During recent decades, the tropical Indo-Pacific Ocean has become increasingly warmer. Meanwhile, both the northern and southern hemispheric polar vortices （NPV and SPV） have exhibited a deepening trend in boreal winter. Although previous studies have revealed that the tropical Indian Ocean warming （IOW） favors an intensifying NPV and a weakening SPV, how the tropical Pacific Ocean warming （POW） influences the NPV and SPV remains unclear. In this study, a comparative analysis has been conducted through ensemble atmospheric general circulation model （AGCM） experiments. The results show that, for the Northern Hemisphere, the two warmings exerted opposite impacts in boreal winter, in that the IOW intensified the NPV while the POW weakened the NPV. For the Southern Hemisphere, both the IOW and POW warmed the southern polar atmosphere and weakened the SPV. A diagnostic analysis based on the vorticity budget revealed that such an interhemispheric difference in influences from the IOW and POW in boreal winter was associated with different roles of transient eddy momentum flux convergence between the hemispheres. Furthermore, this difference may have been linked to different strengths of stationary wave activity between the hemispheres in boreal winter.
During the past decades, concurrent with global warming, most of global oceans, particularly the tropical Indian Ocean, have become warmer. Meanwhile, the Southern Hemispheric stratospheric polar vortex (SPV) exhibits a deepening trend. Although previous modeling studies reveal that radiative cooling effect of ozone depletion plays a dominant role in causing the deepening of SPV, the simulated ozone-depletion-induced SPV deepening is stronger than the observed. This suggests that there must be other factors canceling a fraction of the influence of the ozone depletion. Whether the tropical Indian Ocean warming (IOW) is such a factor is unclear. This issue is addressed by conducting ensemble atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) experiments. And one idealized IOW with the amplitude as the observed is prescribed to force four AGCMs. The results show that the IOW tends to warm the southern polar stratosphere, and thus weakens SPV in austral spring to summer. Hence, it offsets a fraction of the effect of the ozone depletion. This implies that global warming will favor ozone recovery, since a warmer southern polar stratosphere is un-beneficial for the formation of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs), which is a key factor to ozone depletion chemical reactions.
LI ShuangLin Nansen-Zhu International Research Centre, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Through observational analyses, an inter-hemispheric teleconnection is identified between the subtropical region of the South China Sea to the western Pacific near the Philippines （WP） and the region to the east of Australia （AE）. The teleconnection is significantly correlated with sea surface temperature anomalies （SSTAs） in key sea areas （including the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea, and the area to the east of Australia）. Based on the IAP T42L9 model, numerical experiments axe performed to explore a possible mechanism for the formation of the teleconnection. The results show that the positive SST anomalies in the key sea areas may jointly contribute to the occurrence and maintenance of the positive geopotential height anomalies over both the WP and AE and be a critical factor in the teleconnection formation. The large-scale SST anomaly in the Indian Ocean, involving the tropics concurrent atmospheric responses over both the WP and the east of Australia seems to reinforce and maintain the and subtropics of both hemispheres, may lead to AE, while the effect of the local SST anomaly to positive height anomaly over the AE.
The temperature thresholds and timings of the 24 climatic Solar Terms in China are determined from a homogenized dataset of the surface air temperature recorded at 549 meteorological stations for the period 1960-2008 employing the ensemble empirical mode decomposition method.Changes in the mean temperature and timing of the climatic solar terms are illustrated.The results show that in terms of the mean situation over China,the number of cold days such as those of Slight Cold and Great Cold has decreased,especially by 56.8% for Great Cold in the last 10 years(1998-2007) compared with in the 1960s.The number of hot days like those of Great Heat has increased by 81.4% in the last 10 years compared with in the 1960s.The timings of the climatic Solar Terms during the warming period(around spring) in the seasonal cycle have advanced significantly by more than 6 d,especially by 15 d for Rain Water,while those during the cooling period(around autumn) have delayed significantly by 5-6 d.These characteristics are mainly due to a warming shift of the whole seasonal cycle under global warming.However,the warming shift affects the different Solar Terms to various extents,more prominently in the spring than in the autumn.The warming tendencies for Rain Water,the Beginning of Spring,and the Waking of Insects are the largest,2.43?C,2.37?C,and 2.21?C,respectively,for the period 1961-2007 in China as a whole.Four particular phenology-related climatic Solar Terms,namely the Waking of Insects,Pure Brightness,Grain Full,and Grain in Ear,are found to have advanced almost everywhere.In semi-arid zones in northern China,advances of the timings of these four climatic Solar Terms are significant,12-16,4-8,4-8,and 8-12 d,respectively,for the period 1961-2007.These quantitative results provide a scientific base for climate change adaptation,especially in terms of agricultural planning and energy-saving management throughout a year.
This paper studies a heavy snowfall in Beijing that took place on 1 November 2009. The date of the snowfall was about one month earlier than the average. The National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis data, conventional data, and Automatic Weather Station (AWS) data are utilized to explore the reasons for the snowfall and the influencing systems. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) It is revealed from the average geopotential height and average temperature fields at 500 hPa that the large scale circulation in November 2009 was favorable to snowfall. The cold-dry air from West Siberia and the warm-moist air from the Bay of Bengal converged in North China. In addition, it was found from the average moisture flux field at 700 hPa that the main water vapor source was in the Bay of Bengal. (2) Not only the "return current", as usually accepted, but also the inverted trough on the current had an important contribution to the snowfall. The inverted trough could produce the obvious upward motion that is an important environmental condition of snowfalls. (3) More attention should be paid to mesoscale systems such as mesolows during the cold season because of their importance, though they do not occur as frequently as in the warm season. It should be pointed out that AWS data are very useful in mesoscale system analysis during both warm and cold seasons.
This paper analyzes the large-scale atmospheric circulation characteristics of anomalous cases of January temperatures that occurred in Northeast China during 1960-2008 and precursory oceanic conditions.The January monthly mean surface air temperature(SAT) anomalies and the duration of low temperature are used to define temperature anomaly cases.The anomalous cyclonic circulation over northeast Asia strengthens the northerly flow in cold Januarys,while the anomalous anticyclonic circulation weakens the northerly flow in the warm Januarys.The negative(positive) North Pacific sea surface temperature anomaly(SSTA) and increased(decreased) sea ice concentration in the Barents-Kara seas in the preceding month are probably linked to the cyclonic(anticyclonic) circulation pattern over northeast Asia in the cold(warm) cases.Further analyses indicate that the preceding oceanic conditions play distinct roles in the SAT anomalies over Northeast China on different time scales.Strong relationships exist between North Pacific SSTA and the SAT in Northeast China on the interannual time scale.On the other hand,the sea ice concentration is more closely associated with the interdecadal variations of SAT in Northeast China.
