Slow-down in summer warming over Greenland in the past decade linked to central Pacific El Niño
Abstract Greenland warming and ice loss have slowed down since the early 2010s, in contrast to the rest of the Arctic region. Both natural variability and anthropogenic forcing contribute to recent Greenland warming by reducing cloud cover and surface albedo, yet most climate models are unable to re...
Published in: | Communications Earth & Environment |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Other Authors: | |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
2021
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00329-x https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00329-x.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00329-x |
id |
crspringernat:10.1038/s43247-021-00329-x |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crspringernat:10.1038/s43247-021-00329-x 2023-05-15T13:11:14+02:00 Slow-down in summer warming over Greenland in the past decade linked to central Pacific El Niño Matsumura, Shinji Yamazaki, Koji Suzuki, Kazuyoshi Joint Research Program of the Japan Arctic Research Network Center 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00329-x https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00329-x.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00329-x en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Communications Earth & Environment volume 2, issue 1 ISSN 2662-4435 General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science journal-article 2021 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00329-x 2022-01-04T10:26:31Z Abstract Greenland warming and ice loss have slowed down since the early 2010s, in contrast to the rest of the Arctic region. Both natural variability and anthropogenic forcing contribute to recent Greenland warming by reducing cloud cover and surface albedo, yet most climate models are unable to reasonably simulate the unforced natural variability. Here we show that a simplified atmospheric circulation model successfully simulates an atmospheric teleconnection from the tropics towards Greenland, which accounts for Greenland cooling through an intensified cyclonic circulation. Synthesis from observational analysis and model experiments indicate that over the last decade, more central Pacific El Niño events than canonical El Niño events have generated the atmospheric teleconnection by shifting the tropical rainfall zone poleward, which led to an intensified cyclonic circulation over Greenland. The intensified cyclonic circulation further extends into the Arctic Ocean in observations, whereas the model does not show a direct remote forcing from the tropics, implying the contribution of an indirect atmospheric forcing. We conclude that the frequent occurrence of central Pacific El Niño events has played a key role in the slow-down of Greenland warming and possibly Arctic sea-ice loss. Article in Journal/Newspaper albedo Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Sea ice Springer Nature (via Crossref) Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Pacific Communications Earth & Environment 2 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science |
spellingShingle |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science Matsumura, Shinji Yamazaki, Koji Suzuki, Kazuyoshi Slow-down in summer warming over Greenland in the past decade linked to central Pacific El Niño |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science |
description |
Abstract Greenland warming and ice loss have slowed down since the early 2010s, in contrast to the rest of the Arctic region. Both natural variability and anthropogenic forcing contribute to recent Greenland warming by reducing cloud cover and surface albedo, yet most climate models are unable to reasonably simulate the unforced natural variability. Here we show that a simplified atmospheric circulation model successfully simulates an atmospheric teleconnection from the tropics towards Greenland, which accounts for Greenland cooling through an intensified cyclonic circulation. Synthesis from observational analysis and model experiments indicate that over the last decade, more central Pacific El Niño events than canonical El Niño events have generated the atmospheric teleconnection by shifting the tropical rainfall zone poleward, which led to an intensified cyclonic circulation over Greenland. The intensified cyclonic circulation further extends into the Arctic Ocean in observations, whereas the model does not show a direct remote forcing from the tropics, implying the contribution of an indirect atmospheric forcing. We conclude that the frequent occurrence of central Pacific El Niño events has played a key role in the slow-down of Greenland warming and possibly Arctic sea-ice loss. |
author2 |
Joint Research Program of the Japan Arctic Research Network Center |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Matsumura, Shinji Yamazaki, Koji Suzuki, Kazuyoshi |
author_facet |
Matsumura, Shinji Yamazaki, Koji Suzuki, Kazuyoshi |
author_sort |
Matsumura, Shinji |
title |
Slow-down in summer warming over Greenland in the past decade linked to central Pacific El Niño |
title_short |
Slow-down in summer warming over Greenland in the past decade linked to central Pacific El Niño |
title_full |
Slow-down in summer warming over Greenland in the past decade linked to central Pacific El Niño |
title_fullStr |
Slow-down in summer warming over Greenland in the past decade linked to central Pacific El Niño |
title_full_unstemmed |
Slow-down in summer warming over Greenland in the past decade linked to central Pacific El Niño |
title_sort |
slow-down in summer warming over greenland in the past decade linked to central pacific el niño |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00329-x https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00329-x.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00329-x |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Pacific |
genre |
albedo Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Sea ice |
genre_facet |
albedo Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Sea ice |
op_source |
Communications Earth & Environment volume 2, issue 1 ISSN 2662-4435 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00329-x |
container_title |
Communications Earth & Environment |
container_volume |
2 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1766246477898711040 |