Linkages between atmospheric circulation, climate and streamflow in the northern North Atlantic: research prospects
This paper evaluates the relationships between atmospheric circulation, climate and streamflow in the northern North Atlantic region over the last century and especially the last 50 years. Improved understanding of climatic influences on streamflow is vital given the great importance of fluvial proc...
Published in: | Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment |
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crsagepubl:10.1191/0309133306pp471ra 2023-05-15T15:11:33+02:00 Linkages between atmospheric circulation, climate and streamflow in the northern North Atlantic: research prospects Kingston, D. G. Lawler, D. M. McGregor, G. R. 2006 http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/0309133306pp471ra http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1191/0309133306pp471ra en eng SAGE Publications http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment volume 30, issue 2, page 143-174 ISSN 0309-1333 1477-0296 General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Geography, Planning and Development journal-article 2006 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1191/0309133306pp471ra 2022-09-21T19:47:15Z This paper evaluates the relationships between atmospheric circulation, climate and streamflow in the northern North Atlantic region over the last century and especially the last 50 years. Improved understanding of climatic influences on streamflow is vital given the great importance of fluvial processes to natural systems and water resources, especially in the light of recent and predicted climate change. The main focus lies with climatic and hydrologic implications of the major circulation patterns in the northern North Atlantic, namely the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and Arctic Oscillation (AO). The studies reviewed here reveal key relationships between circulation, climate and streamflow across the northern North Atlantic, allowing the construction of a simple conceptual model for this system. Generally positive NAO/AO-streamflow relationships are found in northwest Europe and northeast USA, with both positive and negative NAO/AO-streamflow linkages apparent for parts of eastern Canada. To help promote a better understanding of the system, several research gaps are identified and critically examined, including: the spatial scope and coverage of investigations; data quality and homogeneity; appropriateness of analytical techniques; and the need for greater knowledge and technique sharing between hydrology and climatology, particularly regarding the rigorous characterization of atmospheric circulation patterns. Among these, the development of seasonally varying, or mobile, NAO indices, to capture variations in subseasonal, seasonal and annual movements in the centres of action, and the need to develop analyses of more hydrologically meaningful climate variables beyond conventional time averaged statistics, are deemed particularly important. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation SAGE Publications (via Crossref) Arctic Canada Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment 30 2 143 174 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
SAGE Publications (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crsagepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Geography, Planning and Development |
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General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Geography, Planning and Development Kingston, D. G. Lawler, D. M. McGregor, G. R. Linkages between atmospheric circulation, climate and streamflow in the northern North Atlantic: research prospects |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Geography, Planning and Development |
description |
This paper evaluates the relationships between atmospheric circulation, climate and streamflow in the northern North Atlantic region over the last century and especially the last 50 years. Improved understanding of climatic influences on streamflow is vital given the great importance of fluvial processes to natural systems and water resources, especially in the light of recent and predicted climate change. The main focus lies with climatic and hydrologic implications of the major circulation patterns in the northern North Atlantic, namely the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and Arctic Oscillation (AO). The studies reviewed here reveal key relationships between circulation, climate and streamflow across the northern North Atlantic, allowing the construction of a simple conceptual model for this system. Generally positive NAO/AO-streamflow relationships are found in northwest Europe and northeast USA, with both positive and negative NAO/AO-streamflow linkages apparent for parts of eastern Canada. To help promote a better understanding of the system, several research gaps are identified and critically examined, including: the spatial scope and coverage of investigations; data quality and homogeneity; appropriateness of analytical techniques; and the need for greater knowledge and technique sharing between hydrology and climatology, particularly regarding the rigorous characterization of atmospheric circulation patterns. Among these, the development of seasonally varying, or mobile, NAO indices, to capture variations in subseasonal, seasonal and annual movements in the centres of action, and the need to develop analyses of more hydrologically meaningful climate variables beyond conventional time averaged statistics, are deemed particularly important. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kingston, D. G. Lawler, D. M. McGregor, G. R. |
author_facet |
Kingston, D. G. Lawler, D. M. McGregor, G. R. |
author_sort |
Kingston, D. G. |
title |
Linkages between atmospheric circulation, climate and streamflow in the northern North Atlantic: research prospects |
title_short |
Linkages between atmospheric circulation, climate and streamflow in the northern North Atlantic: research prospects |
title_full |
Linkages between atmospheric circulation, climate and streamflow in the northern North Atlantic: research prospects |
title_fullStr |
Linkages between atmospheric circulation, climate and streamflow in the northern North Atlantic: research prospects |
title_full_unstemmed |
Linkages between atmospheric circulation, climate and streamflow in the northern North Atlantic: research prospects |
title_sort |
linkages between atmospheric circulation, climate and streamflow in the northern north atlantic: research prospects |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/0309133306pp471ra http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1191/0309133306pp471ra |
geographic |
Arctic Canada |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada |
genre |
Arctic Climate change North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
op_source |
Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment volume 30, issue 2, page 143-174 ISSN 0309-1333 1477-0296 |
op_rights |
http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1191/0309133306pp471ra |
container_title |
Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment |
container_volume |
30 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
143 |
op_container_end_page |
174 |
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1766342385408671744 |