Opposing Effects of Reflective and Nonreflective Planetary Wave Breaking on the NAO
Planetary wave breaking (PWB) over the subtropical North Atlantic is observed over 45 winters (December 1958–March 2003) using NCEP–NCAR reanalysis data. PWB is manifested in the rapid, large-scale and irreversible overturning of potential vorticity (PV) contours on isentropic surfaces in the subtro...
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ftcdlib:qt00f1b48n 2023-05-15T17:26:38+02:00 Opposing Effects of Reflective and Nonreflective Planetary Wave Breaking on the NAO Abatzoglou, John T Magnusdottir, Gudrun 3448 - 3457 2006-12-01 application/pdf http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/00f1b48n english eng eScholarship, University of California qt00f1b48n http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/00f1b48n Attribution (CC BY): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ CC-BY Abatzoglou, John T; & Magnusdottir, Gudrun. (2006). Opposing Effects of Reflective and Nonreflective Planetary Wave Breaking on the NAO. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 63(12), 3448 - 3457. doi:10.1175/JAS3809.1. UC Irvine: Department of Earth System Science, UCI. Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/00f1b48n Physical Sciences and Mathematics 3-dimensional tropospheric flows asian summer monsoon lower stratosphere hadley circulation stationary waves climatology tropopause mechanism article 2006 ftcdlib https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS3809.1 2016-04-02T18:36:25Z Planetary wave breaking (PWB) over the subtropical North Atlantic is observed over 45 winters (December 1958–March 2003) using NCEP–NCAR reanalysis data. PWB is manifested in the rapid, large-scale and irreversible overturning of potential vorticity (PV) contours on isentropic surfaces in the subtropical upper troposphere. As breaking occurs over the subtropical North Atlantic, an upper-tropospheric PV tripole anomaly forms with nodes over the subtropical, midlatitude, and subpolar North Atlantic. The northern two nodes of this tripole are quite similar to the spatial structure of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), with positive polarity. Nonlinear reflection is identified in approximately a quarter of all PWB events. Following breaking, two distinct circulation regimes arise, one in response to reflective events and the other in response to nonreflective events. For reflective events, anomalies over the North Atlantic rapidly propagate away from the breaking region along a poleward arching wave train over the Eurasian continent. The quasi-stationary wave activity flux indicates that wave activity is exported out of the Atlantic basin. At the same time, the regional poleward eddy momentum flux goes through a sign reversal, as does the polarity of the NAO. For nonreflective events, the dipole anomaly over the North Atlantic amplifies. Diagnostics for nonreflective events suggest that wave activity over the Azores gets absorbed, allowing continued enhancement of both the regional poleward eddy momentum flux and the positive NAO. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation University of California: eScholarship Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 63 12 3448 3457 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
English |
topic |
Physical Sciences and Mathematics 3-dimensional tropospheric flows asian summer monsoon lower stratosphere hadley circulation stationary waves climatology tropopause mechanism |
spellingShingle |
Physical Sciences and Mathematics 3-dimensional tropospheric flows asian summer monsoon lower stratosphere hadley circulation stationary waves climatology tropopause mechanism Abatzoglou, John T Magnusdottir, Gudrun Opposing Effects of Reflective and Nonreflective Planetary Wave Breaking on the NAO |
topic_facet |
Physical Sciences and Mathematics 3-dimensional tropospheric flows asian summer monsoon lower stratosphere hadley circulation stationary waves climatology tropopause mechanism |
description |
Planetary wave breaking (PWB) over the subtropical North Atlantic is observed over 45 winters (December 1958–March 2003) using NCEP–NCAR reanalysis data. PWB is manifested in the rapid, large-scale and irreversible overturning of potential vorticity (PV) contours on isentropic surfaces in the subtropical upper troposphere. As breaking occurs over the subtropical North Atlantic, an upper-tropospheric PV tripole anomaly forms with nodes over the subtropical, midlatitude, and subpolar North Atlantic. The northern two nodes of this tripole are quite similar to the spatial structure of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), with positive polarity. Nonlinear reflection is identified in approximately a quarter of all PWB events. Following breaking, two distinct circulation regimes arise, one in response to reflective events and the other in response to nonreflective events. For reflective events, anomalies over the North Atlantic rapidly propagate away from the breaking region along a poleward arching wave train over the Eurasian continent. The quasi-stationary wave activity flux indicates that wave activity is exported out of the Atlantic basin. At the same time, the regional poleward eddy momentum flux goes through a sign reversal, as does the polarity of the NAO. For nonreflective events, the dipole anomaly over the North Atlantic amplifies. Diagnostics for nonreflective events suggest that wave activity over the Azores gets absorbed, allowing continued enhancement of both the regional poleward eddy momentum flux and the positive NAO. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Abatzoglou, John T Magnusdottir, Gudrun |
author_facet |
Abatzoglou, John T Magnusdottir, Gudrun |
author_sort |
Abatzoglou, John T |
title |
Opposing Effects of Reflective and Nonreflective Planetary Wave Breaking on the NAO |
title_short |
Opposing Effects of Reflective and Nonreflective Planetary Wave Breaking on the NAO |
title_full |
Opposing Effects of Reflective and Nonreflective Planetary Wave Breaking on the NAO |
title_fullStr |
Opposing Effects of Reflective and Nonreflective Planetary Wave Breaking on the NAO |
title_full_unstemmed |
Opposing Effects of Reflective and Nonreflective Planetary Wave Breaking on the NAO |
title_sort |
opposing effects of reflective and nonreflective planetary wave breaking on the nao |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/00f1b48n |
op_coverage |
3448 - 3457 |
genre |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
op_source |
Abatzoglou, John T; & Magnusdottir, Gudrun. (2006). Opposing Effects of Reflective and Nonreflective Planetary Wave Breaking on the NAO. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 63(12), 3448 - 3457. doi:10.1175/JAS3809.1. UC Irvine: Department of Earth System Science, UCI. Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/00f1b48n |
op_relation |
qt00f1b48n http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/00f1b48n |
op_rights |
Attribution (CC BY): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS3809.1 |
container_title |
Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences |
container_volume |
63 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
3448 |
op_container_end_page |
3457 |
_version_ |
1766118372397809664 |