Articles | Volume 5, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-5-181-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-5-181-2024
Research article
 | 
08 Feb 2024
Research article |  | 08 Feb 2024

Linking Gulf Stream air–sea interactions to the exceptional blocking episode in February 2019: a Lagrangian perspective

Marta Wenta, Christian M. Grams, Lukas Papritz, and Marc Federer

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Cited articles

Aemisegger, F. and Papritz, L.: A Climatology of Strong Large-Scale Ocean Evaporation Events. Part I: Identification, Global Distribution, and Associated Climate Conditions, J. Climate, 31, 7287–7312, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-17-0591.1, 2018. a, b, c, d, e, f
Athanasiadis, P., Ogawa, F., Omrani, N.-E., Keenlyside, N., Schiemann, R., Baker, A., Vidale, P., Bellucci, A., Ruggieri, P., Haarsma, R., Roberts, M., Roberts, C., Novak, L., and Gualdi, S.: Mitigating Climate Biases in the Midlatitude North Atlantic by Increasing Model Resolution: SST Gradients and Their Relation to Blocking and the Jet, J. Climate, 35, 3385–3406, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-21-0515.1, 2022. a, b
Attinger, R., Spreitzer, E., Boettcher, M., Richard, F., Wernli, H., and Joos, H.: Quantifying the role of individual diabatic processes for the formation of PV anomalies in a North Pacific cyclone, Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 145, 2454–2476, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3573, 2019. a, b
Attinger, R., Spreitzer, E., Boettcher, M., Wernli, H., and Joos, H.: Systematic assessment of the diabatic processes that modify low-level potential vorticity in extratropical cyclones, Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 1073–1091, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1073-2021, 2021. a
Barriopedro, D., Fischer, E., Luterbacher, J., Trigo, R., and García-Herrera, R.: The Hot Summer of 2010: Redrawing the Temperature Record Map of Europe, Science, 332, 220–224, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1201224, 2011. a
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Our study links air–sea interactions over the Gulf Stream to an atmospheric block in February 2019. We found that over 23 % of air masses that were lifted into the block by cyclones interacted with the Gulf Stream. As cyclones pass over the Gulf Stream, they cause intense surface evaporation events, preconditioning the environment for the development of cyclones. This implies that air–sea interactions over the Gulf Stream affect the large-scale dynamics in the North Atlantic–European region.
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