Distinct influential mechanisms of the warm pool Madden-Julian Oscillation on persistent extreme cold events in Northeast China

This study investigates whether and how the Madden-Julian Oscillation(MJO)influences persistent extreme cold events(PECEs),a major type of natural disaster in boreal winter,over Northeast China.Significantly increased occurrence probabilities of PECEs over Northeast China are observed in phases 3 and 5 of the MJO,when MJOrelated convection is located over the eastern Indian Ocean and the western Pacific,respectively.Using the temperature tendency equation,it is found that the physical processes resulting in the cooling effects required for the occurrence of PECEs are distinct in the two phases of the MJO when MJO-related convection is consistently located over the warm pool area.The PECEs in phase 3 of the MJO mainly occur as a result of adiabatic cooling associated with ascending motion of the low-pressure anomaly over Northeast Asia.The cooling effect associated with phase 5 is stronger and longer than that in phase 3.The PECEs associated with phase 5 of the MJO are linked with the northwesterly cold advection of a cyclonic anomaly,which is part of the subtropical Rossby wave train induced by MJO-related convection in the tropical western Pacific.

The Nature and Predictability of the East Asian Extreme Cold Events of 2020/21

Three extreme cold events invaded China during the early winter period between December 2020 to mid-January 2021 and caused drastic temperature drops,setting new low-temperature records at many stations during 6−8 January 2021.These cold events occurred under background conditions of low Arctic sea ice extent and a La Niña event.This is somewhat expected since the coupled effect of large Arctic sea ice loss in autumn and sea surface temperature cooling in the tropical Pacific usually favors cold event occurrences in Eurasia.Further diagnosis reveals that the first cold event is related to the southward movement of the polar vortex and the second one is related to a continent-wide ridge,while both the southward polar vortex and the Asian blocking are crucial for the third event.Here,we evaluate the forecast skill for these three events utilizing the operational forecasts from the ECMWF model.We find that the third event had the highest predictability since it achieves the best skill in forecasting the East Asian cooling among the three events.Therefore,the predictability of these cold events,as well as their relationships with the atmospheric initial conditions,Arctic sea ice,and La Niña deserve further investigation.

Precursory Signals of Extensive and Persistent Extreme Cold Events in China

The distinct precursory signals of countrywide extensive and persistent extreme cold events (CECs) were investigated and contrasted with those of countrywide cold wave events (CCWs). It is shown that most CECs were accompanied by a CCW in the initial stages. From the comparison between the CECs and the CCWs that were independent of any CEC, it is found that a south- west-northeast-oriented tilted ridge at 500 hPa was present around the Europe-Barents Sea regions approximately 10 days prior to the start of the CEC. Consistent with this feature, a high sea level pressure and strong cold air accumulation occurred over a broad extent of northern Eurasia one week prior to the start of the CEC. The tilted ridge and the strong cold air accumulation were the precursory signals that were absent for the CCW, and they provide important clues for the early prediction of whether a CCW event might evolve into a CEC.

The Predictability of Ocean Environments that Contributed to the 2020/21 Extreme Cold Events in China:2020/21 La Niña and 2020 Arctic Sea Ice Loss

Several consecutive extreme cold events impacted China during the first half of winter 2020/21,breaking the low-temperature records in many cities.How to make accurate climate predictions of extreme cold events is still an urgent issue.The synergistic effect of the warm Arctic and cold tropical Pacific has been demonstrated to intensify the intrusions of cold air from polar regions into middle-high latitudes,further influencing the cold conditions in China.However,climate models failed to predict these two ocean environments at expected lead times.Most seasonal climate forecasts only predicted the 2020/21 La Niña after the signal had already become apparent and significantly underestimated the observed Arctic sea ice loss in autumn 2020 with a 1-2 month advancement.In this work,the corresponding physical factors that may help improve the accuracy of seasonal climate predictions are further explored.For the 2020/21 La Niña prediction,through sensitivity experiments involving different atmospheric-oceanic initial conditions,the predominant southeasterly wind anomalies over the equatorial Pacific in spring of 2020 are diagnosed to play an irreplaceable role in triggering this cold event.A reasonable inclusion of atmospheric surface winds into the initialization will help the model predict La Niña development from the early spring of 2020.For predicting the Arctic sea ice loss in autumn 2020,an anomalously cyclonic circulation from the central Arctic Ocean predicted by the model,which swept abnormally hot air over Siberia into the Arctic Ocean,is recognized as an important contributor to successfully predicting the minimum Arctic sea ice extent.

An Isentropic Mass Circulation View on the Extreme Cold Events in the 2020/21 Winter

Three extreme cold events successively occurred across East Asia and North America in the 2020/21 winter.This study investigates the underlying mechanisms of these record-breaking persistent cold events from the isentropic mass circulation(IMC)perspective.Results show that the midlatitude cold surface temperature anomalies always co-occurred with the high-latitude warm anomalies,and this was closely related to the strengthening of the low-level equatorward cold air branch of the IMC,particularly along the climatological cold air routes over East Asia and North America.Specifically,the two cold surges over East Asia in early winter were results of intensification of cold air transport there,influenced by the Arctic sea ice loss in autumn.The weakened cold air transport over North America associated with warmer northeastern Pacific sea surface temperatures(SSTs)explained the concurrent anomalous warmth there.This enhanced a wavenumber-1 pattern and upward wave propagation,inducing a simultaneous and long-lasting stronger poleward warm air branch(WB)of the IMC in the stratosphere and hence a displacement-type Stratospheric Sudden Warming(SSW)event on 4 January.The WB-induced increase in the air mass transported into the polar stratosphere was followed by intensification of the equatorward cold branch,hence promoting the occurrence of two extreme cold events respectively over East Asia in the beginning of January and over North America in February.Results do not yield a robust direct linkage from La Niña to the SSW event,IMC changes,and cold events,though the extratropical warm SSTs are found to contribute to the February cold surge in North America.

Changes in Atmospheric Circulation during the Winter Regional Extreme Cold Events over China since 1960

The number of days with occurrence of winter regional extreme cold events(RECEs) in China was found more during 1960/1961–1985/1986(period 1), less during 1986/1987–2005/2006(period 2), but more again during2006/2007–2017/2018(period 3). So far, the differences in the atmospheric circulation favoring RECEs among these three periods are unclear. In this paper, changes in atmospheric circulation during the RECEs over China are examined by using composite analysis based on the station observed temperature data and NCEP–NCAR reanalysis data in winters of 1960/1961–2017/2018. The results show:(1) the stratospheric polar vortex was more active and tended to split before the outbreak of RECEs in period 3 than that in other two periods. The shift of the stratospheric polar vortex to Eurasia helped the upper Arctic cold air to affect the lower latitudes.(2) The troposphere was characterized by a typical or significant three-wave pattern before the outbreak of RECEs in period 2, in contrast to a weakened three-wave pattern in period 1. Compared to periods 1 and 2, the Okhotsk blocking high was stronger in period 3, contributing to the inverted omega-shaped circulation pattern in East Asia–North Pacific section and a shift of global pattern from three-wave to two-wave. The weakened three-wave or two-wave circulation pattern was manifested by the stronger Ural/Okhotsk blocking high, conducive to the strengthening of the meridional circulation and the occurrence of RECEs in East Asia.(3) The Siberian high was the strongest in period 3, followed by period 1, and it was the weakest in period 2. Before the outbreak of RECEs, the Siberian high in period 3 began to intensify one week earlier than that in periods 1 and 2. Thus, the accumulation time of cold air mass in period 3 was the longest. In summary, the synergism of atmospheric circulation at high and low levels in periods 1 and 3 was more conducive to more and strong RECEs than that in period 2. Moreover, the split of the stratospheric polar vortex may have played an important role on the formation of tropospheric two-wave pattern in period 3. The results obtained herein may provide a better understanding of the mechanisms for occurrences of RECEs in China.

A Statistical Linkage between Extreme Cold Wave Events in Southern China and Sea Ice Extent in the Barents-Kara Seas from 1289 to 2017

Arctic sea ice loss and the associated enhanced warming has been related to midlatitude weather and climate changes through modulate meridional temperature gradients linked to circulation. However, contrasting lines of evidence result in low confidence in the influence of Arctic warming on midlatitude climate. This study examines the additional perspectives that palaeoclimate evidence provides on the decadal relationship between autumn sea ice extent (SIE) in the Barents-Kara (B-K) Seas and extreme cold wave events (ECWEs) in southern China. Reconstruction of the winter Cold Index and SIE in the B-K Seas from 1289 to 2017 shows that a significant anti-phase relationship occurred during most periods of decreasing SIE, indicating that cold winters are more likely in low SIE years due to the “bridge” role of the North Atlantic Oscillation and Siberian High. It is confirmed that the recent increase in ECWEs in southern China is closely related to the sea ice decline in the B-K Seas. However, our results show that the linkage is unstable, especially in high SIE periods, and it is probably modulated by atmospheric internal variability.

Seasonal Cumulative Effect of Ural Blocking Episodes on the Frequent Cold events in China during the Early Winter of 2020/21

Starting in mid-November,China was hit by several cold events during the early winter of 2020/21.The lowest temperature observed at Beijing station on 7 January reached−19.6°C.In this paper,we show that the outbreak of the record-breaking extreme cold event can be attributed to a huge merging Ural blocking(UB)ridge over the Eurasian region.The sea-ice cover in the Kara and East Siberia Seas(KESS)in autumn was at its lowest value since 1979,which could have served as a precursor signal.Further analysis shows that several successive UB episodes occurred from 1 September 2020 to 10 January 2021.The persistent UB that occurred in late September/early October 2020 may have made an important contribution to the October historical minimum of sea ice in the KESS region.Our results also show that,after each UB episode in winter,significant upward propagation of wave activity occurred around 60°E,which resulted in weakening the stratospheric vortex.Meanwhile,each UB episode also caused a significant reduction in sea-ice extent in KESS and a significant weakening of the westerly jet in mid-high-latitude Eurasia.Results suggest that the Arctic vortex,which is supposed to enhance seasonally,became weaker and more unstable than the climatic mean under the seasonal cumulative effects of UB episodes,KESS warming,and long-lasting negative-phase North Atlantic Oscillation(NAO-).Those seasonal cumulative effects,combined with the impact of La Niña winter,led to the frequent occurrence of extreme cold events.