Delving into the relationship between autumn Arctic sea ice and central–eastern Eurasian winter climate

Whether recent Arctic sea ice loss is responsible for recent severe winters over mid-latitude continents has emerged as a major debate among climate scientists owing to short records of observations and large internal variability in mid- and high-latitudes. In this study, the authors divide the evolution of autumn Arctic sea ice extent during 1979–2014 into three epochs, 1979–1986（high）, 1987–2006（moderate）, and 2007–2014（low）, using a regime shift identification method. The authors then compare the associations between autumn Arctic sea ice and winter climate anomalies over central and eastern Eurasia for the three epochs with a focus on extreme events. The results show robust and detectable signals of Arctic sea ice loss in weather and climate over western Siberia and East Asia. Associated with sea ice loss, the latitude（speed） of the jet stream shifts southward（reduces）,the wave extent amplifies, and blocking high events increase over the Ural Mountains, leading to increased frequency of cold air outbreaks extending from central Asia to northeast China. These associations bear a high degree of similarity to the observed atmospheric anomalies during the low sea ice epoch. By contrast, the patterns of atmospheric anomalies for the high sea ice epoch are different from those congruent with sea ice variability, which is related to the persistent negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation.

北极海冰的快速减少是否已经显著地影响了最近中纬度大陆冬季极端天气气候事件引起了气候学家的广泛争论。问题的争论是来源于观测数据的年限很短以及中高纬度复杂的内部变率。在本研究中,采用气候突变检测的方法,我们将秋季海冰覆盖面积的变化分为三个阶段:1979–1986(高海冰阶段),1987–2006(海冰缓慢减少阶段)和2007–2014(海冰快速减少阶段)。然后,我们分析了与每一个阶段秋季海冰变化相联系的中-东欧亚地区冬季气候(尤其极端天气事件)是什么。结果表明北极海冰减少对西伯利亚西部和东亚极端天气事件影响的信号是稳健可测的。伴随着海冰的快速减少,高低空急流速度的减弱和急流位置的南移;波动振幅的加强、乌拉尔山阻塞频率的增多。这些导致了寒潮事件从亚洲中部到中国东北部地区显著增多。并且,与北极海冰的快速减少相关的环流异常与观测到的环流异常基本一致。相反地,在高海冰阶段,与海冰相关的环流异常和观测的异常并不一致。这个阶段的环流异常是与北极涛动处于持续的负位相有关的。