Subseasonal reversals of winter surface air temperature in mid-latitude Asia and the roles of westward-shift NAO

Reversals of surface air temperature anomalies over mid-latitude Asia (SAT _MA ) have become more frequent. Six winters have been reversed over the last decade, which had serious negative consequences for agricultural production, ecological systems, and human health. This subseasonal reversal can be...

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Main Authors: Xiaolei Song, Zhicong Yin, Yijia Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2023-01-01
Series:Environmental Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acb787
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author Xiaolei Song
Zhicong Yin
Yijia Zhang
author_facet Xiaolei Song
Zhicong Yin
Yijia Zhang
author_sort Xiaolei Song
collection DOAJ
description Reversals of surface air temperature anomalies over mid-latitude Asia (SAT _MA ) have become more frequent. Six winters have been reversed over the last decade, which had serious negative consequences for agricultural production, ecological systems, and human health. This subseasonal reversal can be observed in the second mode of season-reliant empirical orthogonal function analysis, showing a persistent opposite anomaly between early and late winter. The difference in SAT _MA between early and late winter exceeds 3 °C when the reversal occurs. At the time of the reversal, the North Atlantic jet stream extends eastward in early winter and recedes westward in late winter. The main influencing system changes from the Scandinavia teleconnection to the Ural blocking high, accompanied by a change from strong southerly to northerly winds. These factors jointly lead to the reversal of SAT _MA between early and late winter. More importantly, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) has been shown to affect SAT _MA variability in a variety of different ways. Changes in SAT _MA are influenced not only by the intensity of the NAO, but also by its spatial distribution. When the southern center of the NAO shifts westward and is located over the North Atlantic, atmospheric circulation and SAT _MA in early and late winter show similar changes to those seen in SAT _MA reversal winters. In contrast, when the NAO southern center shifts eastward and is located over Western Europe, persistent anomalies are observed in atmospheric circulation and SAT _MA throughout the winter. Therefore, when studying the relationship between SAT _MA and the NAO, attention should be paid to the different responses of SAT _MA to the spatial distribution of the NAO at subseasonal timescales.
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spelling doaj.art-9d0bf0af61144aa38ce8839e8f906f792023-08-09T15:13:12ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262023-01-0118303401810.1088/1748-9326/acb787Subseasonal reversals of winter surface air temperature in mid-latitude Asia and the roles of westward-shift NAOXiaolei Song0Zhicong Yin1Yijia Zhang2Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education/Joint International Research Laboratory of Climate and Environment Change (ILCEC)/Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters (CIC-FEMD), Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology , Nanjing 210044, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education/Joint International Research Laboratory of Climate and Environment Change (ILCEC)/Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters (CIC-FEMD), Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology , Nanjing 210044, People’s Republic of China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai) , Zhuhai, People’s Republic of China; Nansen-Zhu International Research Centre, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education/Joint International Research Laboratory of Climate and Environment Change (ILCEC)/Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters (CIC-FEMD), Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology , Nanjing 210044, People’s Republic of ChinaReversals of surface air temperature anomalies over mid-latitude Asia (SAT _MA ) have become more frequent. Six winters have been reversed over the last decade, which had serious negative consequences for agricultural production, ecological systems, and human health. This subseasonal reversal can be observed in the second mode of season-reliant empirical orthogonal function analysis, showing a persistent opposite anomaly between early and late winter. The difference in SAT _MA between early and late winter exceeds 3 °C when the reversal occurs. At the time of the reversal, the North Atlantic jet stream extends eastward in early winter and recedes westward in late winter. The main influencing system changes from the Scandinavia teleconnection to the Ural blocking high, accompanied by a change from strong southerly to northerly winds. These factors jointly lead to the reversal of SAT _MA between early and late winter. More importantly, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) has been shown to affect SAT _MA variability in a variety of different ways. Changes in SAT _MA are influenced not only by the intensity of the NAO, but also by its spatial distribution. When the southern center of the NAO shifts westward and is located over the North Atlantic, atmospheric circulation and SAT _MA in early and late winter show similar changes to those seen in SAT _MA reversal winters. In contrast, when the NAO southern center shifts eastward and is located over Western Europe, persistent anomalies are observed in atmospheric circulation and SAT _MA throughout the winter. Therefore, when studying the relationship between SAT _MA and the NAO, attention should be paid to the different responses of SAT _MA to the spatial distribution of the NAO at subseasonal timescales.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acb787subseasonal reversalsurface air temperatureUral blocking highScandinavia teleconnectionNAONorth Atlantic jet stream
spellingShingle Xiaolei Song
Zhicong Yin
Yijia Zhang
Subseasonal reversals of winter surface air temperature in mid-latitude Asia and the roles of westward-shift NAO
Environmental Research Letters
subseasonal reversal
surface air temperature
Ural blocking high
Scandinavia teleconnection
NAO
North Atlantic jet stream
title Subseasonal reversals of winter surface air temperature in mid-latitude Asia and the roles of westward-shift NAO
title_full Subseasonal reversals of winter surface air temperature in mid-latitude Asia and the roles of westward-shift NAO
title_fullStr Subseasonal reversals of winter surface air temperature in mid-latitude Asia and the roles of westward-shift NAO
title_full_unstemmed Subseasonal reversals of winter surface air temperature in mid-latitude Asia and the roles of westward-shift NAO
title_short Subseasonal reversals of winter surface air temperature in mid-latitude Asia and the roles of westward-shift NAO
title_sort subseasonal reversals of winter surface air temperature in mid latitude asia and the roles of westward shift nao
topic subseasonal reversal
surface air temperature
Ural blocking high
Scandinavia teleconnection
NAO
North Atlantic jet stream
url https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acb787
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