Robust but weak winter atmospheric circulation response to future Arctic sea ice loss
The possibility that Arctic sea ice loss weakens mid-latitude westerlies, promoting more severe cold winters, has sparked more than a decade of scientific debate, with apparent support from observations but inconclusive modelling evidence. Here we show that sixteen models contributing to the Polar A...
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Online Access: | https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/103018/ https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/103018/1/s41467-022-28283-y.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-28283-y |
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ftunivreading:oai:centaur.reading.ac.uk:103018 2024-09-09T19:16:28+00:00 Robust but weak winter atmospheric circulation response to future Arctic sea ice loss Smith, D. M. Eade, R. Andrews, M. B. Ayres, Holly Clark, A. Chripko, S. Deser, C. Dunstone, N. J. García-Serrano, J. Gastineau, G. Graff, L. S. Hardiman, S. C. He, B. Hermanson, L. Jung, T. Knight, T. Levine, X. Magnusdottir, G. Manzini, E. Matei, D. Mori, M. Msadek, R. Ortega, P. Peings, Y. Scaife, A. A. Seabrook, M. Semmler, T. Sigmond, M. Streffing, J. Sun, L. Walsh, A. 2022-02-07 text https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/103018/ https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/103018/1/s41467-022-28283-y.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-28283-y en eng Nature Publishing Group https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/103018/1/s41467-022-28283-y.pdf Smith, D. M., Eade, R., Andrews, M. B., Ayres, H. <https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/view/creators/90010825.html> orcid:0000-0003-0294-7620 , Clark, A., Chripko, S., Deser, C., Dunstone, N. J., García-Serrano, J., Gastineau, G., Graff, L. S., Hardiman, S. C., He, B., Hermanson, L., Jung, T., Knight, T., Levine, X., Magnusdottir, G., Manzini, E., Matei, D., Mori, M., Msadek, R., Ortega, P., Peings, Y., Scaife, A. A., Seabrook, M., Semmler, T., Sigmond, M., Streffing, J., Sun, L. and Walsh, A. (2022) Robust but weak winter atmospheric circulation response to future Arctic sea ice loss. Nature Communications, 13 (1). 727. ISSN 2041-1723 doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28283-y <https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28283-y> cc_by_4 Article PeerReviewed 2022 ftunivreading https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28283-y 2024-06-18T14:20:05Z The possibility that Arctic sea ice loss weakens mid-latitude westerlies, promoting more severe cold winters, has sparked more than a decade of scientific debate, with apparent support from observations but inconclusive modelling evidence. Here we show that sixteen models contributing to the Polar Amplification Model Intercomparison Project simulate a weakening of mid-latitude westerlies in response to projected Arctic sea ice loss. We develop an emergent constraint based on eddy feedback, which is 1.2 to 3 times too weak in the models, suggesting that the real-world weakening lies towards the higher end of the model simulations. Still, the modelled response to Arctic sea ice loss is weak: the North Atlantic Oscillation response is similar in magnitude and offsets the projected response to increased greenhouse gases, but would only account for around 10% of variations in individual years. We further find that relationships between Arctic sea ice and atmospheric circulation have weakened recently in observations and are no longer inconsistent with those in models. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Sea ice CentAUR: Central Archive at the University of Reading Arctic Nature Communications 13 1 |
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Open Polar |
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CentAUR: Central Archive at the University of Reading |
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ftunivreading |
language |
English |
description |
The possibility that Arctic sea ice loss weakens mid-latitude westerlies, promoting more severe cold winters, has sparked more than a decade of scientific debate, with apparent support from observations but inconclusive modelling evidence. Here we show that sixteen models contributing to the Polar Amplification Model Intercomparison Project simulate a weakening of mid-latitude westerlies in response to projected Arctic sea ice loss. We develop an emergent constraint based on eddy feedback, which is 1.2 to 3 times too weak in the models, suggesting that the real-world weakening lies towards the higher end of the model simulations. Still, the modelled response to Arctic sea ice loss is weak: the North Atlantic Oscillation response is similar in magnitude and offsets the projected response to increased greenhouse gases, but would only account for around 10% of variations in individual years. We further find that relationships between Arctic sea ice and atmospheric circulation have weakened recently in observations and are no longer inconsistent with those in models. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Smith, D. M. Eade, R. Andrews, M. B. Ayres, Holly Clark, A. Chripko, S. Deser, C. Dunstone, N. J. García-Serrano, J. Gastineau, G. Graff, L. S. Hardiman, S. C. He, B. Hermanson, L. Jung, T. Knight, T. Levine, X. Magnusdottir, G. Manzini, E. Matei, D. Mori, M. Msadek, R. Ortega, P. Peings, Y. Scaife, A. A. Seabrook, M. Semmler, T. Sigmond, M. Streffing, J. Sun, L. Walsh, A. |
spellingShingle |
Smith, D. M. Eade, R. Andrews, M. B. Ayres, Holly Clark, A. Chripko, S. Deser, C. Dunstone, N. J. García-Serrano, J. Gastineau, G. Graff, L. S. Hardiman, S. C. He, B. Hermanson, L. Jung, T. Knight, T. Levine, X. Magnusdottir, G. Manzini, E. Matei, D. Mori, M. Msadek, R. Ortega, P. Peings, Y. Scaife, A. A. Seabrook, M. Semmler, T. Sigmond, M. Streffing, J. Sun, L. Walsh, A. Robust but weak winter atmospheric circulation response to future Arctic sea ice loss |
author_facet |
Smith, D. M. Eade, R. Andrews, M. B. Ayres, Holly Clark, A. Chripko, S. Deser, C. Dunstone, N. J. García-Serrano, J. Gastineau, G. Graff, L. S. Hardiman, S. C. He, B. Hermanson, L. Jung, T. Knight, T. Levine, X. Magnusdottir, G. Manzini, E. Matei, D. Mori, M. Msadek, R. Ortega, P. Peings, Y. Scaife, A. A. Seabrook, M. Semmler, T. Sigmond, M. Streffing, J. Sun, L. Walsh, A. |
author_sort |
Smith, D. M. |
title |
Robust but weak winter atmospheric circulation response to future Arctic sea ice loss |
title_short |
Robust but weak winter atmospheric circulation response to future Arctic sea ice loss |
title_full |
Robust but weak winter atmospheric circulation response to future Arctic sea ice loss |
title_fullStr |
Robust but weak winter atmospheric circulation response to future Arctic sea ice loss |
title_full_unstemmed |
Robust but weak winter atmospheric circulation response to future Arctic sea ice loss |
title_sort |
robust but weak winter atmospheric circulation response to future arctic sea ice loss |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/103018/ https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/103018/1/s41467-022-28283-y.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-28283-y |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Arctic North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Sea ice |
op_relation |
https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/103018/1/s41467-022-28283-y.pdf Smith, D. M., Eade, R., Andrews, M. B., Ayres, H. <https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/view/creators/90010825.html> orcid:0000-0003-0294-7620 , Clark, A., Chripko, S., Deser, C., Dunstone, N. J., García-Serrano, J., Gastineau, G., Graff, L. S., Hardiman, S. C., He, B., Hermanson, L., Jung, T., Knight, T., Levine, X., Magnusdottir, G., Manzini, E., Matei, D., Mori, M., Msadek, R., Ortega, P., Peings, Y., Scaife, A. A., Seabrook, M., Semmler, T., Sigmond, M., Streffing, J., Sun, L. and Walsh, A. (2022) Robust but weak winter atmospheric circulation response to future Arctic sea ice loss. Nature Communications, 13 (1). 727. ISSN 2041-1723 doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28283-y <https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28283-y> |
op_rights |
cc_by_4 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28283-y |
container_title |
Nature Communications |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1809756624761389056 |