A Synergistic Effect of Blockings on a Persistent Strong Cold Surge in East Asia in January 2018
A persistent strong cold surge occurred in East Asia in late January 2018, causing mean near-surface air temperature in China to hit the second lowest since 1984. Moreover, the daily mean air temperature remained persistently negative for more than 20 days. Here, we find that a synergistic effect of...
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MDPI AG
2020-02-01
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| Series: | Atmosphere |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/11/2/215 |
| _version_ | 1818548294074236928 |
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| author | Wei Dong Liang Zhao Shunwu Zhou Xinyong Shen |
| author_facet | Wei Dong Liang Zhao Shunwu Zhou Xinyong Shen |
| author_sort | Wei Dong |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A persistent strong cold surge occurred in East Asia in late January 2018, causing mean near-surface air temperature in China to hit the second lowest since 1984. Moreover, the daily mean air temperature remained persistently negative for more than 20 days. Here, we find that a synergistic effect of double blockings in Western Europe and North America plays an important accelerating role in the rapid phase transition of Arctic Oscillation and an amplifying role in the strength of cold air preceding to the cold surge outbreaks by the use of an isentropic potential vorticity analysis. In mid-January, an Atlantic mid-latitude anticyclone merged with Western Europe blocking, which led to a strengthening of the blocking. Simultaneously, the Pacific-North American blocking was also significantly strengthened. The two blockings synchronously deeply stretched towards the Arctic, which resulted in, on the one hand, warm and moist air of the Pacific and the Atlantic being excessively transported into the Arctic, and on the other hand, the polar vortex being split and cold air being squeezed southwards and accumulating extensively on the West Siberian Plain. After the breakdown of the double blocking pattern, which lasted for about 10 days, the record-breaking cold surge broke out in East Asia. It was discovered that the synergistic effect of double blockings extending into the Arctic, which is conducive to extreme cold events, has been rapidly increasing in recent years. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T08:18:02Z |
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| id | doaj.art-4ca53e71a66d483b83ef56c4b228f5b9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4433 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T08:18:02Z |
| publishDate | 2020-02-01 |
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| series | Atmosphere |
| spelling | doaj.art-4ca53e71a66d483b83ef56c4b228f5b92022-12-22T00:31:30ZengMDPI AGAtmosphere2073-44332020-02-0111221510.3390/atmos11020215atmos11020215A Synergistic Effect of Blockings on a Persistent Strong Cold Surge in East Asia in January 2018Wei Dong0Liang Zhao1Shunwu Zhou2Xinyong Shen3Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education/Joint International Research Laboratory of Climate and Environment Change/Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmosphere Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (LASG), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, ChinaKey Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education/Joint International Research Laboratory of Climate and Environment Change/Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, ChinaKey Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education/Joint International Research Laboratory of Climate and Environment Change/Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, ChinaA persistent strong cold surge occurred in East Asia in late January 2018, causing mean near-surface air temperature in China to hit the second lowest since 1984. Moreover, the daily mean air temperature remained persistently negative for more than 20 days. Here, we find that a synergistic effect of double blockings in Western Europe and North America plays an important accelerating role in the rapid phase transition of Arctic Oscillation and an amplifying role in the strength of cold air preceding to the cold surge outbreaks by the use of an isentropic potential vorticity analysis. In mid-January, an Atlantic mid-latitude anticyclone merged with Western Europe blocking, which led to a strengthening of the blocking. Simultaneously, the Pacific-North American blocking was also significantly strengthened. The two blockings synchronously deeply stretched towards the Arctic, which resulted in, on the one hand, warm and moist air of the Pacific and the Atlantic being excessively transported into the Arctic, and on the other hand, the polar vortex being split and cold air being squeezed southwards and accumulating extensively on the West Siberian Plain. After the breakdown of the double blocking pattern, which lasted for about 10 days, the record-breaking cold surge broke out in East Asia. It was discovered that the synergistic effect of double blockings extending into the Arctic, which is conducive to extreme cold events, has been rapidly increasing in recent years.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/11/2/215synergistic effectblockingsarctic oscillationcold surgeextreme event |
| spellingShingle | Wei Dong Liang Zhao Shunwu Zhou Xinyong Shen A Synergistic Effect of Blockings on a Persistent Strong Cold Surge in East Asia in January 2018 Atmosphere synergistic effect blockings arctic oscillation cold surge extreme event |
| title | A Synergistic Effect of Blockings on a Persistent Strong Cold Surge in East Asia in January 2018 |
| title_full | A Synergistic Effect of Blockings on a Persistent Strong Cold Surge in East Asia in January 2018 |
| title_fullStr | A Synergistic Effect of Blockings on a Persistent Strong Cold Surge in East Asia in January 2018 |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Synergistic Effect of Blockings on a Persistent Strong Cold Surge in East Asia in January 2018 |
| title_short | A Synergistic Effect of Blockings on a Persistent Strong Cold Surge in East Asia in January 2018 |
| title_sort | synergistic effect of blockings on a persistent strong cold surge in east asia in january 2018 |
| topic | synergistic effect blockings arctic oscillation cold surge extreme event |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/11/2/215 |
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