Temperature and surface pressure anomalies in Israel and the North Atlantic Oscillation

Summary Teleconnections associated with changing patterns of temperature and pressure anomalies over Israel during the second half of the 20th century are investigated. Relatively high, statistically significant, correlation coefficients of −0.8 and +0.9 were found between the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) Index anomalies and smoothed (5 year running mean) cool season temperature and surface pressure anomalies in Israel, respectively. A relatively high positive correlation, (r = 0.8) was also found between the NAO Index anomalies and smoothed geopotential height of the 1000 hPa pressure level, during the cool season at Bet Dagan radiosonde station located on the Israel Mediterranean coastal plain. Correlation coefficients between NAO Index anomalies and the higher standard pressure levels, 850 and 700 hPa, decrease gradually and become negative (not statistically significant) for the 500 hPa level. Received January 25, 2000/Revised March 6, 2001     

The North Atlantic Oscillation and oceanic precipitation variability

Global North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) oceanic precipitation features in the latter half of the twentieth century are documented based on the intercomparison of multiple state-of-the-art precipitation datasets and the analysis of the NAO atmospheric circulation and SST anomalies. Most prominent precipitation anomalies occur over the ocean in the North Atlantic, where in winter a “quadrupole-like” pattern is found with centers in the western tropical Atlantic, sub-tropical Atlantic, high-latitude eastern Atlantic and over the Labrador Sea. The extent of the sub-tropical and high-latitude center and the amount of explained variance (over 50%) are quite remarkable. However, the tropical Atlantic center is probably the most intriguing feature of this pattern apparently linking the NAO with ITCZ variability. In summer, the pattern is “tripole-like” with centers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the North Sea/Baltic Sea and in the sub-polar Atlantic. In the eastern Indian Ocean, the correlation is positive in winter and negative in summer, with some link to ENSO variability. The sensitivity of these patterns to the choice of the NAO index is minor in winter while quite important in summer. Interannual NAO precipitation anomalies have driven similar fresh water variations in these “key” regions. In the sub-tropical and high-latitude Atlantic in winter precipitation anomalies have been roughly 15 and 10% of climatology per unit change of the NAO, respectively. Decadal changes of the NAO during the last 50 years have also influenced precipitation and fresh water flux at these time-scales, with values lower (higher) than usual in the high-latitude eastern North Atlantic (Labrador Sea) in the 1960s and the late 1970s, and an opposite situation since the early 1980s; in summer the North Sea/Baltic region has been drier than usual during the period 1965–1975 when the NAO was generally positive.     

Winter mean temperature variability in Turkey associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation

Changes and variability in seasonal average mean and monthly mean winter (DJF) air temperature series at 70 stations of Turkey and the circulation types at 500-hPa geopotential height level were investigated to explain atmospheric controls of temperature variations during the extreme (weak and strong) phases and normal (negative and positive) phases of the North Atlantic Oscillation (i.e., Ponta Delgada–Reykjavik and the Gibraltar–Reykjavik) indices. During the positive phases of the North Atlantic Oscillation indices (NAOIs), northeasterly circulation increased, and thus spatially coherent and significant cold signals dominate over the majority of Turkey. This pattern is closely linked to anomalously low 500-hPa heights over the region of the Icelandic Low, and anomalously high geopotential heights over the regions of the Azores High, the western Mediterranean basin and the Europe, in general including the Balkans and northwest Turkey. Contrarily, during the negative phases of the NAOIs, prevailing westerly winds that originate from the subtropical northeast Atlantic increase, and thus spatially coherent and significant warm signals over the Anatolian peninsula appear. This pattern is closely linked to the increased cyclonic activity and associated increased westerly and southwesterly circulation causing warm maritime air advection over the Mediterranean basin toward Turkey.     

Enhancement of the summer North Atlantic Oscillation influence on Northern Hemisphere air temperature

This study investigates the relationship between the summer North Atlantic Oscillation (SNAO) and the simultaneous Northern Hemisphere (NH) land surface air temperature (SAT) by using the Climate Research Unit (CRU) data. The results show that the SNAO is related to NH land SAT, but this linkage has varied on decadal timescales over the last 52 years, with a strong connection appearing after the late 1970s, but a weak connection before. The mechanism governing the relationship between the SNAO and NH land SAT is discussed based on the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data. The results indicate that such a variable relationship may result from changes of the SNAO mode around the late 1970s. The SNAO pattern was centered mainly over the North Atlantic before the late 1970s, and thus had a weak influence on the NH land SAT. But after the late 1970s, the SNAO pattern shifted eastward and its southern center was enhanced in magnitude and extent, which transported the SNAO signal to the North Atlantic surrounding continents and even to central East Asia via an upper level wave train along the Asian jet.     

Modeled winter sea ice variability and the North Atlantic Oscillation: a multi-century perspective

The relationship between winter sea ice variability and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is examined for the time period 1860–2300. This study uses model output to extend recently reported observational results to multi-century time scales. Nine ensemble members are used in two Global Climate Models with forcing evolving from pre-industrial conditions through the so-called A1B scenario in which carbon dioxide stabilizes at 720 ppm by 2100. Throughout, the NAO generates an east-west dipole pattern of sea ice concentration (SIC) anomalies with oppositely signed centers of action over the Labrador and Barents Seas. During the positive polarity of the NAO, SIC increases over the Labrador Sea due to wind-driven equatorward advection of ice, and SIC decreases over the Barents Sea due to wind-driven poleward transport of heat within the mixed layer of the ocean. Although this NAO-driven SIC variability pattern can always be detected, it accounts for a markedly varying fraction of the total sea ice variability depending on the strength of the forced sea ice extent trend. For the first half of the 20th century or 1990 control conditions, the NAO-driven SIC pattern accounts for almost a third of the total SIC variance. In the context of the long term winter sea ice retreat from 1860 to 2300, the NAO-driven SIC pattern is robustly observable, but accounts for only 2% of the total SIC variance. The NAO-driven SIC dipole retreats poleward with the retreating marginal ice zone, and its Barents Sea center of action weakens. Results presented here underscore the idea that the NAO’s influence on Arctic climate is robustly observable, but time dependent in its form and statistical importance.     

Stochastic models and spectra of interannual variability of mean annual sea surface temperature in the North Atlantic

Estimates of one- and two-variate autoregressive models of mean annual sea surface temperature (SST) in five Smed squares in the North Atlantic are obtained by analysing time series of SST, 1881–1970. Year-to-year variations of SST are shown to follow the AR model of order one with a regression parameter of 0.5 so that their generalized spectrum decreases monotonically and relatively fast with frequency while the limits of statistical predictability amount up to two years. Two-variate models of SST reveal frequency-dependent time lags up to three years and possess slightly better statistical predictability. A feedback in the system of warm and cold currents is found with a characteristic time scale of about six years, which plays an important role in the system's energy budget.     

Contribution of the sea surface temperature over the Mediterranean-Black Sea to the decadal shift of the summer North Atlantic Oscillation

Recent observational study has shown that the southern center of the summer North Atlantic Oscillation (SNAO) was located farther eastward after the late 1970s compared to before. In this study, the cause for this phenomenon is explored. The result shows that the eastward shift of the SNAO southern center after the late 1970s is related to the variability of the Mediterranean-Black Sea (MBS) SST. A warm MBS SST can heat and moisten its overlying atmosphere, consequently producing a negative sea level pressure (SLP) departure over the MBS region. Because the MBS SST is negatively correlated with the SNAO, the negative SLP departure can enhance the eastern part of the negative-phase of the SNAO southern center, consequently producing an eastward SNAO southern center shift. Similarly, a cold MBS SST produces an eastward positive-phase SNAO southern center shift. The reason for why the MBS SST has an impact on the SNAO after the late 1970s but why it is not the case beforehand is also discussed. It is found that this instable relationship is likely to be attributed to the change of the variability of the MBS SST on the decadal time-scale. In 1951--1975, the variability of the MBS SST is quite weak, but in 1978--2002, it becomes more active. The active SST can enhance the interaction between the sea and its overlying atmosphere, thus strengthening the connection between the MBS SST and the SNAO after the late 1970s. The above observational analysis results are further confirmed by sensitivity experiments.     

中国东北夏季极端高温的分类及其与北大西洋海表温度异常的联系

利用层次聚类方法对1979-2016年中国东北夏季259次极端高温事件爆发当天的500 hPa高度场进行聚类分型,并讨论了不同类型极端高温事件的环流演变特征及其与北大西洋海表温度异常的联系.结果表明,东北夏季极端高温事件可分为3类,即西风型、阻塞型和波列型;这3类高温事件在1979-2016年分别发生了 113、89和...     

A new North Atlantic Oscillation index and its variability

A new North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index, the NAOI, is defined as the differences of normalized sea level pressures regionally zonal-averaged over a broad range of longitudes 80°W-30°E. A comprehensive comparison of six NAO indices indicates that the new NAOI provides a more faithful representation of the spatial-temporal variability associated with the NAO on all timescales. A very high signal-to-noise ratio for the NAOI exists for all seasons, and the life cycle represented by the NAOI describes well the seasonal migration for action centers of the NAO. The NAOI captures a larger fraction of the variance of sea level pressure over the North Atlantic sector (20°-90°N, 80°W-30°E), on average 10% more than any other NAO index. There are quite different relationships between the NAOI and surface air temperature during winter and summer. A novel feature, however, is that the NAOI is significantly negative correlated with surface air temperature over the North Atlantic Ocean between 10°-25°N and     

Impact of the North Atlantic sea surface temperature tripole on the East Asian summer monsoon

A strong (weak) East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) is usually concurrent with the tripole pattern of North Atlantic SST anomalies on the interannual timescale during summer, which has positive (negative) SST anomalies in the northwestern North Atlantic and negative (positive) SST anomalies in the subpolar and tropical ocean. The mechanisms responsible for this linkage are diagnosed in the present study. It is shown that a barotropic wave-train pattern occurring over the Atlantic-Eurasia region likely acts as a link between the EASM and the SST tripole during summer. This wave-train pattern is concurrent with geopotential height anomalies over the Ural Mountains, which has a substantial effect on the EASM. Diagnosis based on observations and linear dynamical model results reveals that the mechanism for maintaining the wave-train pattern involves both the anomalous diabatic heating and synoptic eddy-vorticity forcing. Since the North Atlantic SST tripole is closely coupled with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the relationships between these two factors and the EASM are also examined. It is found that the connection of the EASM with the summer SST tripole is sensitive to the meridional location of the tripole, which is characterized by large seasonal variations due to the north-south movement of the activity centers of the NAO. The SST tripole that has a strong relationship with the EASM appears to be closely coupled with the NAO in the previous spring rather than in the simultaneous summer.     

Probabilistic seasonal prediction of the winter North Atlantic Oscillation and its impact on near surface temperature

The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is a major winter climate mode, describing one-third of the inter-annual variability of the upper-level flow in the Atlantic European mid-latitudes. It provides a statistically well-defined pattern to study the predictability of the European winter climate. In this paper, the predictability of the NAO and the associated surface temperature variations are considered using a dynamical prediction approach. Two state-of-the-art coupled atmosphere–ocean ensemble forecast systems are used, namely the seasonal forecast system 2 from the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) and the multi-model system developed within the joint European project DEMETER (Development of a European Multi-Model Ensemble Prediction System for Seasonal to Inter-annual Prediction). The predictability is defined in probabilistic space using the debiased ranked probability skill score with adapted discretization (RPSS_D). The potential predictability of the NAO and its impact are also investigated in a perfect model approach, where each ensemble member is used once as observation. This approach assumes that the climate system is fully represented by the model physics. Using the perfect model approach for the period 1959–2001, it is shown that the mean winter NAO index is potentially predictable with a lead time of 1 month (i.e. from 1st of November). The prediction benefit is rather small (6% skill relative to a reference climatology) but statistically significant. A similar conclusion holds for the near surface temperature variability related to the NAO. Again, the potential benefit is small (5%) but statistically significant. Using the forecast approach, the NAO skill is not statistically significant for the period 1959–2001, while for the period 1987–2001 the skill is surprisingly large (15% relative to a climate prediction). Furthermore, a weak relation is found between the strength of the NAO amplitude and the skill of the NAO. This contrasts with El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability, where the forecast skill is strongly amplitude dependent. In general, robust results are only achieved if the sensitivity with respect to the sample size (both the ensemble size and length of the period) is correctly taken into account.

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This revised version was published online in May 2005. Some black and white figures were replaced by coloured figures.     

热带太平洋海表温度年际变化对降水季节内振荡的影响

根据 １９８２—１９９２年期间的日平均 ＭＳＵ（Ｓｐｅｎｃｅｒ, １９９３）海洋降水和 ５天平均的ＣＭＡＰ（Ｘｉｅ＆ Ａｒｋｉｎ, １９９７）降水观测资料,分析了热带太平洋大气季节内振荡（ＭＪＯ）的年际变化特征。在太平洋海表温度（ＳＳＴ）年际变化的正常年份（１９８２—８３年, １９８６—８８年, １９９１—９２年）,均有明显的ＭＪＯ信号传到日界线以东并在中、东太平洋维持数月。热带ＭＪＯ活动强度的年际变化与局地ＳＳＴ的变化存在正相关。中、东太平洋降水的季节内振荡的年际变化与热带太平洋ＳＳＴ的最强正相关在Ｎｉｎｏ３区附近。以观测ＳＳＴ场强迫ＣＣＭ３大气模式的数值试验基本上真实地再现了１１年期间热带太平洋降水季节内振荡的年际变化总趋势,但模拟季节内振荡的强度较观测平均偏弱。对比分别采用周平均和月平均ＳＳＴ强迫场的积分结果,发现在中、东太平洋,二个积分模拟的降水季节内振荡强度的年际变化接近并且趋势与观测基本一致,而在西太平洋二个积分的模拟结果差别较大。这表明在热带中、东太平洋,ＳＳＴ强迫的年际变化对ＭＪＯ强度的变化有强的制约。而在ＭＪＯ总体活跃的热带西太平洋,ＳＳＴ强迫场的季节变化对模拟ＭＪＯ活动也有较大影响。ＣＣＭ３模拟     

Subseasonal variability and predictability of the Arctic Oscillation/North Atlantic Oscillation in BCC_AGCM2.2

The subseasonal variability and predictability of the Arctic Oscillation/North Atlantic Oscillation (AO/NAO) is evaluated using a full set of hindcasts generated from the Beijing Climate Center Atmospheric General Circulation Model version 2.2 (BCC_AGCM2.2). It is shown that the predictability of the monthly mean AO/NAO index varies seasonally, with the highest predictability during winter (December–March) and the lowest during autumn (August–November), with respect to both observations and BCC_AGCM2.2 results. As compared with the persistence prediction skill of observations, the model skillfully predicts the monthly mean AO/NAO index with a one-pentad lead time during all winter months, and with a lead time of up to two pentads in December and January. During winter, BCC_AGCM2.2 exhibits an acceptable skill in predicting the daily AO/NAO index of ∼9 days, which is higher than the persistence prediction skill of observations of ∼4 days. Further analysis suggests that improvements in the simulation of storm track activity, synoptic eddy feedback, and troposphere–stratosphere coupling in the Northern Hemisphere could help to improve the prediction skill of subseasonal AO/NAO variability by BCC_AGCM2.2 during winter. In particular, BCC_AGCM2.2 underestimates storm track activity intensity but overestimates troposphere–stratosphere coupling, as compared with observations, thus providing a clue to further improvements in model performance.     

On the contribution of Rossby waves driven by surface buoyancy fluxes to low-frequency North Atlantic steric sea surface height variations

Previous studies have shown that wind-forced baroclinic Rossby waves can capture a large portion of low-frequency steric sea surface height (SSH) variations in the North Atlantic. In this paper, the classical wind-driven Rossby wave model derived in a 1.5-layer ocean is extended to include surface buoyancy forcing, and the new model is then used to assess the contribution from buoyancy-forced Rossby waves to low-frequency North Atlantic steric SSH variations. Buoyancy forcing is determined from surface heating as freshwater fluxes are negligible. It is found that buoyancy-forced Rossby waves are important in only a few regions belonging to the subtropical-to-midlatitude and eastern subpolar North Atlantic. In these regions, the new Rossby wave model accounts for 25%–70% of low-frequency steric SSH variations. Furthermore, as part of the analysis it is also shown that a simple static model driven by local surface heat fluxes captures 60%–75% of low-frequency steric SSH variations in the Labrador Sea, which is a region where Rossby waves are found to have no influence on the steric SSH.     

Temporal structures of the North Atlantic Oscillation and its impact on the regional climate variability

In this study, the temporal structure of the variation of North Atlantic Oscillation （NAO） and its impact on regional climate variability are analyzed using various datasets. The results show that blocking formations in the Atlantic region are sensitive to the phase of the NAO. Sixty-seven percent more winter blocking days are observed during the negative phase compared to the positive phase of the NAO. The average length of blocking during the negative phase is about 11 days, which is nearly twice as long as the 6-day length observed during the positive phase of the NAO. The NAO-related differences in blocking frequency and persistence are associated with changes in the distribution of the surface air temperature anomaly, which, to a large extent, is determined by the phase of the NAO. The distribution of regional cloud amount is also sensitive to the phase of the NAO. For the negative phase, the cloud amounts are significant, positive anomalies in the convective zone in the Tropics and much less cloudiness in the mid latitudes. But for the positive phase of the NAO, the cloud amount is much higher in the mid-latitude storm track region. In the whole Atlantic region, the cloud amount shows a decrease with the increase of surface air temperature. These results suggest that there may be a negative feedback between the cloud amount and the surface air t.emperature in the Atlantic region.     

冬季北极涛动异常对北太平洋风暴轴的可能影响

基于美国国家海洋和大气局气候预测中心公报的北极涛动（Arctic Oscillation,AO）指数逐月数据以及美国国家环境预报中心和大气研究中心的1986—2017年逐日再分析资料等,运用回归和合成分析等方法,分析了北极涛动与北太平洋地区风暴轴的时间演变特征、两者之间的联系及AO异常影响风暴轴的可能机制。结果表明：1）风暴轴经度指数与纬度指数有显著正相关性,两者具有同步变化的特征,而这两者与风暴轴强度指数都呈负相关,但不显著。AO指数与北太平洋风暴轴强度呈显著正相关,且AO指数与风暴轴经度、纬度指数也呈正相关,但并不显著。2）在北极涛动强正（负）位相年份,风暴轴区域天气尺度滤波方差强（弱）、500 hPa高度场上东亚大槽减弱（加深）、急流偏北偏强（偏南偏弱）、扰动动能增强（减弱）、斜压性增强（减弱）。可能影响机制是,异常变化的AO影响东亚大槽,改变急流强度,使斜压性发生变化,进而对风暴轴产生影响。