Similarity and variability of blocked weather-regime dynamics in the Atlantic–European region
Weather regimes govern an important part of the sub-seasonal variability of the mid-latitude circulation. Due to their role in weather extremes and atmospheric predictability, regimes that feature a blocking anticyclone are of particular interest. This study investigates the dynamics of these “block...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:af51691ee03d475e8641b898551317e4 2023-05-15T16:27:34+02:00 Similarity and variability of blocked weather-regime dynamics in the Atlantic–European region F. Teubler M. Riemer C. Polster C. M. Grams S. Hauser V. Wirth 2023-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-265-2023 https://doaj.org/article/af51691ee03d475e8641b898551317e4 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://wcd.copernicus.org/articles/4/265/2023/wcd-4-265-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/2698-4016 doi:10.5194/wcd-4-265-2023 2698-4016 https://doaj.org/article/af51691ee03d475e8641b898551317e4 Weather and Climate Dynamics, Vol 4, Pp 265-285 (2023) Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-265-2023 2023-04-09T00:33:43Z Weather regimes govern an important part of the sub-seasonal variability of the mid-latitude circulation. Due to their role in weather extremes and atmospheric predictability, regimes that feature a blocking anticyclone are of particular interest. This study investigates the dynamics of these “blocked” regimes in the North Atlantic–European region from a year-round perspective. For a comprehensive diagnostic, wave activity concepts and a piecewise potential vorticity (PV) tendency framework are combined. The latter essentially quantifies the well-established PV perspective of mid-latitude dynamics. The four blocked regimes (namely Atlantic ridge, European blocking, Scandinavian blocking, and Greenland blocking) during the 1979–2021 period of ERA5 reanalysis are considered. Wave activity characteristics exhibit distinct differences between blocked regimes. After regime onset, Greenland blocking is associated with a suppression of wave activity flux, whereas Atlantic ridge and European blocking are associated with a northward deflection of the flux without a clear net change. During onset, the envelope of Rossby wave activity retracts upstream for Greenland blocking, whereas the envelope extends downstream for Atlantic ridge and European blocking. Scandinavian blocking exhibits intermediate wave activity characteristics. From the perspective of piecewise PV tendencies projected onto the respective regime pattern, the dynamics that govern regime onset exhibit a large degree of similarity: linear Rossby wave dynamics and nonlinear eddy PV fluxes dominate and are of approximately equal relative importance, whereas baroclinic coupling and divergent amplification make minor contributions. Most strikingly, all blocked regimes exhibit very similar (intra-regime) variability: a retrograde and an upstream pathway to regime onset. The retrograde pathway is dominated by nonlinear PV eddy fluxes, whereas the upstream pathway is dominated by linear Rossby wave dynamics. Importantly, there is a large degree of cancellation ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland North Atlantic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Greenland Weather and Climate Dynamics 4 2 265 285 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
spellingShingle |
Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 F. Teubler M. Riemer C. Polster C. M. Grams S. Hauser V. Wirth Similarity and variability of blocked weather-regime dynamics in the Atlantic–European region |
topic_facet |
Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
description |
Weather regimes govern an important part of the sub-seasonal variability of the mid-latitude circulation. Due to their role in weather extremes and atmospheric predictability, regimes that feature a blocking anticyclone are of particular interest. This study investigates the dynamics of these “blocked” regimes in the North Atlantic–European region from a year-round perspective. For a comprehensive diagnostic, wave activity concepts and a piecewise potential vorticity (PV) tendency framework are combined. The latter essentially quantifies the well-established PV perspective of mid-latitude dynamics. The four blocked regimes (namely Atlantic ridge, European blocking, Scandinavian blocking, and Greenland blocking) during the 1979–2021 period of ERA5 reanalysis are considered. Wave activity characteristics exhibit distinct differences between blocked regimes. After regime onset, Greenland blocking is associated with a suppression of wave activity flux, whereas Atlantic ridge and European blocking are associated with a northward deflection of the flux without a clear net change. During onset, the envelope of Rossby wave activity retracts upstream for Greenland blocking, whereas the envelope extends downstream for Atlantic ridge and European blocking. Scandinavian blocking exhibits intermediate wave activity characteristics. From the perspective of piecewise PV tendencies projected onto the respective regime pattern, the dynamics that govern regime onset exhibit a large degree of similarity: linear Rossby wave dynamics and nonlinear eddy PV fluxes dominate and are of approximately equal relative importance, whereas baroclinic coupling and divergent amplification make minor contributions. Most strikingly, all blocked regimes exhibit very similar (intra-regime) variability: a retrograde and an upstream pathway to regime onset. The retrograde pathway is dominated by nonlinear PV eddy fluxes, whereas the upstream pathway is dominated by linear Rossby wave dynamics. Importantly, there is a large degree of cancellation ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
F. Teubler M. Riemer C. Polster C. M. Grams S. Hauser V. Wirth |
author_facet |
F. Teubler M. Riemer C. Polster C. M. Grams S. Hauser V. Wirth |
author_sort |
F. Teubler |
title |
Similarity and variability of blocked weather-regime dynamics in the Atlantic–European region |
title_short |
Similarity and variability of blocked weather-regime dynamics in the Atlantic–European region |
title_full |
Similarity and variability of blocked weather-regime dynamics in the Atlantic–European region |
title_fullStr |
Similarity and variability of blocked weather-regime dynamics in the Atlantic–European region |
title_full_unstemmed |
Similarity and variability of blocked weather-regime dynamics in the Atlantic–European region |
title_sort |
similarity and variability of blocked weather-regime dynamics in the atlantic–european region |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-265-2023 https://doaj.org/article/af51691ee03d475e8641b898551317e4 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Greenland North Atlantic |
op_source |
Weather and Climate Dynamics, Vol 4, Pp 265-285 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://wcd.copernicus.org/articles/4/265/2023/wcd-4-265-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/2698-4016 doi:10.5194/wcd-4-265-2023 2698-4016 https://doaj.org/article/af51691ee03d475e8641b898551317e4 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-265-2023 |
container_title |
Weather and Climate Dynamics |
container_volume |
4 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
265 |
op_container_end_page |
285 |
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1766016967356973056 |