Articles | Volume 1, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-1-293-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-1-293-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
08 Jul 2020
Research article |
| 08 Jul 2020
| 08 Jul 2020
Atmospheric blocking in an aquaplanet and the impact of orography
Veeshan Narinesingh
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Physics, City University of New York – The Graduate
Center, New York, New York 10016, USA
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and NOAA-CESSRST, City
University of New York – City College, New York, New York 10031, USA
James F. Booth
Department of Physics, City University of New York – The Graduate
Center, New York, New York 10016, USA
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and NOAA-CESSRST, City
University of New York – City College, New York, New York 10031, USA
Spencer K. Clark
Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Princeton University,
Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA
Yi Ming
Atmospheric Physics Division, NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey 08540, USA
Related authors
No articles found.
Katherine L. Towey, James F. Booth, Alejandra Rodriguez Enriquez, and Thomas Wahl
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1287–1300, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1287-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1287-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Coastal flooding due to storm surge from tropical cyclones is a significant hazard. The influence of tropical cyclone characteristics, including its proximity, intensity, path angle, and speed, on the magnitude of storm surge is examined along the eastern United States. No individual characteristic was found to be strongly related to how much surge occurred at a site, though there is an increased likelihood of high surge occurring when tropical cyclones are both strong and close to a location.
Zhen Liu, Yi Ming, Chun Zhao, Ngar Cheung Lau, Jianping Guo, Massimo Bollasina, and Steve Hung Lam Yim
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 223–241, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-223-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-223-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
OH and HO2 radicals are important trace constituents of the atmosphere that are closely coupled via several types of reaction. This paper describes a new laboratory method to simultaneously determine OH kinetics and HO2 yields from chemical processes. The instrument also provides some time resolution on HO2 detection allowing one to separate HO2 produced from the target reaction from HO2 arising from secondary chemistry. Examples of applications are presented.
Yuxuan Wang, Yuanyu Xie, Wenhao Dong, Yi Ming, Jun Wang, and Lu Shen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 12827–12843, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-12827-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-12827-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Besides the well-known large impact on agriculture and water resources, drought is associated with significant adverse effects on air quality. Drought-induced degradation of air quality is largely due to natural processes, offsetting the effort of anthropogenic emission reduction during the past decades. Such adverse impacts should be included in modeling processes under current and future climate for mitigation policy.
Related subject area
Dynamical processes in midlatitudes
Moist available potential energy of the mean state of the atmosphere and the thermodynamic potential for warm conveyor belts and convection
Large spread in the representation of compound long-duration dry and hot spells over Europe in CMIP5
Similarity and variability of blocked weather-regime dynamics in the Atlantic–European region
Anomalous subtropical zonal winds drive decreases in southern Australian frontal rain
Origin of low-tropospheric potential vorticity in Mediterranean cyclones
Robust poleward jet shifts in idealised baroclinic-wave life-cycle experiments with noisy initial conditions
Revisiting the wintertime emergent constraint of the southern hemispheric midlatitude jet response to global warming
The global atmospheric energy transport analysed by a wavelength-based scale separation
Thunderstorm Types in Europe
European heatwaves in present and future climate simulations: a Lagrangian analysis
Signatures of Eurasian heat waves in global Rossby wave spectra
Impact of grid spacing, convective parameterization and cloud microphysics in ICON simulations of a warm conveyor belt
Recurrent Rossby waves and south-eastern Australian heatwaves
Identification of high-wind features within extratropical cyclones using a probabilistic random forest – Part 1: Method and case studies
What distinguishes 100-year precipitation extremes over Central European river catchments from more moderate extreme events?
Classification of Alpine south foehn based on 5 years of kilometre-scale analysis data
Meridional-energy-transport extremes and the general circulation of Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes: dominant weather regimes and preferred zonal wavenumbers
Summertime Rossby waves in climate models: substantial biases in surface imprint associated with small biases in upper-level circulation
Towards a diagnostic framework unifying different perspectives on blocking dynamics: insight into a major blocking in the North Atlantic-European region
Diabatic processes modulating the vertical structure of the jet stream above the cold front of an extratropical cyclone: sensitivity to deep convection schemes
The role of cyclones and potential vorticity cutoffs for the occurrence of unusually long wet spells in Europe
Orographic resolution driving the improvements associated with horizontal resolution increase in the Northern Hemisphere winter mid-latitudes
Quantifying climate model representation of the wintertime Euro-Atlantic circulation using geopotential-jet regimes
Circumglobal Rossby wave patterns during boreal winter highlighted by space–time spectral analysis
How intense daily precipitation depends on temperature and the occurrence of specific weather systems – an investigation with ERA5 reanalyses in the extratropical Northern Hemisphere
Differentiating lightning in winter and summer with characteristics of the wind field and mass field
Future changes in the extratropical storm tracks and cyclone intensity, wind speed, and structure
Atmospheric blocking and weather extremes over the Euro-Atlantic sector – a review
Is it north or west foehn? A Lagrangian analysis of Penetration and Interruption of Alpine Foehn intensive observation period 1 (PIANO IOP 1)
Past evolution of western Europe large-scale circulation and link to precipitation trend in the northern French Alps
How well is Rossby wave activity represented in the PRIMAVERA coupled simulations?
Mediterranean cyclones: current knowledge and open questions on dynamics, prediction, climatology and impacts
Automated detection and classification of synoptic-scale fronts from atmospheric data grids
Multi-day hail clusters and isolated hail days in Switzerland – large-scale flow conditions and precursors
Characteristics of extratropical cyclones and precursors to windstorms in northern Europe
Systematic assessment of the diabatic processes that modify low-level potential vorticity in extratropical cyclones
The impact of deep convection representation in a global atmospheric model on the warm conveyor belt and jet stream during NAWDEX IOP6
A global analysis of the dry-dynamic forcing during cyclone growth and propagation
Smoother versus sharper Gulf Stream and Kuroshio sea surface temperature fronts: effects on cyclones and climatology
Occurrence and transition probabilities of omega and high-over-low blocking in the Euro-Atlantic region
Oceanic moisture sources contributing to wintertime Euro-Atlantic blocking
Reconstructing winter climate anomalies in the Euro-Atlantic sector using circulation patterns
Linking air stagnation in Europe with the synoptic- to large-scale atmospheric circulation
Relative importance of tropopause structure and diabatic heating for baroclinic instability
On the occurrence of strong vertical wind shear in the tropopause region: a 10-year ERA5 northern hemispheric study
Large-scale drivers of the mistral wind: link to Rossby wave life cycles and seasonal variability
An unsupervised learning approach to identifying blocking events: the case of European summer
Potential-vorticity dynamics of troughs and ridges within Rossby wave packets during a 40-year reanalysis period
The three-dimensional life cycles of potential vorticity cutoffs: a global and selected regional climatologies in ERA-Interim (1979–2018)
Influence of ENSO on North American subseasonal surface air temperature variability
Charles G. Gertler, Paul A. O'Gorman, and Stephan Pfahl
Weather Clim. Dynam., 4, 361–379, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-361-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-361-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The relationship between the time-mean state of the atmosphere and aspects of atmospheric circulation drives general understanding of the atmospheric circulation. Here, we present new techniques to calculate local properties of the time-mean atmosphere and relate those properties to aspects of extratropical circulation with important implications for weather. This relationship should help connect changes to the atmosphere, such as under global warming, to changes in midlatitude weather.
Colin Manning, Martin Widmann, Douglas Maraun, Anne F. Van Loon, and Emanuele Bevacqua
Weather Clim. Dynam., 4, 309–329, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-309-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-309-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Climate models differ in their representation of dry spells and high temperatures, linked to errors in the simulation of persistent large-scale anticyclones. Models that simulate more persistent anticyclones simulate longer and hotter dry spells, and vice versa. This information is important to consider when assessing the likelihood of such events in current and future climate simulations so that we can assess the plausibility of their future projections.
Franziska Teubler, Michael Riemer, Christopher Polster, Christian M. Grams, Seraphine Hauser, and Volkmar Wirth
Weather Clim. Dynam., 4, 265–285, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-265-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-265-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Weather regimes govern an important part of the sub-seasonal variability of the mid-latitude circulation. The year-round dynamics of blocked regimes in the Atlantic European region are investigated in over 40 years of data. We show that the dynamics between the regimes are on average very similar. Within the regimes, the main variability – starting from the characteristics of dynamical processes alone – dominates and transcends the variability in season and types of transitions.
Acacia S. Pepler and Irina Rudeva
Weather Clim. Dynam., 4, 175–188, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-175-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-175-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In recent decades, cold fronts have rained less often in southeast Australia, which contributes to decreasing cool season rainfall. The largest changes in front dynamics are found to the north of the area where rain changes. Wet fronts have strong westerly winds that reach much further north than dry fronts do, and these fronts are becoming less common, linked to weakening subtropical winds and changes in the Southern Hemisphere circulation.
Alexander Scherrmann, Heini Wernli, and Emmanouil Flaounas
Weather Clim. Dynam., 4, 157–173, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-157-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-157-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate the dynamical origin of the lower-atmospheric potential vorticity (PV; linked to the intensity of cyclones) in Mediterranean cyclones. We quantify the contribution of the cyclone and the environment by tracing PV backward in time and space and linking it to the track of the cyclone. We find that the lower-tropospheric PV is produced shortly before the cyclone's stage of highest intensity. We investigate the driving processes and use a global dataset and a process-resolving one.
Felix Jäger, Philip Rupp, and Thomas Birner
Weather Clim. Dynam., 4, 49–60, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-49-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-49-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Mid-latitude weather is dominated by the growth, breaking and decay of baroclinic waves and associated jet shifts. A way to study this process is via idealised life-cycle simulations, which are often classified as LC1 (anticyclonic breaking, poleward shift) or LC2 (cyclonic breaking, equatorward shift), depending on details of the initial state. We show that all systems exhibit predominantly anticyclonic character and poleward net shifts if multiple wave modes are allowed to grow simultaneously.
Philipp Breul, Paulo Ceppi, and Theodore G. Shepherd
Weather Clim. Dynam., 4, 39–47, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-39-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-39-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Accurately predicting the response of the midlatitude jet stream to climate change is very important, but models show a variety of possible scenarios. Previous work identified a relationship between climatological jet latitude and future jet shift in the southern hemispheric winter. We show that the relationship does not hold in separate sectors and propose that zonal asymmetries are the ultimate cause in the zonal mean. This questions the usefulness of the relationship.
Patrick Johannes Stoll, Rune Grand Graversen, and Gabriele Messori
Weather Clim. Dynam., 4, 1–17, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-1-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-1-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The atmosphere is in motion and hereby transporting warm, cold, moist, and dry air to different climate zones. In this study, we investigate how this transport of energy organises in different manners. Outside the tropics, atmospheric waves of sizes between 2000 and 8000 km, which we perceive as cyclones from the surface, transport most of the energy and moisture poleward. In the winter, large-scale weather situations become very important for transporting energy into the polar regions.
Deborah Morgenstern, Isabell Stucke, Georg J. Mayr, Achim Zeileis, and Thorsten Simon
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-1453, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-1453, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Thunderstorms in Europe are described by two types. Mass-field thunderstorms that occur mostly in summer, over the mainland, and under similar meteorological conditions and wind-field thunderstorms that occur mostly in winter, over the sea, and under more diverse meteorological conditions. Our descriptions are independent of static thresholds and help to understand why thunderstorms in unfavorable seasons for lightning are a particular risk for tall infrastructure such as wind turbines.
Lisa Schielicke and Stephan Pfahl
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 1439–1459, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1439-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1439-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Projected future heatwaves in many European regions will be even warmer than the mean increase in summer temperature suggests. To identify the underlying thermodynamic and dynamic processes, we compare Lagrangian backward trajectories of airstreams associated with heatwaves in two time slices (1991–2000 and 2091–2100) in a large single-model ensemble (CEMS-LE). We find stronger future descent associated with adiabatic warming in some regions and increased future diabatic heating in most regions.
Iana Strigunova, Richard Blender, Frank Lunkeit, and Nedjeljka Žagar
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 1399–1414, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1399-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1399-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We show that the Eurasian heat waves (HWs) have signatures in the global circulation. We present changes in the probability density functions (PDFs) of energy anomalies in the zonal-mean state and in the Rossby waves at different zonal scales in relation to the changes in intramonthly variability. The skewness of the PDF of planetary-scale Rossby waves is shown to increase during HWs, while their intramonthly variability is reduced, a process referred to as blocking.
Anubhav Choudhary and Aiko Voigt
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 1199–1214, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1199-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1199-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The warm conveyor belt (WCB), which is a stream of coherently rising air parcels, is an important feature of extratropical cyclones. This work presents the impact of model grid spacing on simulation of cloud diabatic processes in the WCB of a North Atlantic cyclone. We find that the refinement of the model grid systematically enhances the dynamical properties and heat releasing processes within the WCB. However, this pattern does not have a strong impact on the strength of associated cyclones.
S. Mubashshir Ali, Matthias Röthlisberger, Tess Parker, Kai Kornhuber, and Olivia Martius
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 1139–1156, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1139-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1139-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Persistent weather can lead to extreme weather conditions. One such atmospheric flow pattern, termed recurrent Rossby wave packets (RRWPs), has been shown to increase persistent weather in the Northern Hemisphere. Here, we show that RRWPs are also an important feature in the Southern Hemisphere. We evaluate the role of RRWPs during south-eastern Australian heatwaves and find that they help to persist the heatwaves by forming upper-level high-pressure systems over south-eastern Australia.
Lea Eisenstein, Benedikt Schulz, Ghulam A. Qadir, Joaquim G. Pinto, and Peter Knippertz
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 1157–1182, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1157-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1157-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Mesoscale high-wind features within extratropical cyclones can cause immense damage. Here, we present RAMEFI, a novel approach to objectively identify the wind features based on a probabilistic random forest. RAMEFI enables a wide range of applications such as probabilistic predictions for the occurrence or a multi-decadal climatology of these features, which will be the focus of Part 2 of the study, with the goal of improving wind and, specifically, wind gust forecasts in the long run.
Florian Ruff and Stephan Pfahl
Weather Clim. Dynam. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2022-54, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2022-54, 2022
Revised manuscript accepted for WCD
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we analyse the generic atmospheric processes of very extreme, 100-year precipitation events in large Central European river catchments and the corresponding differences to less extreme events, based on a large time series (~1200 years) of simulated but realistic daily precipitation events from the ECMWF. Depending on the catchment, either dynamical mechanisms, thermodynamic conditions or a combination of both distinguish 100-year from less extreme precipitation events.
Lukas Jansing, Lukas Papritz, Bruno Dürr, Daniel Gerstgrasser, and Michael Sprenger
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 1113–1138, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1113-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1113-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents a 5-year climatology of three main foehn types and three deep-foehn subtypes. The main types differ in their large-scale and Alpine-scale weather conditions and the subtypes in terms of the amount and extent of precipitation on the Alpine south side. The different types of foehn are found to strongly affect the local meteorological conditions at Altdorf. The study concludes by setting the new classification into a historic context.
Valerio Lembo, Federico Fabiano, Vera Melinda Galfi, Rune Grand Graversen, Valerio Lucarini, and Gabriele Messori
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 1037–1062, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1037-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1037-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Eddies in mid-latitudes characterize the exchange of heat between the tropics and the poles. This exchange is largely uneven, with a few extreme events bearing most of the heat transported across latitudes in a season. It is thus important to understand what the dynamical mechanisms are behind these events. Here, we identify recurrent weather regime patterns associated with extreme transports, and we identify scales of mid-latitudinal eddies that are mostly responsible for the transport.
Fei Luo, Frank Selten, Kathrin Wehrli, Kai Kornhuber, Philippe Le Sager, Wilhelm May, Thomas Reerink, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Hideo Shiogama, Daisuke Tokuda, Hyungjun Kim, and Dim Coumou
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 905–935, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-905-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-905-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Recent studies have identified the weather systems in observational data, where wave patterns with high-magnitude values that circle around the whole globe in either wavenumber 5 or wavenumber 7 are responsible for the extreme events. In conclusion, we find that the climate models are able to reproduce the large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns as well as their associated surface variables such as temperature, precipitation, and sea level pressure.
Seraphine Hauser, Franziska Teubler, Michael Riemer, Peter Knippertz, and Christian M. Grams
Weather Clim. Dynam. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2022-44, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2022-44, 2022
Revised manuscript accepted for WCD
Short summary
Short summary
Blocking describes a flow configuration in midlatitudes where stationary high-pressure systems block the propagation of weather systems. This study presents a unified framework to capture blocking dynamics from three different perspectives and quantifies the importance of different processes in the formation of a major blocking in 2016. In future work, this framework will enable a holistic view on the dynamics and the role of moist processes in different life cycle stages of the blocking.
Meryl Wimmer, Gwendal Rivière, Philippe Arbogast, Jean-Marcel Piriou, Julien Delanoë, Carole Labadie, Quitterie Cazenave, and Jacques Pelon
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 863–882, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-863-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-863-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The effect of deep convection representation on the jet stream above the cold front of an extratropical cyclone is investigated in the global numerical weather prediction model ARPEGE. Two simulations using different deep convection schemes are compared with (re)analysis datasets and NAWDEX airborne observations. A deeper jet stream is observed with the less active scheme. The diabatic origin of this difference is interpreted by backward Lagrangian trajectories and potential vorticity budgets.
Matthias Röthlisberger, Barbara Scherrer, Andries Jan de Vries, and Raphael Portmann
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 733–754, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-733-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-733-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We examine the palette of synoptic storylines accompanying unusually long wet spells in Europe. Thereby, we identify a hitherto not documented mechanism for generating long wet spells which involves recurrent Rossby wave breaking and subsequent cutoff replenishment. Understanding the synoptic processes behind long wet spells is relevant in light of projected changes in wet spell characteristics as it is a prerequisite for evaluating climate models with regard to such events.
Paolo Davini, Federico Fabiano, and Irina Sandu
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 535–553, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-535-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-535-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In climate models, improvements obtained in the winter mid-latitude circulation following horizontal resolution increase are mainly caused by the more detailed representation of the mean orography. A high-resolution climate model with low-resolution orography might underperform compared to a low-resolution model with low-resolution orography. The absence of proper model tuning at high resolution is considered the potential reason behind such lack of improvements.
Joshua Dorrington, Kristian Strommen, and Federico Fabiano
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 505–533, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-505-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-505-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate how well current state-of-the-art climate models reproduce the wintertime weather of the North Atlantic and western Europe by studying how well different "regimes" of weather are captured. Historically, models have struggled to capture these regimes, making it hard to predict future changes in wintertime extreme weather. We show models can capture regimes if the right method is used, but they show biases, partially as a result of biases in jet speed and eddy strength.
Jacopo Riboldi, Efi Rousi, Fabio D'Andrea, Gwendal Rivière, and François Lott
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 449–469, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-449-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-449-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A revisited space and time spectral decomposition allows us to determine which harmonics dominate the upper-tropospheric flow evolution over a given time period as well as their propagation. This approach is used to identify Rossby wave patterns with a circumglobal extent, affecting weather evolution over different Northern Hemisphere regions. The results cast light on the processes originating and supporting these wave patterns, advocating at the same time for the usefulness of the technique.
Philipp Zschenderlein and Heini Wernli
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 391–411, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-391-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-391-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Precipitation and temperature are two of the most important variables describing our weather and climate. The relationship between these variables has been studied extensively; however, the role of specific weather systems in shaping this relationship has not been analysed yet. We therefore analyse whether intense precipitation occurs on warmer or on colder days and identify the relevant weather systems. In general, weather systems strongly influence this relationship, especially in winter.
Deborah Morgenstern, Isabell Stucke, Thorsten Simon, Georg J. Mayr, and Achim Zeileis
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 361–375, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-361-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-361-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Wintertime lightning in central Europe is rare but has a large damage potential for tall structures such as wind turbines. We use a data-driven approach to explain why it even occurs when the meteorological processes causing thunderstorms in summer are absent. In summer, with strong solar input, thunderclouds have a large vertical extent, whereas in winter, thunderclouds are shallower in the vertical but tilted and elongated in the horizontal by strong winds that increase with altitude.
Matthew D. K. Priestley and Jennifer L. Catto
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 337–360, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-337-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-337-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We use the newest set of climate model experiments from CMIP6 to investigate changes to mid-latitude storm tracks and cyclones from global warming. The overall number of cyclones will decrease. However in winter there will be more of the most intense cyclones, and these intense cyclones are likely to be stronger. Cyclone wind speeds will increase in winter, and as a result the area of strongest wind speeds will increase. By 2100 the area of strong wind speeds may increase by over 30 %.
Lisa-Ann Kautz, Olivia Martius, Stephan Pfahl, Joaquim G. Pinto, Alexandre M. Ramos, Pedro M. Sousa, and Tim Woollings
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 305–336, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-305-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-305-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric blocking is associated with stationary, self-sustaining and long-lasting high-pressure systems. They can cause or at least influence surface weather extremes, such as heat waves, cold spells, heavy precipitation events, droughts or wind extremes. The location of the blocking determines where and what type of extreme event will occur. These relationships are also important for weather prediction and may change due to global warming.
Manuel Saigger and Alexander Gohm
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 279–303, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-279-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-279-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this work a special form of a foehn wind in an Alpine valley with a large-scale northwesterly flow is investigated. The study clarifies the origin of the air mass and the mechanisms by which this air enters the valley. A trajectory analysis shows that the location where the main airstream passes the crest line is more suitable for a foehn classification than the local or large-scale wind direction. Mountain waves and a lee rotor were crucial for importing air into the valley.
Antoine Blanc, Juliette Blanchet, and Jean-Dominique Creutin
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 231–250, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-231-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-231-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Precipitation variability and extremes in the northern French Alps are governed by the atmospheric circulation over western Europe. In this work, we study the past evolution of western Europe large-scale circulation using atmospheric descriptors. We show some discrepancies in the trends obtained from different reanalyses before 1950. After 1950, we find trends in Mediterranean circulations that appear to be linked with trends in seasonal and extreme precipitation in the northern French Alps.
Paolo Ghinassi, Federico Fabiano, and Susanna Corti
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 209–230, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-209-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-209-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this work we examine the ability of global climate models in representing the atmospheric circulation in the upper troposphere, focusing on the eventual benefits of an increased horizontal resolution. Our results confirm that a higher horizontal resolution has a positive impact, especially in those models in which the resolution is increased in both the atmosphere and the ocean, whereas when the resolution is increased only in the atmosphere no substantial improvements are found.
Emmanouil Flaounas, Silvio Davolio, Shira Raveh-Rubin, Florian Pantillon, Mario Marcello Miglietta, Miguel Angel Gaertner, Maria Hatzaki, Victor Homar, Samira Khodayar, Gerasimos Korres, Vassiliki Kotroni, Jonilda Kushta, Marco Reale, and Didier Ricard
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 173–208, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-173-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-173-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This is a collective effort to describe the state of the art in Mediterranean cyclone dynamics, climatology, prediction (weather and climate scales) and impacts. More than that, the paper focuses on the future directions of research that would advance the broader field of Mediterranean cyclones as a whole. Thereby, we propose interdisciplinary cooperation and additional modelling and forecasting strategies, and we highlight the need for new impact-oriented approaches to climate prediction.
Stefan Niebler, Annette Miltenberger, Bertil Schmidt, and Peter Spichtinger
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 113–137, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-113-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-113-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We use machine learning to create a network that detects and classifies four types of synoptic-scale weather fronts from ERA5 atmospheric reanalysis data. We present an application of our method, showing its use case in a scientific context. Additionally, our results show that multiple sources of training data are necessary to perform well on different regions, implying differences within those regions. Qualitative evaluation shows that the results are physically plausible.
Hélène Barras, Olivia Martius, Luca Nisi, Katharina Schroeer, Alessandro Hering, and Urs Germann
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 1167–1185, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1167-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1167-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In Switzerland hail may occur several days in a row. Such multi-day hail events may cause significant damage, and understanding and forecasting these events is important. Using reanalysis data we show that weather systems over Europe move slower before and during multi-day hail events compared to single hail days. Surface temperatures are typically warmer and the air more humid over Switzerland and winds are slower on multi-day hail clusters. These results may be used for hail forecasting.
Terhi K. Laurila, Hilppa Gregow, Joona Cornér, and Victoria A. Sinclair
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 1111–1130, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1111-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1111-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We create a climatology of mid-latitude cyclones and windstorms in northern Europe and investigate how sensitive the minimum pressure and maximum gust of windstorms are to four precursors. Windstorms are more common in the cold season than the warm season, whereas the number of mid-latitude cyclones has no annual cycle. The low-level temperature gradient has the strongest impact of all considered precursors on the intensity of windstorms in terms of both the minimum pressure and maximum gust.
Roman Attinger, Elisa Spreitzer, Maxi Boettcher, Heini Wernli, and Hanna Joos
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 1073–1091, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1073-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1073-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Diabatic processes affect the development of extratropical cyclones. This work provides a systematic assessment of the diabatic processes that modify potential vorticity (PV) in model simulations. PV is primarily produced by condensation and convection. Given favorable environmental conditions, long-wave radiative cooling and turbulence become the primary process at the cold and warm fronts, respectively. Turbulence and long-wave radiative heating produce negative PV anomalies at the fronts.
Gwendal Rivière, Meryl Wimmer, Philippe Arbogast, Jean-Marcel Piriou, Julien Delanoë, Carole Labadie, Quitterie Cazenave, and Jacques Pelon
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 1011–1031, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1011-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1011-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Inacurracies in representing processes occurring at spatial scales smaller than the grid scales of the weather forecast models are important sources of forecast errors. This is the case of deep convection representation in models with 10 km grid spacing. We performed simulations of a real extratropical cyclone using a model with different representations of deep convection. These forecasts lead to different behaviors in the ascending air masses of the cyclone and the jet stream aloft.
Philippe Besson, Luise J. Fischer, Sebastian Schemm, and Michael Sprenger
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 991–1009, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-991-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-991-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The strongest cyclone intensification is associated with a strong dry-dynamical forcing. Moreover, strong forcing and strong intensification correspond to a tendency for poleward cyclone propagation, which occurs in distinct regions in the Northern Hemisphere. There is a clear spatial pattern in the occurrence of certain forcing combinations. This implies a fundamental relationship between dry-dynamical processes and the intensification as well as the propagation of extratropical cyclones.
Leonidas Tsopouridis, Thomas Spengler, and Clemens Spensberger
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 953–970, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-953-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-953-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Comparing simulations with realistic and smoothed SSTs, we find that the intensification of individual cyclones in the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio regions is only marginally affected by reducing the SST gradient. In contrast, we observe a reduced cyclone activity and a shift in storm tracks. Considering differences of the variables occurring within/outside of a radius of any cyclone, we find cyclones to play only a secondary role in explaining the mean states differences among the SST experiments.
Carola Detring, Annette Müller, Lisa Schielicke, Peter Névir, and Henning W. Rust
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 927–952, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-927-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-927-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Stationary, long-lasting blocked weather patterns can lead to extreme conditions. Within this study the temporal evolution of the occurrence probability is analyzed, and the onset, decay and transition probabilities of blocking within the past 30 years are modeled. Using Markov models combined with logistic regression, we found large changes in summer, where the probability of transitions to so-called Omega blocks increases strongly, while the unblocked state becomes less probable.
Ayako Yamamoto, Masami Nonaka, Patrick Martineau, Akira Yamazaki, Young-Oh Kwon, Hisashi Nakamura, and Bunmei Taguchi
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 819–840, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-819-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-819-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
While the key role of moist processes in blocking has recently been highlighted, their moisture sources remain unknown. Here, we investigate moisture sources for wintertime Euro-Atlantic blocks using a Lagrangian method. We show that the Gulf Stream, Kuroshio, and their extensions, along with the northeast of Hawaii, act as the primary moisture sources and springboards for particle ascent. We find that the evolution of the particle properties is sensitive to the moisture sources.
Erica Madonna, David S. Battisti, Camille Li, and Rachel H. White
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 777–794, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-777-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-777-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The amount of precipitation over Europe varies substantially from year to year, with impacts on crop yields and energy production. In this study, we show that it is possible to infer much of the winter precipitation and temperature signal over Europe by knowing only the frequency of occurrence of certain atmospheric circulation patterns. The results highlight the importance of (daily) weather for understanding and interpreting seasonal signals.
Jacob W. Maddison, Marta Abalos, David Barriopedro, Ricardo García-Herrera, Jose M. Garrido-Perez, and Carlos Ordóñez
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 675–694, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-675-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-675-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Air stagnation occurs when an air mass becomes settled over a region and precipitation is suppressed. Pollutant levels can rise during stagnation. The synoptic- to large-scale influence on European air stagnation and pollution is explored here. We show that around 60 % of the monthly variability in air stagnation and pollutants can be explained by dynamical indices describing the atmospheric circulation. The weather systems most related to stagnation are different for regions across Europe.
Kristine Flacké Haualand and Thomas Spengler
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 695–712, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-695-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-695-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Given the recent focus on the influence of upper tropospheric structure in wind and temperature on midlatitude weather, we use an idealised model to investigate how structural modifications impact cyclone development. We find that cyclone intensification is less sensitive to these modifications than to changes in the amount of cloud condensation, suggesting that an accurate representation of the upper-level troposphere is less important for midlatitude weather than previously anticipated.
Thorsten Kaluza, Daniel Kunkel, and Peter Hoor
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 631–651, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-631-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-631-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We present a 10-year analysis on the occurrence of strong wind shear in the Northern Hemisphere, focusing on the region around the transport barrier that separates the first two layers of the atmosphere. The major result of our analysis is that strong wind shear above a certain threshold occurs frequently and nearly exclusively in this region, which, as an indicator for turbulent mixing, might have major implications concerning the separation efficiency of the transport barrier.
Yonatan Givon, Douglas Keller Jr., Vered Silverman, Romain Pennel, Philippe Drobinski, and Shira Raveh-Rubin
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 609–630, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-609-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-609-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Mistral wind is a renowned phenomenon in the Mediterranean, yet its large-scale controlling mechanisms have not been systematically mapped. Here, using a new mistral database for 1981–2016, the upper-tropospheric flow patterns are classified by a self-organizing map algorithm, resulting in 16 distinct patterns related to Rossby wave life cycles. Each pattern has unique surface impact, having implications to understanding mistral predictability, air–sea interaction and their future projections.
Carl Thomas, Apostolos Voulgarakis, Gerald Lim, Joanna Haigh, and Peer Nowack
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 581–608, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-581-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-581-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric blocking events are complex large-scale weather patterns which block the path of the jet stream. They are associated with heat waves in summer and cold snaps in winter. Blocking is poorly understood, and the effect of climate change is not clear. Here, we present a new method to study blocking using unsupervised machine learning. We show that this method performs better than previous methods used. These results show the potential for unsupervised learning in atmospheric science.
Franziska Teubler and Michael Riemer
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 535–559, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-535-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-535-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Rossby wave packets impact all aspects of midlatitude weather systems, from their climatological distribution to predictability. Case studies suggest an important role of latent heat release in clouds. We investigate thousands of wave packets with a novel diagnostic. We demonstrate that, on average, the impact of moist processes is substantially different between troughs and ridges and that dry conceptual models of wave packet dynamics should be extended.
Raphael Portmann, Michael Sprenger, and Heini Wernli
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 507–534, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-507-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-507-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We explore the three-dimensional life cycle of cyclonic structures
(so-called PV cutoffs) near the tropopause. PV cutoffs are frequent weather systems in the extratropics that lead to high-impact weather. However, many unknowns exist regarding their evolution. We present a new method to track PV cutoffs as 3D objects in reanalysis data by following air parcels along the flow. We study the climatological life cycles of PV cutoffs in detail and propose a classification into three types.
Patrick Martineau, Hisashi Nakamura, and Yu Kosaka
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 395–412, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-395-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-395-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
To better understand the factors that impact the weather in North America, this study explores the influence of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation on wintertime surface air temperature variability using reanalysis data. Results show that La Niña enhances subseasonal variability over western North America by amplifying the baroclinic conversion of energy from the winter-mean circulation to subseasonal eddies. Changes in the structural properties of eddies are crucial for this amplification.
Cited articles
Abatzoglou, J. T. and Magnusdottir, G.: Planetary Wave Breaking and Nonlinear Reflection, J. Climate, 19, 6139–6152, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3968.1, 2006.
Barnes, E., Slingo, J., and Woollings, T.: A methodology for the comparison
of blocking climatologies across indices, models and climate scenarios, Clim. Dynam., 38, 2467–2481, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-011-1243-6, 2012.
Barriopedro, D., GarcÍa-Herrera, R., Lupo, A. R., and Hernández, E.:
A Climatology of Northern Hemisphere Blocking, J. Climate, 19, 1042–1063,
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3678.1, 2006.
Barriopedro, D., García-Herrera, R., and Trigo, R.: Application of blocking diagnosis methods to General Circulation Models. Part I: a novel
detection scheme, Clim. Dynam., 35, 1373–1391, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-010-0767-5, 2010.
Berggren, R., Bolin, B., and Rossby, C.-G.: An Aerological Study of Zonal Motion, its Perturbations and Break-down, Tellus, 1, 14–37,
https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusa.v1i2.8501, 1949.
Berrisford, P., Hoskins, B. J., and Tyrlis, E.: Blocking and Rossby Wave
Breaking on the Dynamical Tropopause in the Southern Hemisphere, J. Atmos.
Sci., 64, 2881–2898, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS3984.1, 2007.
Booth, J. F., Dunn-Sigouin, E., and Pfahl, S.: The Relationship Between
Extratropical Cyclone Steering and Blocking Along the North American East
Coast, Geophys Res. Lett., 44, 11976–11984, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL075941, 2017a.
Booth, J. F., Kwon, Y.-K., Ko, S., Small, J., and Madsek, R.: Spatial Patterns and Intensity of the Surface Storm Tracks in CMIP5 Models J. Climate, 30, 4965–4981, 2017b.
Bowley, K. A., Gyakum, J. R., and Atallah, E. H.: A New Perspective toward
Cataloging Northern Hemisphere Rossby Wave Breaking on the Dynamic Tropopause, Mon. Weather Rev., 147, 409–431, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-18-0131.1,
2019.
Brayshaw, D. J., Hoskins, B., and Blackburn, M.: The Basic Ingredients of
the North Atlantic Storm Track. Part I: Land–Sea Contrast and Orography, J.
Atmos. Sci., 66, 2539–2558, https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JAS3078.1, 2009.
Brunner, L. and Steiner, A.: A global perspective on atmospheric blocking
using GPS radio occultation – one decade of observations, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 4727–4745, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4727-2017, 2017.
Brunner, L., Schaller, N., Anstey, J., Sillmann, J., and Steiner, A.: Dependence of Present and Future European Temperature Extremes on the
Location of Atmospheric Blocking, Geophys. Res. Lett., 45, 6311–6320,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL077837, 2018.
Cassou, C., Terray, L., and Phillips, A. S.: Tropical Atlantic Influence on
European Heat Waves, J. Climate, 18, 2805–2811, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3506.1, 2005.
Chang, E. K. M., Lee, S., and Swanson, K. L.: Storm Track Dynamics, J. Climate, 15, 2163–2183, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(2002)015<02163:STD>2.0.CO;2, 2002.
Charney, J. G. and DeVore, J. G.: Multiple Flow Equilibria in the Atmosphere
and Blocking, J. Atmos. Sci., 36, 1205–1216,
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1979)036<1205:MFEITA>2.0.CO;2,
1979.
Clark, S. K., Ming, Y., Held, I. M., and Phillips, P. J.: The Role of the
Water Vapor Feedback in the ITCZ Response to Hemispherically Asymmetric
Forcings, J. Climate, 31, 3659–3678, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-17-0723.1, 2018.
Clark, S. K., Ming, Y., and Adames, Á. F.: Monsoon low pressure system
like variability in an idealized moist model, J. Climate, 33, 2051–2074,
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0289.1, 2019.
Colucci, S. J.: Explosive Cyclogenesis and Large-Scale Circulation Changes:
Implications for Atmospheric Blocking, J. Atmos. Sci., 42, 2701–2717,
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1985)042<2701:ECALSC>2.0.CO;2, 1985.
Cook, K. and Held, I. M.: The Stationary Response to Large-Scale Orography in a General Circulation Model and a Linear Model, J. Atmos. Sci., 49, 525–539,
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1992)049<0525:TSRTLS>2.0.CO;2,
1992.
Croci-Maspoli, M., Schwierz, C., and Davies, H. C.: A Multifaceted Climatology of Atmospheric Blocking and Its Recent Linear Trend, J. Climate,
20, 633–649, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI4029.1, 2007.
D'Andrea, F., Tibaldi, S., Blackburn, M., Boer, G., Déqué, M., Dix, M. R., Dugas, B., Ferranti, L., Iwasaki, T., Kitoh, A., Pope, V., Randall, D., Roeckner, E., Strauss, D., Stern, H., Van den Dool, W., and Williamson,
D.: Northern Hemisphere atmospheric blocking as simulated by 15 atmospheric
general circulation models in the period 1979–1988, Clim. Dynam., 14, 385–407, https://doi.org/10.1007/s003820050230, 1998.
Danielson, R. E., Gyakum, J. R., and Straub, D. N.: A Case Study of Downstream Baroclinic Development over the North Pacific Ocean. Part II: Diagnoses of Eddy Energy and Wave Activity, Mon. Weather Rev., 134, 1549–1567, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR3173.1, 2006.
Davini, P., Cagnazzo, C., Gualdi, S., and Navarra, A.: Bidimensional Diagnostics, Variability, and Trends of Northern Hemisphere Blocking, J.
Climate, 25, 6496–6509, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00032.1, 2012.
Dee, D. P., Uppala, S. M., Simmons, A. J., Berrisford, P., Poli, P., Kobayashi, S., Andrae, U., Balmaseda, M. A., Balsamo, G., Bauer, P., Bechtold, P., Beljaars, A. C. M., Van de Berg, L., Bidlot, J., Bormann, N.,
Delsol, C., Dragani, R., Fuentes, M., Geer, A. J., Haimberger, L., Healy, S.
B., Hersbach, H., Hólm, E. V., Isaksen, L., Kållberg, P., Köhler, M., Matricardi, M., McNally, A. P., Monge-Sanz, B. M., Morcrette, J., Park, B., Peubey, C., de Rosnay, P., Tavolato, C., Thépaut, J., and Vitart, F.: The ERA-Interim reanalysis: configuration and performance of the data assimilation system, Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 137, 553–597, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.828, 2011 (data available at: https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/datasets/reanalysis-datasets/era-interim/, last access: 1 July 2020).
Dole, R., Hoerling, M., Perlwitz, J., Eischeid, J., Pegion, P., Zhang, T., Quan, X., Xu, T., and Murray, D.: Was there a basis for anticipating the
2010 Russian heat wave?, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L06702, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010GL046582, 2011.
Dong, L., Mitra, C., Greer, S., and Burt, E.: The Dynamical Linkage of Atmospheric Blocking to Drought, Heatwave and Urban Heat Island in Southeastern US: A Multi-Scale Case Study, Atmosphere, 9, 33, https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos9010033, 2018.
Dunn-Sigouin, E. and Son, S.: Northern Hemisphere blocking frequency and
duration in the CMIP5 models, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 118, 1179–1188,
https://doi.org/10.1002/jgrd.50143, 2013.
Egger, J.: Dynamics of Blocking Highs, J. Atmos. Sci., 35, 1788–1801,
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1978)035<1788:DOBH>2.0.CO;2, 1978.
Frierson, D. M. W.: The Dynamics of Idealized Convection Schemes and Their
Effect on the Zonally Averaged Tropical Circulation, J. Atmos. Sci., 64,
1959–1976, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS3935.1, 2007.
Frierson, D. M. W., Held, I. M., and Zurita-Gotor, P.: A Gray-Radiation
Aquaplanet Moist GCM. Part I: Static Stability and Eddy Scale, J. Atmos. Sci., 63, 2548–2566, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS3753.1, 2006.
Frierson, D. M. W., Held, I. M., and Zurita-Gotor, P.: A Gray-Radiation
Aquaplanet Moist GCM. Part II: Energy Transports in Altered Climates, J. Atmos. Sci., 64, 1680–1693, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS3913.1, 2007.
Geen, R., Lambert, F. H., and Vallis, G. K.: Regime Change Behavior during
Asian Monsoon Onset, J. Climate, 31, 3327–3348, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-17-0118.1, 2018.
Grose, W. L. and Hoskins, B. J.: On the Influence of Orography on Large-Scale
Atmospheric Flow, J. Atmos. Sci., 36, 223–234,
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1979)036<0223:OTIOOO>2.0.CO;2,
1979.
Guo, Y., Chang, E. K. M., and Leroy, S. S.: How strong are the Southern
Hemisphere storm tracks?, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L22806,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2009GL040733, 2009.
Hassanzadeh, P., Kuang, Z., and Farrell, B. F.: Responses of midlatitude blocks and wave amplitude to changes in the meridional temperature gradient in an idealized dry GCM, Geophys. Res. Lett., 41, 5223–5232,
https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL060764, 2014.
Held, I. M., Ting, M., and Wang, H.: Northern Winter Stationary Waves, J.
Climate, 15, 2125–2144, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(2002)015<2125:NWSWTA>2.0.CO;2, 2002.
Hodges, K. I., Lee, R. W., and Bengtsson, L.: A Comparison of Extratropical
Cyclones in Recent Reanalyses ERA-Interim, NASA MERRA, NCEP CFSR, and
JRA-25, J. Climate, 24, 4888–4906, https://doi.org/10.1175/2011JCLI4097.1, 2011.
Hu, Y., Yang, D., and Yang, J.: Blocking systems over an aqua planet, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L19818, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008GL035351, 2008.
Luo, D.: A Barotropic Envelope Rossby Soliton Model for Block–Eddy Interaction. Part I: Effect of Topography, J. Atmos. Sci., 62, 5–21,
https://doi.org/10.1175/1186.1, 2005.
Lutsko, N. J. and Held, I. M.: The Response of an Idealized Atmosphere to
Orographic Forcing: Zonal versus Meridional Propagation, J. Atmos. Sci., 73,
3701–3718, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-16-0021.1, 2016.
Manabe, S. and Terpstra, T. B.: The Effects of Mountains on the General
Circulation of the Atmosphere as Identified by Numerical Experiments, J. Atmos. Sci., 31, 3–42, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1974)031<0003:TEOMOT>2.0.CO;2, 1974.
Masato, G., Hoskins, B. J., and Woollings, T. J.: Wave-breaking characteristics of midlatitude blocking, Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 138,
1285–1296, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.990, 2012.
Matsueda, M., Mizuta, R., and Kusunoki, S.: Future change in wintertime
atmospheric blocking simulated using a 20-km-mesh atmospheric global circulation model, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 114, D12114, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JD011919, 2009.
Mattingly, K. S., McLeod, J. T., Knox, J. A., Shepherd, J. M., and Mote, T.
L.: A climatological assessment of Greenland blocking conditions associated
with the track of Hurricane Sandy and historical North Atlantic hurricanes,
Int. J. Climatol., 35, 746–760, https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4018, 2015.
Nabizadeh, E., Hassanzadeh, P., Yang, D., and Barnes, E. A.: Size of the
Atmospheric Blocking Events: Scaling Law and Response to Climate Change,
Geophys. Res. Lett., 46, 13488–13499, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084863, 2019.
Nakamura, H., Nakamura, M., and Anderson, J. L.: The Role of High- and
Low-Frequency Dynamics in Blocking Formation, Mon. Weather Rev., 125,
2074–2093, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(1997)125<2074:TROHAL>2.0.CO;2, 1997.
Nakamura, H. and Shimpo, A.: Seasonal Variations in the Southern Hemisphere
Storm Tracks and Jet Streams as Revealed in a Reanalysis Dataset, J. Climate, 17, 1828–1844, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(2004)017<1828:SVITSH>2.0.CO;2, 2004.
Nakamura, N. and Huang, C. S. Y.: Atmospheric blocking as a traffic jam in the jet stream, Science, 361, 42–47, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat0721, 2018.
O'Gorman, P. A. and Schneider, T.: The Hydrological Cycle over a Wide Range of Climates Simulated with an Idealized GCM, J. Climate, 21, 3815–3832,
https://doi.org/10.1175/2007JCLI2065.1, 2008.
Parsons, S., Renwick, J. A., and McDonald, A. J.: An Assessment of Future
Southern Hemisphere Blocking Using CMIP5 Projections from Four GCMs, J. Climate, 29, 7599–7611, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0754.1, 2016.
Pelly, J. L. and Hoskins, B. J.: A New Perspective on Blocking, J. Atmos. Sci., 60, 743–755, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(2003)060<0743:ANPOB>2.0.CO;2, 2003.
Pfahl, S. and Wernli, H.: Quantifying the relevance of atmospheric blocking for co-located temperature extremes in the Northern Hemisphere on (sub-)daily
time scales, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L12807, https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL052261, 2012.
Pfahl, S., Schwierz, C., Croci-Maspoli, M., Grams, C. M., and Wernli, H.:
Importance of latent heat release in ascending air streams for atmospheric
blocking, Nat. Geosci., 8, 610–614, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2487, 2015.
Pithan, F., Shepherd, T. G., Zappa, G., and Sandu, I.: Climate model biases in jet streams, blocking and storm tracks resulting from missing orographic
drag, Geophys. Res. Lett., 43, 7231–7240, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069551, 2016.
Quintanar, A. I. and Mechoso, C. R.: Quasi-Stationary Waves in the Southern
Hemisphere. Part I: Observational Data, J. Climate, 8, 2659–2672,
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(1995)008<2659:QSWITS>2.0.CO;2,
1995.
Renwick, J. A.: Persistent Positive Anomalies in the Southern Hemisphere
Circulation, Mon. Weather Rev., 133, 977–988, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR2900.1, 2005.
Rex, D. F.: Blocking Action in the Middle Troposphere and its Effect upon
Regional Climate, Tellus, 2, 196–211, https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusa.v2i3.8546, 1950.
Sausen, R., König, W., and Sielmann, F.: Analysis of blocking events from observations and ECHAM model simulations, Tellus A, 47, 421–438,
https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusa.v47i4.11526, 1995.
Shutts, G. J.: The propagation of eddies in diffluent jetstreams: Eddy vorticity forcing of `blocking' flow fields, Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 109,
737–761, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.49710946204, 1983.
Sillmann, J., Croci-Maspoli, M., Kallache, M., and Katz, R. W.: Extreme Cold
Winter Temperatures in Europe under the Influence of North Atlantic Atmospheric Blocking, J. Climate, 24, 5899–5913, https://doi.org/10.1175/2011JCLI4075.1, 2011.
Takaya, K. and Nakamura, H.: A Formulation of a Phase-Independent Wave-Activity Flux for Stationary and Migratory Quasigeostrophic Eddies on a Zonally Varying Basic Flow, J. Atmos. Sci., 58, 608–627,
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(2001)058<0608:AFOAPI>2.0.CO;2,
2001.
Tibaldi, S., Tosi, E., Navarra, A., and Pedulli, L.: Northern and Southern Hemisphere Seasonal Variability of Blocking Frequency and Predictability. Mon. Weather Rev., 122, 1971–2003, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(1994)122<1971:NASHSV>2.0.CO;2, 1994.
Troen, I. B. and Mahrt, L.: A simple model of the atmospheric boundary layer;
sensitivity to surface evaporation, Bound.-Lay. Meteorol., 37, 129–148,
https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00122760, 1986.
Tung, K. K. and Lindzen, R. S.: A Theory of Stationary Long Waves. Part I: A
Simple Theory of Blocking, Mon. Weather Rev., 107, 714–734,
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(1979)107<0714:ATOSLW>2.0.CO;2,
1979.
Valdes, P. J. and Hoskins, B. J.: Nonlinear Orographically Forced Planetary
Waves, J. Atmos. Sci., 48, 2089–2106,
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1991)048<2089:NOFPW>2.0.CO;2, 1991.
Vallis, G. K., Colyer, G., Geen, R., Gerber, E., Jucker, M., Maher, P., Paterson, A., Pietschnig, M., Penn, J., and Thomson, S. I.: Isca, v1.0: a
framework for the global modelling of the atmospheres of Earth and other
planets at varying levels of complexity, Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 843–859,
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-843-2018, 2018.
Wallace, J. M., Lim, G., and Blackmon, M. L.: Relationship between Cyclone
Tracks, Anticyclone Tracks and Baroclinic Waveguides, J. Atmos. Sci., 45,
439–462, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1988)045<0439:RBCTAT>2.0.CO;2, 1988.
Wang, L. and Kuang, Z.: Evidence against a general positive eddy feedback in
atmospheric blocking, arXiv preprint: arXiv:1907.00999, 2019.
White, R. H., Battisti, D. S., and Roe, G. H.: Mongolian Mountains Matter
Most: Impacts of the Latitude and Height of Asian Orography on Pacific
Wintertime Atmospheric Circulation, J. Climate, 30, 4065–4082,
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0401.1, 2017.
Wiedenmann, J. M., Lupo, A. R., Mokhov, I. I., and Tikhonova, E. A.: The Climatology of Blocking Anticyclones for the Northern and Southern Hemispheres: Block Intensity as a Diagnostic, J. Climate, 15, 3459–3473, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(2002)015<3459:TCOBAF>2.0.CO;2, 2002.
Wirth, V., Riemer, M., Chang, E. K. M., and Martius, O.: Rossby Wave Packets
on the Midlatitude Waveguide – A Review, Mon. Weather Rev., 146, 1965–2001,
https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-16-0483.1, 2018.
Woollings, T., Barriopedro, D., Methven, J., Son, S., Martius, O., Harvey, B., Sillmann, J., Lupo, A., and Seneviratne, S.: Blocking and its Response to
Climate Change, Curr. Clim. Change Rep., 4, 287–300, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40641-018-0108-z, 2018.
Yamazaki, A. and Itoh, H.: Vortex–Vortex Interactions for the Maintenance of
Blocking. Part I: The Selective Absorption Mechanism and a Case Study, J.
Atmos. Sci., 70, 725–742, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-11-0295.1, 2013.
Short summary
This work investigates the influence of orography on atmospheric blocking dynamics, spatial frequency, and duration. Using an idealized model, a landless integration and integrations with mountains are analyzed. The dynamical evolution of blocking in the idealized model is found to be similar to reanalysis. Orography is found to significantly increase blocking and anchors where blocks most likely occur (i.e., just upstream from mountains and near storm track exits).
This work investigates the influence of orography on atmospheric blocking dynamics, spatial...
