Planetary Wave Reflection and Its Impact on Tropospheric Cold Weather over Asia during January 2008

Reflection of stratospheric planetary waves and its impact on tropospheric cold weather over Asia during January 2008 were investigated by applying two dimensional Eliassen-Palm （EP） flux and three-dimensional Plumb wave activity fluxes.The planetary wave propagation can clearly be seen in the longitude-height and latitude-height sections of the Plumb wave activity flux and EP flux,respectively,when the stratospheric basic state is partially reflective.Primarily,a wave packet emanating from Baffin Island/coast of Labrador propagated eastward,equatorward and was reflected over Central Eurasia and parts of China,which in turn triggered the advection of cold wind from the northern part of the boreal forest regions and Siberia to the subtropics.The wide region of Central Eurasia and China experienced extreme cold weather during the second ten days of January 2008,whereas the extraordinary persistence of the event might have occurred due to an anomalous blocking high in the Urals-Siberia region.

Impact of Planetary Wave Reflection on Tropospheric Blocking over the Urals–Siberia Region in January 2008

Planetary wave reflection from the stratosphere played a significant role in changing the tropospheric circulation pattern over Eurasia in mid-January 2008. We studied the 2008 event and compared with composite analysis （winters of 2002/2003, 200412005, 200612007, 200712008, 201012011 and 2011/2012）, when the downward coupling was stronger, by employing time-lagged singular value decomposition analysis on the geopotential height field. In the Northern Hemisphere, the geopo- tential fields were decomposed into zonal mean and wave components to compare the relative covariance patterns. It was found that the wavenumber 1 （WN1） component was dominant compared with the wavenumber 2 （WN2） component and zonal mean process. For the WNI field, the covariance was much higher （lower） for the negative （positive） lag, with a prominent peak around ＋15 days when the leading stratosphere coupled strongly with the troposphere. It contributed to the downward coupling due to reflection, when the stratosphere exhibited a partially reflective background state. We also analyzed the evolution of the WNI anomaly and heat flux anomaly, both in the troposphere and stratosphere, during January- March 2008. The amplitude of the tropospheric WN 1 pattern reached a maximum and was consistent with a downward wave coupling event influenced by the stratospheric WN1 anomaly at 10 hPa. This was consistent with the reflection of the WN1 component over Eurasia, which triggered an anomalous blocking high in the Urals-Siberia region. We further clarified the impact of reflection on the tropospheric WNI field and hence the tropospheric circulation pattern by changing the propagation direction during and after the event.

Northern Hemisphere Stratospheric Polar Vortex Extremes in February under the Control of Downward Wave Flux in the Lower Stratosphere

Using ECWMF ERA-40 and Interim reanalysis data, the planetary wave fluxes associated with the February extreme stratospheric polar vortex were studied. Using the three-dimensional Eliassen-Palm (EP) flux as a measure of the wave activity propagation, the authors show that the unusual warm years in the Arctic feature an anomalous weak stratosphere-troposphere coupling and weak downward wave flux at the lower stratosphere, especially over the North America and North Atlantic (NANA) region. The extremely cold years are characterized by strong stratosphere-troposphere coupling and strong downward wave flux in this region. The refractive index is used to examine the conception of planetary wave reflection, which shows a large refractive index (low reflection) for the extremely warm years and a small refractive index (high reflection) for the extremely cold years. This study reveals the importance of the downward planetary wave propagation from the stratosphere to the troposphere for explaining the unusual state of the stratospheric polar vortex in February.