it is suggested that the midlatitude ocean-atmosphere interaction can provide a positive feedback mechanism for the development of initial anomaly, in which the oceanic front and the atmospheric transient eddy are the indispensable ingredients. Such a positive ocean-atmosphere feedback mechanism is fundamentally responsible for the observed decadal anomalies in the midlatitude North Pacific ocean-atmosphere system.

Diagnostic comparison of the East Asian subtropical jet (EASJ) and polar-front jet (EAPJ) in winter season is carried out by using the ERA-40 dataset. The large-scale circulation characteristics and synopticscale transient eddy activities (STEAs) associated with the EASJ and EAPJ are examined. The results show that the EASJ and EAPJ in the upper-level monthly mean data have no clear geographical border, while the distribution of the numbers of jet cores from the daily data exhibits a distinct boundary at the latitudes of the northern Tibetan Plateau. The two areas with large numbers of jet cores correspond to the EASJ and EAPJ regions. The analysis of STEAs over the East Asian region shows a spatial match of STEAs with the EASJ and EAPJ in winter: the strong EASJ is located within the weak southern branch of the STEA while the relatively weak EAPJ appears within the active northern branch of the STEA, indicating that the EAPJ is the jet coexisting with the STEA. Further analysis shows two anomalous modes of the winter EAPJ: the anomalous anticyclonic/cyclonic circulation and the weakened/strengthened local westerly wind. The large-scale circulation anomalies in the Northern Hemisphere related to the first mode are concentrated in the Eurasian mid to high latitudes, and are also influenced by the anomalous circulation in the upstream area. When the local westerly wind over the EAPJ region is weakened/strengthened, the westerly jet in the eastern part of the EASJ and that in the western Pacific region show opposite variations. The corresponding anomalous atmospheric circulation demonstrates the Eurasian (EU) pattern. The EAPJ anomalies are also closely linked with the STEA anomalies over East Asia. The anomalies in the northern branch of the STEA propagate as a wave train along its axis into the East Asian coastal waters, and then migrate eastward to the oceanic region. However, the ones near the southern branch are trapped over the eastern part of East Asia and its coastal waters at 200 hPa.

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This study investigates the role of air–sea interaction in the 30–60-day boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation (BSISO) over the western North Pacific with daily outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), CFSR, and OAFlux datasets for 1985–2009. The BSISO events are identified with the first principal component of 30–60-day bandpass filtered OLR anomalies. Composite analysis of these events reveals that during the northward migration of BSISO, the convection can interact with underlying sea surface temperature (SST). A near-quadrature phase relationship exists between the convection and SST anomalies. An active (a suppressed) convection tends to induce a cold (warm) underlying SST anomaly by reducing (increasing) downward solar radiation but a warm SST anomaly in its northern (southern) portion by reducing near-surface wind and upward latent and sensible heat fluxes, resulting in a 10-day delayed maximized warm SST anomaly ahead of the active convection. In turn, this warm SST anomaly tends to increase upward surface sensible and latent heat fluxes via amplifying sea–air temperature and humidity differences. This oceanic feedback acts to heat, moisten, and destabilize the low-level atmosphere, favoring the trigger of shallow convection, which can further develop into deep convection. The maximum warm SST anomaly lies in the southern (northern) portion of the convectively suppressed (enhanced) area, which weakens the anomalous descending motion in the southern portion of convectively suppressed area and preconditions the boundary layer to promote convection development in the northern portion of convectively enhanced area. Such a spatial and temporal phase relationship between the convection and SST anomalies suggest that air–sea interaction can play a delayed negative feedback role in the BSISO cycle and provide an alternative mechanism responsible for its northward propagation.