Interannual Variability of the January Meridional Heat Transport by Planetary Waves in the Northern Latitudes

• Main Authors: Higuchi, Kaz, Lin, Charles A., Shabbar, Amir, Knox, J. L.
• Other Authors: ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT SERVICE DOWNSVIEW (ONTARIO)
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1992
• Subjects: Meteorology; Atmospheric Physics; Thermodynamics; *HEAT FLUX; *ATMOSPHERICS; AIR WATER INTERACTIONS; ATLANTIC OCEAN; DISTRIBUTION; INTERACTIONS; OCEANOGRAPHY; SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION; THICKNESS; TRANSPORT; GREENHOUSE EFFECT; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT; *Global climate change; Component Reports; *Eddy heat flux; *Planetary waves; Gulf of Alaska; aleutian low; Alaska; Siberia
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADP007282; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADP007282

Evidence of large temporal and spatial variability in the eddy fluxes of sensible heat in the lower troposphere (100-50 kPa thickness layer) in January, from 1946 to 1988, is presented. The spatial distribution of the standing eddy heat flux is dominated by three main features, or centers of action: (1) a region north of Korea (extreme eastern Siberia), (2) northeastern Atlantic Ocean, and (3) the Gulf of Alaska. Even though the center just north of Korea is the most active heat transport area, most of the interannual variability of the January standing eddy heat flux is associated with the heat transport centers over the northeastern Atlantic and the Gulf of Alaska, correlated with the positions of the Icelandic Low and the Aleutian Low, respectively. This year-to-year variability in these two geographical locations is due to interannual variability in the planetary waves van Loon and Williams, 1980, and a significant role of the air-sea interaction in this respect cannot be ruled out.