Future loss of Arctic sea-ice cover could drive a substantial decrease in California’s rainfall
© 2017 The Author(s). From 2012 to 2016, California experienced one of the worst droughts since the start of observational records. As in previous dry periods, precipitation-inducing winter storms were steered away from California by a persistent atmospheric ridging system in the North Pacific. Here...
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ftosti:oai:osti.gov:1476579 2023-07-30T04:01:19+02:00 Future loss of Arctic sea-ice cover could drive a substantial decrease in California’s rainfall Cvijanovic, Ivana Santer, Benjamin D. Bonfils, Céline Lucas, Donald D. Chiang, John C. H. Zimmerman, Susan 2023-06-28 application/pdf http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1476579 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1476579 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01907-4 unknown http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1476579 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1476579 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01907-4 doi:10.1038/s41467-017-01907-4 2023 ftosti https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01907-4 2023-07-11T09:29:25Z © 2017 The Author(s). From 2012 to 2016, California experienced one of the worst droughts since the start of observational records. As in previous dry periods, precipitation-inducing winter storms were steered away from California by a persistent atmospheric ridging system in the North Pacific. Here we identify a new link between Arctic sea-ice loss and the North Pacific geopotential ridge development. In a two-step teleconnection, sea-ice changes lead to reorganization of tropical convection that in turn triggers an anticyclonic response over the North Pacific, resulting in significant drying over California. These findings suggest that the ability of climate models to accurately estimate future precipitation changes over California is also linked to the fidelity with which future sea-ice changes are simulated. We conclude that sea-ice loss of the magnitude expected in the next decades could substantially impact California's precipitation, thus highlighting another mechanism by which human-caused climate change could exacerbate future California droughts. Other/Unknown Material Arctic Climate change Sea ice SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) Arctic Pacific Nature Communications 8 1 |
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SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) |
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© 2017 The Author(s). From 2012 to 2016, California experienced one of the worst droughts since the start of observational records. As in previous dry periods, precipitation-inducing winter storms were steered away from California by a persistent atmospheric ridging system in the North Pacific. Here we identify a new link between Arctic sea-ice loss and the North Pacific geopotential ridge development. In a two-step teleconnection, sea-ice changes lead to reorganization of tropical convection that in turn triggers an anticyclonic response over the North Pacific, resulting in significant drying over California. These findings suggest that the ability of climate models to accurately estimate future precipitation changes over California is also linked to the fidelity with which future sea-ice changes are simulated. We conclude that sea-ice loss of the magnitude expected in the next decades could substantially impact California's precipitation, thus highlighting another mechanism by which human-caused climate change could exacerbate future California droughts. |
author |
Cvijanovic, Ivana Santer, Benjamin D. Bonfils, Céline Lucas, Donald D. Chiang, John C. H. Zimmerman, Susan |
spellingShingle |
Cvijanovic, Ivana Santer, Benjamin D. Bonfils, Céline Lucas, Donald D. Chiang, John C. H. Zimmerman, Susan Future loss of Arctic sea-ice cover could drive a substantial decrease in California’s rainfall |
author_facet |
Cvijanovic, Ivana Santer, Benjamin D. Bonfils, Céline Lucas, Donald D. Chiang, John C. H. Zimmerman, Susan |
author_sort |
Cvijanovic, Ivana |
title |
Future loss of Arctic sea-ice cover could drive a substantial decrease in California’s rainfall |
title_short |
Future loss of Arctic sea-ice cover could drive a substantial decrease in California’s rainfall |
title_full |
Future loss of Arctic sea-ice cover could drive a substantial decrease in California’s rainfall |
title_fullStr |
Future loss of Arctic sea-ice cover could drive a substantial decrease in California’s rainfall |
title_full_unstemmed |
Future loss of Arctic sea-ice cover could drive a substantial decrease in California’s rainfall |
title_sort |
future loss of arctic sea-ice cover could drive a substantial decrease in california’s rainfall |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1476579 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1476579 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01907-4 |
geographic |
Arctic Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Pacific |
genre |
Arctic Climate change Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change Sea ice |
op_relation |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1476579 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1476579 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01907-4 doi:10.1038/s41467-017-01907-4 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01907-4 |
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Nature Communications |
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8 |
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1 |
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1772812067881877504 |