scholarly journals Dynamics of Synoptic Eddy and Low-Frequency Flow Interaction. Part II: A Theory for Low-Frequency Modes

2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (7) ◽  
pp. 1695-1708 ◽  
Author(s):  
F-F. Jin ◽  
L-L. Pan ◽  
M. Watanabe
Keyword(s):  
Storm Track ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Prototype Model ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Zonal Scale ◽  
Synoptic Eddy ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Storm Track Activity ◽  
Recurrent Patterns ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract Amidst stormy atmospheric circulation, there are prominent recurrent patterns of variability in the planetary circulation, such as the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO), Arctic Oscillation (AO) or North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and the Pacific–North America (PNA) pattern. The role of the synoptic eddy and low-frequency flow (SELF) feedback in the formation of these dominant low-frequency modes is investigated in this paper using the linear barotropic model with the SELF feedback proposed in Part I. It is found that the AO-like and AAO-like leading singular modes of the linear dynamical system emerge from the stormy background flow as the result of a positive SELF feedback. This SELF feedback also prefers a PNA-like singular vector as well among other modes under the climatological conditions of northern winters. A model with idealized conditions of basic mean flow and activity of synoptic eddy flow and a prototype model are also used to illustrate that there is a natural scale selection for the AAO- and AO-like modes through the positive SELF feedback. The zonal scale of the localized features in the Atlantic (southern Indian Ocean) for AO (AAO) is largely related to the zonal extent of the enhanced storm track activity in the region. The meridional dipole structures of AO- and AAO-like low-frequency modes are favored because of the scale-selective positive SELF feedback, which can be heuristically understood by the tilted-trough mechanism.

scholarly journals Using Mean Flow Change as a Proxy to Infer Interdecadal Storm Track Variability

2003 ◽  
Vol 16 (13) ◽  
pp. 2178-2196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edmund K. M. Chang ◽  
Yunfei Fu
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Secular Trend ◽  
Storm Track ◽  
Reanalysis Data ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Sea Level Pressure ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Storm Track Activity ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Rawinsonde Data

Abstract Several recent studies, based mainly on analyses of reanalysis data, have suggested that the Northern Hemisphere storm tracks have intensified during the second half of the twentieth century. However, comparisons with rawinsonde observations over land areas suggest that eddy variance/covariance statistics may contain spurious jumps that had led to an exaggeration of the storm track secular trend. In this study, storm track variations are inferred from mean flow anomalies using canonical correlation analysis (CCA). A CCA model relating storm track anomalies to mean flow anomalies is derived using recent, more reliable data. The model is then applied to infer storm track anamalies using mean flow anomalies for earlier periods, when storm track analyses are deemed more suspect (or even nonexistent). Results of the CCA analyses suggest that the strong secular trend observed over the Atlantic basin and Europe is consistent with mean flow anomalies, while CCA predictions based on mean flow changes suggest only a much weaker trend in the Pacific storm track activity than that present in the reanalysis data. Over the regions where comparisons with rawinsonde data can be made, the interdecadal trends inferred by the CCA model are quite consistent with rawinsonde data over the Pacific storm track entrance and exit regions, as well as the Atlantic storm track exit regions, but are inconsistent with rawinsonde observations and reanalysis data over northeastern North America, where CCA predictions are generally poor. A CCA hindcast based on Trenberth and Paolino mean sea level pressure data as a predictor shows no indication that the secular increase in storm track intensity extends further back prior to 1960, suggesting that during the entire twentieth century, storm track activity was weakest during the 1960s.

Variations of Northern Hemisphere Storm Track and Extratropical Cyclone Activity Associated with the Madden–Julian Oscillation

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (13) ◽  
pp. 4799-4818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanjuan Guo ◽  
Toshiaki Shinoda ◽  
Jialin Lin ◽  
Edmund K. M. Chang
Keyword(s):  
Storm Track ◽  
Meridional Wind ◽  
Reanalysis Data ◽  
Boreal Winter ◽  
Madden Julian Oscillation ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Cyclone Activity ◽  
Intraseasonal Variations ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Cyclone Frequency

This study investigates the intraseasonal variations of the Northern Hemispheric storm track associated with the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) during the extended boreal winter (November–April) using 36 yr (1979–2014) of reanalysis data from ERA-Interim. Two methods have been used to diagnose storm-track variations. In the first method, the storm track is quantified by the temporal-filtered variance of 250-hPa meridional wind (vv250) or mean sea level pressure (pp). The intraseasonal anomalies of vv250 composited for eight MJO phases are characterized by a zonal band of strong positive (or negative) anomalies meandering from the Pacific all the way across North America and the Atlantic into northern Europe, with weaker anomalies of opposite sign at one or both flanks. The results based on pp are consistent with those based on vv250 except for larger zonal variations, which may be induced by surface topography. In the second method, an objective cyclone-tracking scheme has been used to track the extratropical cyclones that compose the storm track. The MJO-composite anomalies of the “accumulated” cyclone activity, a quantity that includes contributions from both the cyclone frequency and cyclone mean intensity, are very similar to those based on pp. Further analysis demonstrates that major contribution comes from variations in the cyclone frequency. Further analysis suggests that the intraseasonal variations of the storm track can be primarily attributed to the variations of the mean flow that responds to the anomalous MJO convections in the tropics, with possible contribution also from the moisture variations.

scholarly journals Eddy-Induced Growth Rate of Low-Frequency Variability and Its Mid- to Late Winter Suppression in the Northern Hemisphere

2014 ◽  
Vol 71 (7) ◽  
pp. 2281-2298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong-Li Ren ◽  
Fei-Fei Jin ◽  
Jong-Seong Kug
Keyword(s):  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Storm Track ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Lower Troposphere ◽  
Surface Friction ◽  
Late Winter ◽  
Wind Maximum ◽  
Low Frequency Variability ◽  
Storm Track Activity ◽  
Effect Of Surface

Abstract Synoptic eddy and low-frequency flow (SELF) feedback plays an important role in reinforcing low-frequency variability (LFV). Recent studies showed that an eddy-induced growth (EIG) or instability makes a fundamental contribution to the maintenance of LFV. To quantify the efficiency of the SELF feedback, this study examines the spatiotemporal features of the empirical diagnostics of EIG and its associations with LFV. The results show that, in terms of eddy vorticity forcing, the EIG rate of LFV is generally larger (smaller) in the upper (lower) troposphere, whereas, in terms of eddy potential vorticity forcing, it is larger in the lower troposphere to partly balance the damping effect of surface friction. The local EIG rate shows a horizontal spatial distribution that corresponds to storm-track activity, which tends to be responsible for maintaining LFV amplitudes and patterns as well as sustaining eddy-driven jets. In fact, the EIG rate has a well-defined seasonality, being generally larger in cold seasons and smaller in the warmest season, and this seasonality is stronger in the Northern Hemisphere than in the Southern Hemisphere. This study also reveals a mid- to late winter (January–March) suppression of the EIG rate in the Northern Hemisphere, which indicates a reduced eddy feedback efficiency and may be largely attributed to the eddy kinetic energy suppression and the midlatitude zonal wind maximum in the midwinter of the Northern Hemisphere.

scholarly journals Ocean and Atmosphere Storm Tracks: The Role of Eddy Vorticity Forcing

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (9) ◽  
pp. 2267-2289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard G. Williams ◽  
Chris Wilson ◽  
Chris W. Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Storm Track ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Storm Tracks ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Ocean Eddies ◽  
Boundary Currents ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract Signatures of eddy variability and vorticity forcing are diagnosed in the atmosphere and ocean from weather center reanalysis and altimetric data broadly covering the same period, 1992–2002. In the atmosphere, there are localized regions of eddy variability referred to as storm tracks. At the entrance of the storm track the eddies grow, providing a downgradient heat flux and accelerating the mean flow eastward. At the exit and downstream of the storm track, the eddies decay and instead provide a westward acceleration. In the ocean, there are similar regions of enhanced eddy variability along the extension of midlatitude boundary currents and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Within these regions of high eddy kinetic energy, there are more localized signals of high Eady growth rate and downgradient eddy heat fluxes. As in the atmosphere, there are localized regions in the Southern Ocean where ocean eddies provide statistically significant vorticity forcing, which acts to accelerate the mean flow eastward, provide torques to shift the jet, or decelerate the mean flow. These regions of significant eddy vorticity forcing are often associated with gaps in the topography, suggesting that the ocean jets are being locally steered by topography. The eddy forcing may also act to assist in the separation of boundary currents, although the diagnostics of this study suggest that this contribution is relatively small when compared with the advection of planetary vorticity by the time-mean flow.

Kinematics of Eddy–Mean Flow Interaction in an Idealized Atmospheric Model

2013 ◽  
Vol 70 (8) ◽  
pp. 2574-2595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergey Kravtsov ◽  
Sergey K. Gulev
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Storm Track ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Atmospheric Model ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Atmospheric Variability ◽  
Low Frequencies ◽  
The North ◽  
Position Time Series

Abstract The authors analyze atmospheric variability simulated in a two-layer baroclinic β-channel quasigeostrophic model by combining Eulerian and feature-tracking analysis approaches. The leading mode of the model's low-frequency variability (LFV) is associated with the irregular shifts of the zonal-mean jet to the north and south of its climatological position accompanied by simultaneous intensification of the jet, while the deviations from the zonal-mean fields are dominated by propagating anomalies with wavenumbers 3–5. The model's variability is shown to stem from the life cycles of cyclones and anticyclones. In particular, synthetic streamfunction fields constructed by launching idealized composite-mean eddies along the actual full-model-simulated cyclone/anticyclone tracks reproduce nearly perfectly not only the dominant propagating waves, but also the jet-shifting LFV. The composite eddy tracks conditioned on the phase of the jet-shifting variability migrate north or south along with the zonal-mean jet. The synoptic-eddy life cycles in the states with poleward (equatorward) zonal-jet shift exhibit longer-than-climatological lifetimes; this is caused, arguably, by a barotropic feedback associated with preferred anticyclonic (cyclonic) wave breaking in these respective states. Lagged correlation and cross-spectrum analyses of zonal-mean jet position time series and the time series representing mean latitudinal location of the eddies at a given time demonstrate that jet latitude leads the storm-track latitude at low frequencies. This indicates that the LFV associated with the jet-shifting mode here is more dynamically involved than being a mere consequence of the random variations in the distribution of the synoptic systems.

Role of the Tibetan Plateau on the Annual Variation of Mean Atmospheric Circulation and Storm-Track Activity*

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (14) ◽  
pp. 5270-5286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sun-Seon Lee ◽  
June-Yi Lee ◽  
Kyung-Ja Ha ◽  
Bin Wang ◽  
Akio Kitoh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Atmospheric Circulation ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Annual Variation ◽  
Storm Track ◽  
Monsoon Circulation ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Storm Track Activity ◽  
Midwinter Suppression

Abstract This study reexamines how the Tibetan Plateau (TP) modulates the annual variation of atmospheric circulation and storm-track activity based on the Meteorological Research Institute's atmosphere–ocean coupled model experiments with a progressive TP uplift from 0% to 100% of the present height. Three major roles of the TP on atmospheric circulation and storm-track activity are identified. First, consistent with a previous finding, the TP tends to intensify the upper-level jet and enhance baroclinicity in the North Pacific Ocean but significantly weaken storm-track activity over the TP, East Asia, and the western North Pacific during the cold season. Second, the TP amplifies stationary waves that are closely linked to transient eddies. In particular, the TP enhances the Siberian high and the Aleutian low, which together contribute to the strengthening of the East Asian winter monsoon circulation and the weakening of storm-track activity. Third, the TP significantly modulates the subseasonal variability of the Pacific storm-track (PST) activity. In particular, the TP tends to suppress PST activity during midwinter despite the fact that it strengthens baroclinicity along the Pacific jet. The midwinter suppression of PST activity, which is well reproduced in a control run with a realistic TP, gradually disappears as the TP height decreases. Major factors for the midwinter suppression of the PST associated with the TP include the 1) destructive effect of an excessively strong jet leading to an inefficiency of barotropic energy conversion, 2) reduction of baroclinicity over the northern part of the TP, and 3) subseasonally varying SST change and resulting moist static energy.

scholarly journals Eddy-Induced Instability for Low-Frequency Variability

2010 ◽  
Vol 67 (6) ◽  
pp. 1947-1964 ◽  
Author(s):  
F-F. Jin
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Instability ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Basic Flow ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Eddy Activity ◽  
Planetary Scale ◽  
Synoptic Eddy ◽  
Low Frequency Variability ◽  
Eddy Structures ◽  
Scale Perturbation

Abstract Synoptic eddy–mean flow interaction has been recognized as one of the key sources for extratropical low-frequency variability. In this paper, the underlying dynamics of this interaction are examined from the perspective of a synoptic eddy-induced dynamic instability. To delineate this instability, a barotropic model is used that is linearized with respect to a stochastic basic flow prescribed with both climatologic-mean flow and synoptic eddy statistics. This linear model captures the dynamics of feedback between synoptic eddy and low-frequency flow through a dynamic closure that relates the anomalous eddy vorticity forcing to low-frequency flow anomalies. After reducing this dynamic closure to its fundamental components, this stability is elucidated with analytical results under the most idealized consideration of basic flow. It is shown that through systematic alteration of the synoptic eddy structures in the basic flow, a low-frequency planetary-scale perturbation generates anomalous eddy vorticity forcing positively proportional to the vorticity of the perturbation. Such a perturbation amplifies itself; the energy source for its growth comes from the reservoir residing in the basic synoptic eddy activity. Thus, the growth rate of the synoptic eddy-induced dynamic instability depends primarily on the kinetic energy level of the basic synoptic eddy activity. Moreover, this instability is scale selective with preference for zonal symmetric and asymmetric planetary-scale modes, whose meridional and zonal scales are roughly in the range of those of the observed leading low-frequency patterns. Analysis of this synoptic eddy-induced instability provides insight into the origin of extratropical low-frequency variability.

Dynamics of Synoptic Eddy and Low-Frequency Flow Interaction. Part I: A Linear Closure

2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (7) ◽  
pp. 1677-1694 ◽  
Author(s):  
F-F. Jin ◽  
L-L. Pan ◽  
M. Watanabe
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Circulation ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
The Self ◽  
Quasi Equilibrium ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Linear Dynamic ◽  
Synoptic Eddy ◽  
Linear Framework ◽  
Low Frequency Variability

Abstract The interaction between synoptic eddy and low-frequency flow (SELF) has been recognized for decades to play an important role in the dynamics of the low-frequency variability of the atmospheric circulation. In this three-part study a linear framework with a stochastic basic flow capturing both the climatological mean flow and climatological measures of the synoptic eddy flow is proposed. Based on this linear framework, a set of linear dynamic equations is derived for the ensemble-mean eddy forcing that is generated by anomalous time-mean flows. By assuming that such dynamically determined eddy-forcing anomalies approximately represent the time-mean anomalies of the synoptic eddy forcing and by using a quasi-equilibrium approximation, an analytical nonlocal dynamical closure is obtained for the two-way SELF feedback. This linear closure, directly relating time-mean anomalies of the synoptic eddy forcing to the anomalous time–mean flow, becomes an internal part of a new linear dynamic system for anomalous time–mean flow that is referred to as the low-frequency variability of the atmospheric circulation in this paper. In Part I, the basic approach for the SELF closure is illustrated using a barotropic model. The SELF closure is tested through the comparison of the observed eddy-forcing patterns associated with the leading low-frequency modes with those derived using the SELF feedback closure. Examples are also given to illustrate an important role played by the SELF feedback in regulating the atmospheric responses to remote forcing. Further applications of the closure for understanding the dynamics of low-frequency modes as well as the extension of the closure to a multilevel primitive equation model will be given in Parts II and III, respectively.

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