Key Role of the North Pacific Oscillation–West Pacific Pattern in Generating the Extreme 2013/14 North American WinterSource: Journal of Climate:;2015:;volume( 028 ):;issue: 020::page 8109DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00726.1Publisher: American Meteorological Society
Abstract: he 2013/14 boreal winter (December 2013?February 2014) brought extended periods of anomalously cold weather to central and eastern North America. The authors show that a leading pattern of extratropical variability, whose sea level pressure footprint is the North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) and circulation footprint the West Pacific (WP) teleconnection?together, the NPO?WP?exhibited extreme and persistent amplitude in this winter. Reconstruction of the 850-hPa temperature, 200-hPa geopotential height, and precipitation reveals that the NPO?WP was the leading contributor to the winter climate anomaly over large swaths of North America. This analysis, furthermore, indicates that NPO?WP variability explains the most variance of monthly winter temperature over central-eastern North America since, at least, 1979. Analysis of the NPO?WP related thermal advection provides physical insight on the generation of the cold temperature anomalies over North America. Although NPO?WP?s origin and development remain to be elucidated, its concurrent links to tropical SSTs are tenuous. These findings suggest that notable winter climate anomalies in the Pacific?North American sector need not originate, directly, from the tropics. More broadly, the attribution of the severe 2013/14 winter to the flexing of an extratropical variability pattern is cautionary given the propensity to implicate the tropics, following several decades of focus on El Niño?Southern Oscillation and its regional and far-field impacts.
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contributor author | Baxter, Stephen | |
contributor author | Nigam, Sumant | |
date accessioned | 2017-06-09T17:11:34Z | |
date available | 2017-06-09T17:11:34Z | |
date copyright | 2015/10/01 | |
date issued | 2015 | |
identifier issn | 0894-8755 | |
identifier other | ams-80871.pdf | |
identifier uri | http://onlinelibrary.yabesh.ir/handle/yetl/4223810 | |
description abstract | he 2013/14 boreal winter (December 2013?February 2014) brought extended periods of anomalously cold weather to central and eastern North America. The authors show that a leading pattern of extratropical variability, whose sea level pressure footprint is the North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) and circulation footprint the West Pacific (WP) teleconnection?together, the NPO?WP?exhibited extreme and persistent amplitude in this winter. Reconstruction of the 850-hPa temperature, 200-hPa geopotential height, and precipitation reveals that the NPO?WP was the leading contributor to the winter climate anomaly over large swaths of North America. This analysis, furthermore, indicates that NPO?WP variability explains the most variance of monthly winter temperature over central-eastern North America since, at least, 1979. Analysis of the NPO?WP related thermal advection provides physical insight on the generation of the cold temperature anomalies over North America. Although NPO?WP?s origin and development remain to be elucidated, its concurrent links to tropical SSTs are tenuous. These findings suggest that notable winter climate anomalies in the Pacific?North American sector need not originate, directly, from the tropics. More broadly, the attribution of the severe 2013/14 winter to the flexing of an extratropical variability pattern is cautionary given the propensity to implicate the tropics, following several decades of focus on El Niño?Southern Oscillation and its regional and far-field impacts. | |
publisher | American Meteorological Society | |
title | Key Role of the North Pacific Oscillation–West Pacific Pattern in Generating the Extreme 2013/14 North American Winter | |
type | Journal Paper | |
journal volume | 28 | |
journal issue | 20 | |
journal title | Journal of Climate | |
identifier doi | 10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00726.1 | |
journal fristpage | 8109 | |
journal lastpage | 8117 | |
tree | Journal of Climate:;2015:;volume( 028 ):;issue: 020 | |
contenttype | Fulltext |