The behavior of extreme cold air outbreaks under greenhouse warming

2006 ◽  
Vol 26 (9) ◽  
pp. 1133-1147 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Vavrus ◽  
J. E. Walsh ◽  
W. L. Chapman ◽  
D. Portis
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Warming ◽  
Cold Air ◽  
Extreme Cold ◽  
Cold Air Outbreaks

scholarly journals Synoptic Analysis of Cold Air Outbreaks over the California Central Valley

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (23) ◽  
pp. 9417-9433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Grotjahn ◽  
Rui Zhang
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
West Coast ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Central Valley ◽  
Gulf Of Alaska ◽  
Surface Flow ◽  
Cold Air ◽  
Extreme Cold ◽  
Continental Interior ◽  
Cold Air Outbreaks

How does extreme cold air reach the California Central Valley (CCV) and most of the U.S. west coast? This question is answered using composite patterns for the 10 coldest cold air outbreaks (CAOs) to reach the CCV during 1979–2013. While unusually cold air over California occurs in all events by design, how it arrives there is complicated and varies. The only other feature present in all events for several days prior to CAO onset is unusually strong surface high pressure in and south of the Gulf of Alaska. This high has low-level cold air on its west side and a deep layer of cold air moving southward on its east side. Cold air aloft flows parallel to the North American west coast and sinks as it approaches the CCV. Farther west, warm advection builds a ridge aloft. The large-scale meteorological pattern (LSMP) is equivalent barotropic. The LSMP’s ridge over Alaska, trough near California, and ridge over the southeastern United States appear in all cases by onset and resemble the Pacific–North American teleconnection pattern. Cross sections show cold air flowing from the continental interior consistent with a strong pressure gradient created by extreme cold in the continental interior. Where and when the interior cold and surface flow occurs varies between events. A geopotential height trough associated with that cold air aloft passes over the CCV before onset fostering sinking behind that is reinforced by the cold air advection below. Although sinking, as a locally defined anomaly, the cold intensifies as it migrates from the polar region to the climatologically warmer CCV.

scholarly journals Projections of Cold Air Outbreaks In CMIP6 Earth System Models

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik T. Smith ◽  
Scott Sheridan
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Cold Air ◽  
Complex Processes ◽  
The North ◽  
Meridional Overturning ◽  
Earth System Models ◽  
Cold Air Outbreaks

Abstract Historical and future simulated temperature data from five climate models in the Coupled Model Intercomparing Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) are used to understand how climate change might alter cold air outbreaks (CAOs) in the future. Three different Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), SSP 1 – 2.6, SSP 2 – 4.5, and SSP 5 – 8.5 are examined to identify potential fluctuations in CAOs across the globe between 2015 and 2054. Though CAOs may remain persistent or even increase in some regions through 2040, all five climate models show CAOs disappearing by 2054 based on current climate percentiles. Climate models were able to accurately simulate the spatial distribution and trends of historical CAOs, but there were large errors in the simulated interannual frequency of CAOs in the North Atlantic and North Pacific. Fluctuations in complex processes, such as Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, may be contributing to each model’s inability to simulate historical CAOs in these regions.

On the use of a coupled ocean–atmosphere–wave model during an extreme cold air outbreak over the Adriatic Sea

2016 ◽  
Vol 172-173 ◽  
pp. 48-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Ricchi ◽  
Mario Marcello Miglietta ◽  
Pier Paolo Falco ◽  
Alvise Benetazzo ◽  
Davide Bonaldo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adriatic Sea ◽  
Wave Model ◽  
Cold Air ◽  
Cold Air Outbreak ◽  
Ocean Atmosphere ◽  
Extreme Cold

The Climatology, Meteorology, and Boundary Layer Structure of Marine Cold Air Outbreaks in Both Hemispheres*

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 1999-2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Fletcher ◽  
Shannon Mason ◽  
Christian Jakob
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Layer Structure ◽  
Zonal Flow ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Pressure Gradients ◽  
Cold Air ◽  
Surface Heat Fluxes ◽  
Cold Air Outbreak ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Cold Air Outbreaks

Abstract A comparison of marine cold air outbreaks (MCAOs) in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres is presented, with attention to their seasonality, frequency of occurrence, and strength as measured by a cold air outbreak index. When considered on a gridpoint-by-gridpoint basis, MCAOs are more severe and more frequent in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) than the Southern Hemisphere (SH) in winter. However, when MCAOs are viewed as individual events regardless of horizontal extent, they occur more frequently in the SH. This is fundamentally because NH MCAOs are larger and stronger than those in the SH. MCAOs occur throughout the year, but in warm seasons and in the SH they are smaller and weaker than in cold seasons and in the NH. In both hemispheres, strong MCAOs occupy the cold air sector of midlatitude cyclones, which generally appear to be in their growth phase. Weak MCAOs in the SH occur under generally zonal flow with a slight northward component associated with weak zonal pressure gradients, while weak NH MCAOs occur under such a wide range of conditions that no characteristic synoptic pattern emerges from compositing. Strong boundary layer deepening, warming, and moistening occur as a result of the surface heat fluxes within MCAOs.

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