Short－term Climatic Fluctuations in North Atlantic Oscillation and Frequency of Cyclonic Disturbances over North Indian Ocean and Northwest Pacific

Ｓｈｏｒｔ－ｔｅｒｍＣｌｉｍａｔｉｃＦｌｕｃｔｕａｔｉｏｎｓｉｎＮｏｒｔｈＡｔｌａｎｔｉｃＯｓｃｉｌｌａｔｉｏｎａｎｄＦｒｅｑｕｅｎｃｙｏｆＣｙｃｌｏｎｉｃＤｉｓｔｕｒｂａｎｃｅｓｏｖｅｒＮｏｒｔｈＩｎｄｉａｎＯｃｅａｎａｎｄＮｏｒｔｈｗｅｓｔＰａｃ...

Interdecadal change of the linkage between the North Atlantic Oscillation and the tropical cyclone frequency over the western North Pacific

The relationship between the North Atlantic Oscillation(NAO) and the tropical cyclone frequency over the western North Pacific(WNPTCF) in summer is investigated by use of observation data. It is found that their linkage appears to have an interdecadal change from weak connection to strong connection. During the period of 1948–1977, the NAO was insignificantly correlated to the WNPTCF. However, during the period of 1980–2009, they were significantly correlated with stronger(weaker) NAO corresponding to more(fewer) tropical cyclones in the western North Pacific. The possible reason for such a different relationship between the NAO and the WNPTCF during the former and latter periods is further analyzed from the perspective of large-scale atmospheric circulations. When the NAO was stronger than normal in the latter period, an anomalous cyclonic circulation prevailed in the lower troposphere of the western North Pacific and the monsoon trough was intensified, concurrent with the eastward-shifting western Pacific subtropical high as well as anomalous low-level convergence and high-level divergence over the western North Pacific. These conditions favor the genesis and development of tropical cyclones, and thus more tropical cyclones appeared over the western North Pacific. In contrast, in the former period, the impact of the NAO on the aforementioned atmospheric circulations became insignificant, thereby weakening its linkage to the WNPTCF. Further study shows that the change of the wave activity flux associated with the NAO during the former and latter periods may account for such an interdecadal shift of the NAO–WNPTCF relationship.

Characteristics of extratropical cyclone variability in the Northern Hemisphere and their response to rapid changes in Arctic sea ice

Extratropical cyclones are critical weather systems that affect large-scale weather and climate changes at mid-high latitudes.However,prior research shows that there are still great difficulties in predicting extratropical cyclones for occurrence,frequency,and position.In this study,mean sea level pressure(MSLP)data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts(ECMWF)reanalysis(ERA5)are used to calculate the variance statistics of the MSLP to reveal extratropical cyclone activity(ECA).Based on the analysis of the change characteristics of ECA in the Northern Hemisphere,the intrinsic link between ECA in the Northern Hemisphere and Arctic sea ice is explored.The results show that the maximum ECA mainly occurs in winter over the mid-high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere.The maximum ECA changes in the North Pacific and the North Atlantic,which are the largest variations in the Northern Hemisphere,are independent of each other,and their mechanisms may be different.Furthermore,MSLP is a significant physical variable that affects ECA.The North Atlantic Oscillation(NAO)and North Pacific Index(NPI)are significant indices that impact ECA in the North Atlantic and North Pacific,respectively.The innovation of this paper is to explore the relationship between the activity of extratropical cyclones in the Northern Hemisphere and the abnormal changes in Arctic sea ice for the first time.The mechanism is that the abnormal changes in summer-autumn and winter Arctic sea ice lead to the phase transition of the NPI and NAO,respectively,and then cause the occurrence of ECA in the North Pacific and North Atlantic,respectively.Arctic sea ice plays a crucial role in the ECA in the Northern Hemisphere by influencing the polar vortex and westerly jets.This is the first exploration of ECAs in the Northern Hemisphere using Arctic sea ice,which can provide some references for the in-depth study and prediction of ECAs in the Northern Hemisphere.

Unstable relationship between spring NAO and summer tropical cyclone genesis frequency over the western North Pacific

The present study reveals the fact that the relationship between the spring(April–May)North Atlantic Oscillation(NAO)and the following summer(June–September)tropical cyclone(TC)genesis frequency over the western North Pacific(WNP)during the period of 1950–2018 was not stationary.It is shown that the relationship between the two has experienced a pronounced interdecadal shift,being weak and insignificant before yet strong and statistically significant after the early 1980 s.Next we compare the spring NAO associated dynamic and thermodynamic conditions,sea surface temperature(SST)anomalies,and atmospheric circulation processes between the two subperiods of 1954–1976 and 1996–2018,so as to illucidate the possible mechanism for this interdecadal variation in the NAO-TC connection.During the latter epoch,when the spring NAO was positive,enhanced low-level vorticity,reduced vertical zonal wind shear,intensified vertical velocity and increased middle-level relative humidity were present over the WNP in the summer,which is conducive to the genesis of WNP TCs.When the spring NAO is negative,the dynamic and thermodynamic factors are disadvantageous for the summertime TC formation and development over the WNP.The results of further analysis indicate that the persistence of North Atlantic tri-pole SST anomalies from spring to the subsequent summer induced by the spring NAO plays a fundamental role in the linkage between the spring NAO and summer atmospheric circulation.During the period of 1996–2018,a remarkable eastward propagating wave-train occurred across the northern Eurasian continent,forced by the anomalous SST tri-pole in the North Atlantic.The East Asian jet flow became greatly intensified,and the deep convection in the tropics was further enhanced via the changes of the local Hadley circulation,corresponding to a positive spring NAO.During the former epoch,the spring NAO-induced tri-pole SST anomalies in the North Atlantic were non-existent,and the related atmospheric circulation anomalies were extremely weak,thereby leading to the linkage between spring NAO and WNP TC genesis frequency in the following summer being insignificant.

Downscaling and Disaggregating NAO-conflict Nexus in Pre-industrial Europe

Recently, the desiccation effect of the North Atlantic Oscillation(NAO) is found to be positively correlated with violent conflict in pre-industrial Europe, with agricultural shrinkage and its subsequent economic shocks to be their causal link. However, it remains unexplored whether the correlation persists if the study period is extended backward in time, a different definition of violent conflict is applied, or the relationship is examined at lower geographic levels. In this study, we based on 835 internal disturbance incidents in Europe during 1049–1800 to conduct long-temporal and multi-scalar examination on the NAO-conflict nexus. ′Time-series′ and ′panel data′ disaggregation approaches, together with Granger Causality, Multiple Regression, and Survival Analyses were applied to verify the nexus quantitatively. Results show that the positive NAO-conflict correlation was significant at the continent and physiographic zone levels. During the positive NAO phases, the annual probability of internal disturbance outbreak increased by 70.0% in the southern Europe and the Mediterranean, a zone most affected by the NAO-induced desiccation effect. Yet, the NAO-conflict correlation was rather inconsistent when it was downscaled to the sub-regional level. Moreover, the NAO-conflict correlation was inflated under the time-series approach, while the panel data approach demonstrated the region-specific nature of the NAO forcing more clearly. The associated implications in examining climate-conflict nexus are discussed. Our findings may be crucial in examining violent conflict in the northwestern Africa, a highly agricultural region affected by the NAO.

Recent Weakening in Interannual Variability of Mean Tropical Cyclogenesis Latitude over the Western North Pacific during Boreal Summer

The intensity of the interannual variability(IIV)of the mean tropical cyclone(TC)genesis latitude over the western North Pacific(WNP)has been weakening significantly since the late 1990 s.It is found that the IIV of the mean TC genesis latitude depends largely on the strength of the out-of-phase relationship between TC genesis numbers in the north(north of 15°N)and south(south of 15°N)of the WNP.A weaker(stronger)north–south TC see-saw has led to a smaller(larger)IIV of the mean TC genesis latitude after(before)the late 1990 s.Different configurations of sea surface temperature(SST)anomalies are found to be responsible for the decadal changes in the north–south TC see-saw and dipole structure.Before the late 1990 s,the joint effect of SST anomalies over the tropical Pacific and tropical North Indian Ocean dominated,rendering the obvious north–south TC see-saw and larger IIV of the mean TC genesis latitude.After the late 1990 s,however,the dominant SST anomalies associated with TC genesis shift to the tropical central Pacific(CP)and tropical North Atlantic Ocean,which have weakened the north–south TC seesaw and reduced the IIV of the mean TC genesis latitude.These observed decadal changes in the configuration of SST anomalies are considered to be closely associated with the shift of the El Ni?o–Southern Oscillation(ENSO)from eastern Pacific(EP)type to the CP type during the recent decades.The results suggest that the increased influences from the tropical Atlantic Ocean have become more important to the variations of TC activity in the WNP during the recent decades.These results may have important implications for assessing the latitudinal distributions of TC-induced hazards.