Increased quasi stationarity and persistence of winter Ural blocking and Eurasian extreme cold events in response to Arctic warming. Part II: A theoretical explanation

• Published in: Journal of Climate
• Other Authors: Luo, Dehai (author), Yao, Yao (author), Dai, Aiguo (author), Simmonds, Ian (author), Zhong, Linhao (author)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0262.1

In Part I of this study, it was shown that the Eurasian cold anomalies related to Arctic warming depend strongly on the quasi stationarity and persistence of the Ural blocking (UB). The analysis here revealed that under weak mean westerly wind (MWW) and vertical shear (VS) (quasi barotropic) conditions with weak synoptic-scale eddies and a large planetary wave anomaly, the growth of UBis slow and its amplitude is small. For this case, a quasi-stationary and persistent UB is seen. However, under strong MWW and VS (quasi baroclinic) conditions, synoptic-scale eddies are stronger and the growth of UB is rapid; the resulting UB is less persistent and has large amplitude. In this case, a marked retrogression of the UB is observed.