部型ENSO和海洋性大陆（MC）区域气候的联系。结果表明,当夏季中部型海表温度正异常事件发生时,海洋性大陆核心区域（中太平洋）出现显著降水和气温负（正）异常,此时海洋性大陆核心区域有明显的负（正）热源异常,大气受冷却（加热）而下沉（上升）,同时潜热释放之外的非绝热加热表现为负（正）异常,易于导致降水负（正）异常。海洋性大陆区域与中太平洋间主要通过水平环流和垂直环流建立联系。（1）中部型ENSO指数显著正异常时,在对流层低（高）层,海洋性大陆区域和中太平洋间存在由关于赤道的对称气旋性（反气旋性）环流对而形成的直接联系,并使得海洋性大陆区域东部辐散（辐合）偏弱,而海洋性大陆区域西部辐散（辐合）偏强。（2）在垂直剖面上,赤道中太平洋海表温度的正异常和海洋性大陆核心区域的大气异常冷却有利于促使该地区低层赤道西风异常增强并进而利于中部型海表温度正异常的维持,并由此通过反沃克环流圈促进海洋性大陆区域下沉运动增强。此为海洋性大陆与中太平洋间的直接联系,可由皮叶克尼斯机制进行解释。而位于中太平洋与秘鲁地区的异常垂直环流亦可用这一机制进行解释。海洋性大陆与中太平洋的间接联系主要表现在由赤道外低纬和中纬度地区均存在的沿弧形路径上的垂直环流而建立的海洋性大陆与中太平洋地区的联系上。这些弧形垂直剖面上的垂直环流不仅与局地哈得来环流有关,还与热带和中纬度的罗斯贝波动有关。这些结果有利于深刻认识中部型ENSO对海洋性大陆区域气候的影响机理以及与热带外环流异常的联系。     

Intercomparison of the Summertime Subtropical High from the ERA-40 and over East Eurasia and the western North Pacific

An intercomparison of summertime (JJA)subtropical geopotential heights from the ERA-40 and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis is specifically conducted over East Eurasia and the western North Pacific. The NCEP/NCAR is obviously lower than the ERA-40 in the mid-to-lower troposphere in most regions of East Eurasia before the mid-1970s, but becomes higher than the ERA-40 after the mid-1970s and thus demonstrates stronger increased trends during the period of 1958-2001. Both reanalyses are lower than the observations in most regions of China. The NCEP/NCAR especially shows tremendously systematic lower values before the mid-1960s and displays abrupt changes before the 1970s. Several indices of the western North Pacific subtropical high (WNPSH), calculated from both reanalyzed summer geopotential heights, also reveal that the variation trend of the NCEP/NCAR is stronger than that of the ERA-40 in the mid-to-lower troposphere from 1958 to 2001. Through singular value decomposition (SVD) analysis, the summer geopotential heights at 500 hPa from the ERA-40 are better than the NCEP/NCAR counterparts at interacting with the precipitation over the East Asian monsoon region. The results indicate that the NCEP/NCAR in the mid-and-lower troposphere may overestimate interdecadal changes and should be used cautiously to study the relationship between the WNPSH and precipitation ove ther East Asia Monsoon region before the mid-1970s.     

Intercomparison of the Summertime Subtropical High from the ERA-40 and NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis over East Eurasia and the western North Pacific

An intercomparison of summertime (JJA) subtropical geopotential heights from the ERA-40 and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis is specifically conducted over East Eurasia and the western North Pacific. The NCEP/NCAR is obviously lower than the ERA-40 in the mid-to-lower troposphere in most regions of East Eurasia before the mid-1970s, but becomes higher than the ERA-40 after the mid-1970s and thus demonstrates stronger increased trends during the period of 1958--2001. Both reanalyses are lower than the observations in most regions of China. The NCEP/NCAR especially shows tremendously systematic lower values before the mid-1960s and displays abrupt changes before the 1970s. Several indices of the western North Pacific subtropical high (WNPSH), calculated from both reanalyzed summer geopotential heights, also reveal that the variation trend of the NCEP/NCAR is stronger than that of the ERA-40 in the mid-to-lower troposphere from 1958 to 2001. Through singular value decomposition (SVD) analysis, the summer geopotential heights at 500 hPa from the ERA-40 are better than the NCEP/NCAR counterparts at interacting with the precipitation over the East Asian monsoon region. The results indicate that the NCEP/NCAR in the mid-and-lower troposphere may overestimate interdecadal changes and should be used cautiously to study the relationship between the WNPSH and precipitation ove ther East Asia Monsoon region before the mid-1970s.     

过去60年中3—5年时间尺度的强ENSO过程与平流层环流异常的滞后耦合及其机理

基于1950—2009年60a月平均Nino3指数和NCEP/NCAR第一套等压面再分析资料,关注3—5a时间尺度的强ENSO过程与平流层环流年际异常的时空联系及其机理,通过对此期间出现在3次持续强ENSO阶段中的11次3—5a时间尺度的强ENSO过程的诊断表明,平流层环流的年际尺度异常与3—5a时间尺度的强ENSO循环过程密切耦合。极夜急流强度趋于在ENSO暖/冷峰值之后减弱/加强,最大异常值多滞后ENSO峰值约1/4周期(接近1a),出现在ENSO峰值之后的下一年冬季;且3—5a时间尺度的ENSO峰值愈强,滞后约1/4周期出现的热带外平流层纬向风的年际异常也愈强;平均而言,这种年际时间尺度的耦合关系,也对实际的季节尺度平流层极涡振荡的强度和性质有显著的调制作用。进一步研究这种滞后耦合关系与年际时间尺度的行星波活动异常的联系发现,在暖ENSO峰值所在的当年冬季,对流层高层被强迫出年际时间尺度的太平洋-北美(PNA)型异常环流,而与冷ENSO峰值相对应的是相反的太平洋-北美异常型;这种太平洋-北美型与平流层热带外地区的行星波1波的发展相联系;在ENSO峰值之后的下一年冬季,太平洋-北美型环流减弱但对流层高层的主要异常分布在中高纬度,多对应着平流层行星波2波的显著增强,与平流层极区最强的高度异常相联系。行星波活动所引起的经向动量通量和经向热量通量的辐合、辐散异常对平流层滞后异常响应的贡献,存在显著的阶段性差异,在不同的阶段两者可以共同起作用,也可以分别起作用。     

Comparison of Wintertime North American Climate Impacts Associated with Multiple ENSO Indices

This analysis compares the climate impacts over North America during winter associated with various El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) indices, including the Niño 3.4 index, the leading tropical Pacific outgoing longwave radiation and sea surface temperature (OLR-SST) covariability, and the eastern Pacific (EP) and central Pacific (CP) types of ENSO identified from both partial-regression–empirical orthogonal function (EOF) and regression–EOF approaches. The traditional Niño 3.4 SST index is found to be optimal for monitoring the tropical Pacific OLR-SST covariability and for the tropical SST impact on North America. The circulation anomalies associated with the Niño 3.4 index project on both the Pacific/North American (PNA) and Tropical/Northern Hemisphere (TNH) patterns. The ENSO associated with the PNA tends to come from both the EP and CP ENSOs, whereas that associated with the TNH comes more from the EP ENSO. The variability of ENSO significantly affects North American temperature and precipitation, as well as temperature and precipitation extremes. For either the EP or CP types of ENSO, qualitatively similar patterns of climate and climate extreme anomalies are apparent associated with the indices identified by the two EOF approaches, with differences mainly in the anomalous amplitude. The anomalous patterns are generally field significant over North America for the EP ENSO but not field significant for the CP ENSO.

The circulation anomalies associated with ENSO are reinforced and maintained by synoptic vorticity fluxes in the upper troposphere. The anomalous surface temperature is mainly determined by the anomalies in surface radiative heating in the face of upward surface longwave radiative damping. The precipitation anomalies are supported by the vertically integrated moisture transport. The differences in atmospheric circulation, surface temperature, and precipitation among the various ENSO indices, including the intensity and spatial structure of the fields, can be attributed to the corresponding differences in synoptic eddy vorticity forcing, surface radiative heating, and vertically integrated moisture transport.     

Numerical experiments on the impact of spring north pacific SSTA on NPO and unusually cool summers in Northeast China

A set of numerical experiments designed to analyze the oceanic forcing in spring show that the combined forcing of cold （warm） El Ni（n）o （La Ni（n）a） phases in the Ni（n）o4 region and sea surface temperature anomalies （SSTA） in the westerly drifts region would result in abnormally enhanced NorthEast Cold Vortex （NECV） activities in early summer.In spring,the central equatorial Pacific El Ni（n）o phase and westerly drift SSTA forcing would lead to the retreat of non-adiabatic waves,inducing elliptic low-frequency anomalies of tropical air flows.This would enhance the anomalous cyclone-anticyclonecyclone-anticyclone low-frequency wave train that propagates from the tropics to the extratropics and further to the mid-high latitudes,constituting a major physical mechanism that contributes to the early summer circulation anomalies in the subtropics and in the North Pacific mid-high latitudes.The central equatorial Pacific La Ni（n）a forcing in the spring would,on the one hand,induce teleconnection anomalies of high pressure from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Sea of Japan in early summer,and on the other hand indirectly trigger a positive low-frequency East Asia-Pacific teleconnection （EAP） wave train in the lower troposphere.     

Time mean and variability of the scale-decomposed atmospheric water budget in a 25-year simulation of the Canadian Regional Climate Model over North America

The scaled-decomposed atmospheric water budget over North America is investigated through the analysis of 25 years of simulation by the Canadian Regional Climate Model (CRCM) driven by the NCEP–NCAR reanalyses for the period 1975–1999. The time average and time variability of the atmospheric water budget for the winter and summer seasons are decomposed into their large-scale and small-scale components to identify the added value of the regional model. For the winter season, the intra-seasonal transient-eddy variance is the main temporal variability. The large- and small-scale terms are of the same order of magnitude, and are large over both coasts and weak over the continent. For the summer season, the time–mean atmospheric water budget is rather different to that of winter, with maximum values over the south-eastern part of the continent. The summer intra-seasonal variance is about twice stronger than in winter and also dominates the variability, but the inter-monthly variance is non-negligible and can be in part associated to North American Monsoon System. Over the continent, the intra-seasonal climatological variance is dominated by the variability of the small scales. The small scales, that is those scales that are only resolved in the regional model but not in the reanalyses, contribute to the added value in a regional climate simulation. In the winter season, the added value of the CRCM is large and dominated by oceanic forcing, while in summer, it is dominant (larger than the large scales) and controlled mainly by convective processes.     

Climatology and interannual variability of storm-tracks in the Euro-Atlantic sector: a comparison between ERA-40 and NCEP/NCAR reanalyses

An objective methodology is applied to ERA-40 (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts 40-year Reanalysis) and NCEP/NCAR (National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research) reanalyses, to build two storm-track databases for the Euro-Atlantic sector (85°W–70°E; 20°N–75°N), spanning the period December 1958–March 2000. The technique uses the full temporal (6-hourly) and spatial resolutions (1.125° and 2.5° regular grids, for ERA-40 and NCEP/NCAR, respectively) available. It is shown that the strong discrepancies in the number of storms in each dataset (higher for ERA-40) result from differences in the resolution of the fields subject to the storm detecting/tracking algorithm, and also from the characteristics of the integration models and assimilation schemes used for each reanalysis. An intercomparison of ERA-40 and NCEP/NCAR storm-tracks is performed for spatial distribution, and main characteristics, of the overall cyclone population and of a class of severe storms—explosive cyclones. Despite the discrepancies in storm numbers, both reanalyses agree on the main cyclone activity areas (formation, minimum central pressure, and lysis). The most pronounced differences occur where subsynoptic systems are frequent, as these are better resolved by ERA-40 data. The interannual variability of cyclone counts, analysed per intensity classes and for different regions of the domain, reveals reasonable agreement between the two datasets on the sign of trends (generally positive in northern latitudes, and negative in the Azores-Mediterranean band), but discrepancies regarding their strength in the most southern areas, where the mismatches between ERA-40 and NCEP/NCAR detected lows are greatest. Submitted to Climate Dynamics in December 2004     

夏季纬向平均气流变动的主要模态及其与AO和ENSO的联系

使用NCEP-NCAR月平均再分析资料,研究了夏季纬向平均气流变动的主要模态及其与北极涛动(AO)和ENSO的联系,探讨了夏季[u]主要模态维持的可能机制。结果表明,北半球夏季纬向平均[u]的异常分布表现为两个主要模态。EOF1反映了与AO相对应的纬向平均[u]的分布,EOF2反映了与ENSO相对应的纬向平均[u]的分布。周期分析显示了EOF1、EOF2分别具有与AO及ENSO相似的周期。滞后相关分析表明,除了夏季之外的其他季节EOF1与ENSO存在显著相关,而EOF2与AO亦存在显著相关。夏季,EOF1与ENSO、EOF2与AO的同期相关量值小且不显著。这些说明,北半球夏季纬向平均气流变化的主要模态可以有效分离,其分别代表了AO和ENSO有关的信号。这对于更好地理解AO和ENSO的全球影响具有重要意义。利用准地转无加速定理,发现EOF1和EOF2对应的时间系数高低值年的E-P通量散度的合成差值场分别与纬向平均[u]的EOF1、EOF2分布表现出很好的对应关系,其中行星波对纬向平均气流主要模态的维持起着主要作用。余差环流与E-P通量散度分布型相似,量值相当,但符号相反。在一些地区,大气涡动的摩擦耗散也起着一定的作用。这些平衡了波动的能量输送作用,使纬向平均[u]的结构得以维持。     

On the natural variability of the pre-industrial European climate

We suggest that climate variability in Europe for the “pre-industrial” period 1500–1900 is fundamentally a consequence of internal fluctuations of the climate system. This is because a model simulation, using fixed pre-industrial forcing, in several important aspects is consistent with recent observational reconstructions at high temporal resolution. This includes extreme warm and cold seasonal events as well as different measures of the decadal to multi-decadal variance. Significant trends of 50-year duration can be seen in the model simulation. While the global temperature is highly correlated with ENSO (El Nino- Southern Oscillation), European seasonal temperature is only weakly correlated with the global temperature broadly consistent with data from ERA-40 reanalyses. Seasonal temperature anomalies of the European land area are largely controlled by the position of the North Atlantic storm tracks. We believe the result is highly relevant for the interpretation of past observational records suggesting that the effect of external forcing appears to be of secondary importance. That variations in the solar irradiation could have been a credible cause of climate variations during the last centuries, as suggested in some previous studies, is presumably due to the fact that the models used in these studies may have underestimated the internal variability of the climate. The general interpretation from this study is that the past climate is just one of many possible realizations and thus in many respects not reproducible in its time evolution with a general circulation model but only reproducible in a statistical sense.     

NCEP/NCAR和ERA-40再分析资料以及探空观测资料分析中国北方地区年代际气候变化

利用中国东部的探空站资料以及ERA40和NCAR/NCEP再分析资料,详细地比较了我国北方地区(主要指内蒙古以及华北地区)的高低层位势高度以及温度的特征.结果表明,在20世纪70年代以前,NCEP/NCAR再分析资料对我国北方地区对流层低层无论是位势高度或温度都描述不好,存在着很明显的虚假年代际变化趋势.与实际探空资料相比,相对于NCEP/NCAR再分析资料,ERA-40再分析资料对东亚地区对流层低层位势高度或温度的描述明显好于NCEP/NCAR再分析资料,因此,研究东亚气候的年代际变化应用ERA-40再分析资料要好一些.高层的结果要比低层好.在70年代以后,NCEP/NCAR再分析资料对于内蒙古和华北对流层上层的位势高度和温度的描述要好于ERA-40再分析资料,更接近于实际探空值,这说明这两份再分析资料各有优缺点.       

ENSO forcing of the Northern Hemisphere climate in a large ensemble of model simulations based on a very long SST record

The January–March (JFM) climate response of the Northern Hemisphere atmosphere to observed sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies for the period 1855–2002 is analysed from a 35-member ensemble made with SPEEDY, an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) of intermediate complexity. The model was run at the T30-L8 resolution, and initial conditions and the early stage of model runs differ among ensemble members in the definition of tropical diabatic heating. SST anomalies in the Niño3.4 region were categorised into five classes extending from strong cold to strong warm. Composites based on such a categorisation enabled an analysis of the influence of the tropical Pacific SST on the Northern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation with an emphasis on the Pacific-North America (PNA) and the North Atlantic-Europe (NAE) regions. As expected, the strongest signal was detected over the PNA region. An “asymmetry” in the model response was found for the opposite polarity of the Niño3.4 index; however, this asymmetry stems mainly from the difference in the amplitude of model response rather than from the phase shift between responses to warm and cold El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. The extratropical signal associated with warm ENSO events was found to be stronger than that related to cold events. The results also reveal that, for the PNA region, the amplitude of the response is positively correlated with the strength of ENSO, irrespective of the sign of ENSO. With almost no phase shift between model responses to El Niño and La Niña, the linear component of the response is much stronger than the non-linear component. Although the model climate response over the NAE region is much weaker than that over the PNA region, some striking similarities with the PNA are found. Both sea level pressure and precipitation responses are positively correlated with the strength of ENSO. This is not true for the 200-hPa geopotential heights, and no plausible explanation for such a result could be offered. An appreciable linear component in model response over the NAE was also found. The model results over the NAE region agree reasonably well with observational studies. An additional analysis of the remote atmospheric response to very weak ENSO forcing (defined from the interval between 0.5σ and 1.0σ of the interannual variance) was also carried out. A discernible model response in the Northern Hemisphere to such a weak SST forcing was found.     

ENSO-independent contemporaneous variations of anomalous circulations in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres: The polar-tropical seesaw mode

Using the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis and the ENSO indices from the Climate Prediction Center over the period 1978–2014, we have investigated the contemporaneous circulation variations in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres by performing the singular value decomposition analysis of sea level pressure anomalies (SLPA) after the ENSO signal is regressed out. It is found that there exists a polar-tropical seesaw mode (PTSM) that characterizes with the out of phase fluctuations of SLPA between the polar and tropical regions in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres in boreal winter. This PTSM explains 47.74% of the total covariance of SLPA and is almost independent of ENSO. It demonstrates a long-term trend and oscillation cycles of 2–3 and 4–6 yr. The long-term trend in PTSM indicates that the sea level pressure gradually decreases in the tropics and increases in the polar region with time. This PTSM looks roughly symmetric about the equator besides the seesaw pattern of SLPA between the tropics and polar region in each hemisphere. The disturbances in the geopotential height field in association with the PTSM shows baroclinic features in the tropics whereas equivalent barotropic features in the mid and high latitudes in the troposphere. The anomalous thermal forcing in the tropical region is possibly one of the factors facilitating the formation of this PTSM. Significant global precipitation and temperature anomalies related to the PTSM are observed. In the positive PTSM phase, precipitation and temperature are higher than normal in southern Europe and the Mediterranean and surrounding areas, but lower than normal in northern Europe and Siberia. Precipitation is higher than normal while temperature is lower than normal in Northeast Asia. Significant temperature and precipitation anomalies possibly occur in the regions of western China, northern India, parts of North America, parts of subtropical Africa, Maritime Continent, and Antarctic. These results are helpful for better understanding of the circulation variations and the mechanisms behind the interactions between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and the related winter climate anomalies over globe.     

Dynamics of stationary wave anomalies during the 1986/87 El Niño

The dynamics of the wintertime atmospheric response to the 1986/87 El Niño SST anomalies is studied. A GCM used for this purpose simulates a wave train over the Pacific/North American (PNA) region that agrees closely in amplitude with that observed, but phase shifted 30° to the east. Linear baroclinic model experiments are performed in order to determine the origin of the GCM and observed stationary wave anomalies, with particular focus on the cause for GCM failure. Diagnostics with the linear model reveal that the GCM and observed wave train anomalies are maintained by very different processes. In the GCM, the forcing due to tropical diabatic heating and transient vorticity fluxes are equally important over the PNA region. In the observations, the transient vorticity fluxes assume the primary role. The cause for these discrepancies is traced to the different dynamic influences of suppressed rainfall near Indonesia. The associated diabatic cooling is found to excite a large amplitude wave train over the PNA region in the GCM, while no significant extratropical response to cooling is found in the observations. The combined effects of the diabatic cooling and the reorganization of the storm track transients by the remotely forced wave train acts to shift the GCM's wave train well to the cast of that observed. Due to uncertainties in the observed diabatic forcing, however, it is not clear to what extent the GCM's failure is due to errors in the simulated anomalous forcing and/or to the GCM's mean climate error.This paper was presented at the Second International Conference of Modelling on Global Climate Variability, held in Hamburg 7–11 September 1992 under the auspices of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. Guest Editor for these papers is L. Dümenil Correspondence to: M Ting     

The relative importance of tropical variability forced from the North Pacific through ocean pathways

To what extent is tropical variability forced from the North Pacific through ocean pathways relative to locally generated variability and variability forced through the atmosphere? To address this question, in this study we use an anomaly-coupled model, consisting of a global, atmospheric general circulation model and a 4½-layer, reduced-gravity, Pacific-Ocean model. Three solutions are obtained; with coupling over the entire basin (CNT), with coupling confined to the tropics and wind stress and heat fluxes in the North and South Pacific specified by climatology (TP), and with coupling confined to the Tropics and wind stress and heat fluxes in the North Pacific specified by output from CNT (NPF). It is found that there are two distinct signals forced in the North Pacific that can impact the tropics through ocean pathways. These two signals are forced by wind stress and surface heat flux anomalies in the subtropical North Pacific. The first signal is relatively fast, impacts tropical variability less than a year after forcing, is triggered from November to March, and propagates as a first-mode baroclinic Rossby wave. The second signal is only triggered during springtime when buoyancy forcing can effectively generate higher-order baroclinic modes through subduction anomalies into the permanent thermocline, and it reaches the equator 4–5 years after forcing. The slow signal is found to initiate tropical variability more efficiently than the fast signal with one standard deviation in subtropical zonal wind stress forcing tropical SST anomalies centered on the equator at 135°W of approximately 0.5°C. Allowing extratropically forced tropical variability is found to shift primarily 2-year ENSO variability in a tropics-alone simulation to a more realistic range of 2–6 years.     

Sources of CAM3 temperature bias during northern winter from diagnostic study of the temperature bias equation

The Community Atmosphere Model version 3 (CAM3) temperature simulation bias is examined in this paper. We compare CAM3 output with European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) 40 year reanalysis (ERA-40) data. We formulate a time mean temperature bias equation then evaluate each term in the equation. Our focus is on the Northern Hemisphere winter time. We group the temperature equation terms into these categories: linear advection terms, nonlinear advection terms, transient eddy terms and diabatic heating, and find that linear advection and diabatic bias are the largest. The nonlinear terms (velocity bias advection of temperature bias) are much smaller than each of the other groups of terms at all levels except near the surface. Linear advection terms have dipolar pattern in the Atlantic (negative NW of positive) which reflects the shift of the CAM3 model North Atlantic storm track (NAST) into Europe, especially in the upper troposphere; opposite sign dipolar structure occurs over Alaska (positive) and the north Pacific storm track (negative). The transient advection terms in middle latitudes are larger in the upper troposphere and generally positive along the Atlantic storm track. Along the north Pacific storm track (NPST), the transient terms are negative in the mid and lower troposphere over much of the NPST (positive in upper troposphere). The diabatic heating bias has large values in the tropics along the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ICZ) and along the midlatitude storm tracks. During this time of year the ICZ is mainly in the Southern Hemisphere, but CAM3 emphasizes an ICZ-like heating in the northern hemisphere of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. CAM3 tends to have a weaker ICZ, especially in the Atlantic. In midlatitudes, we find large bias in heating by precipitation and vertically averaged net radiation over the NAST, Europe, and the Middle East.     

夏季亚洲-太平洋涛动的耦合模式模拟

亚洲-太平洋涛动是夏季欧亚大陆东部(15°—50°N,60°—120°E)与北太平洋上空(15°—50°N,180°—120°W)温度场反相变化的现象。亚洲-太平洋涛动指数由对流层上层(500—200 hPa)温度定义,反映了亚洲-太平洋纬向热力差异。基于一个全球海-气耦合模式FGOALS_gl的20世纪气候模拟试验结果,讨论了其对20世纪亚洲-太平洋涛动指数变化的模拟能力。结果表明,较之ERA-40再分析资料(1960—1999年),模式很好地刻画出上层温度场的平均态和主导模态的空间型。从趋势上看,模式对北太平洋上空温度的年代际变化和趋势模拟较好,但未能模拟出亚洲东部陆地上空的降温趋势。从频谱分析结果看,模拟的亚洲-太平洋涛动指数2—3,a的年际变率与再分析资料相当,5-7 a周期的变率较弱。模式能够较好地模拟出与亚洲-太平洋涛动指数相关的亚洲季风区气候异常。在20世纪模拟中,外强迫因子会改变耦合系统的年际变率,在自然因子强迫下亚洲-太平洋涛动指数的功率谱向低频方向增强,人为强迫因子的作用则相反。自然强迫因子和人为强迫因子在不同时期对亚洲-太平洋涛动年际和年代际变率的作用不同。在年际变率中人为强迫因子能够控制亚洲-太平洋涛动的变率使其不致过大;在年代际变率中人为强迫因子会增强自然强迫下亚洲-太平洋涛动的变率。模式上层温度的主导模态受ENSO调制,可能影响亚洲-太平洋涛动的年际变率。因此,模式对ENSO模拟能力的缺陷是制约模式对流层上层温度及亚洲-太平洋涛动指数变率的重要因素。     

Interannual variability of summertime outgoing longwave radiation over the Maritime Continent in relation to East Asian summer monsoon anomalies

The Maritime Continent (MC) is under influences of both the tropical Pacific and the Indian Ocean. Anomalous convective activities over the MC have significant impacts on the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) and climate in China. In the present study, the variation in convective activity over the MC in boreal summer and its relationship to EASM anomalies are investigated based on regression analysis of NCEP–NCAR reanalysis and CMAP [Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Merged Analysis of Precipitation] data, with a focus on the impacts of ENSO and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). The most significant interannual variability of convective activity is found over 10°S–10°N, 95°–145°E, which can be roughly defined as the key area of the MC (hereafter, KMC). Outgoing longwave radiation anomaly (OLRA) exhibits 3- to 7-yr periodicities over the KMC, and around 70% of the OLRA variance can be explained by the ENSO signal. However, distinct convection and precipitation anomalies still exist over this region after the ENSO and IOD signals are removed. Abnormally low precipitation always corresponds to positive OLRA over the KMC when negative diabatic heating anomalies and anomalous cooling of the atmospheric column lead to abnormal descending motion over this region. Correspondingly, abnormal divergence occurs in the lower troposphere while convergence occurs in the upper troposphere, triggering an East Asia–Pacific/Pacific–Japan (EAP/PJ)-like anomalous wave train that propagates northeastward and leads to a significant positive precipitation anomaly from the Yangtze River valley in China to the islands of Japan. This EAP/PJ-like wave pattern becomes even clearer after the removal of the ENSO signal and the combined effects of ENSO and IOD, suggesting that convective anomalies over the KMC have an important impact on EASM anomalies. The above results provide important clues for the prediction of EASM anomalies and associated summer precipitation anomalies in China.