Linking Gulf Stream air–sea interactions to the exceptional blocking episode in February 2019: a Lagrangian perspective

• Published in: Weather and Climate Dynamics
• Main Authors: M. Wenta, C. M. Grams, L. Papritz, M. Federer
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2024
• Subjects: Meteorology. Climatology; QC851-999; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-5-181-2024; https://doaj.org/article/0f5e1a4bb8ef4f74a1d3d1b39fb2cdd3

The development of atmospheric blocks over the North Atlantic–European region can lead to extreme weather events like heat waves or cold air outbreaks. Despite their potential severe impact on surface weather, the correct prediction of blocking lifecycles remains a key challenge in current numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. Increasing evidence suggests that latent heat release in cyclones, the advection of cold air (cold air outbreaks, CAOs) from the Arctic over the North Atlantic, and associated air–sea interactions over the Gulf Stream are key processes contributing to the onset, maintenance, and persistence of such flow regimes. To better understand the mechanism connecting air–sea interactions over the Gulf Stream with changes in the large-scale flow, we focus on an episode between 20 and 27 February 2019, when a quasi-stationary upper-level ridge was established over western Europe accompanied by an intensified storm track in the northwestern North Atlantic. During that time, a record-breaking winter warm spell occurred over western Europe bringing temperatures above 20 ∘ C to the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and northern France. The event was preceded and accompanied by the development of several rapidly intensifying cyclones that originated in the Gulf Stream region and traversed the North Atlantic. To explore the mechanistic linkage between the formation of this block and air–sea interactions over the Gulf Stream, we adopt a Lagrangian perspective, using kinematic trajectories. This allows us to study the pathways and transformations of air masses that form the upper-level potential vorticity anomaly and interact with the ocean front. We establish that more than one-fifth of these air masses interact with the Gulf Stream in the lower troposphere, experiencing intense heating and moistening over the region due to the frequent occurrence of CAOs behind the cold front of the cyclones. Trajectories moistened by the advection of cold air over a warm ocean by one cyclone later ascend into the upper ...