Details of the characteristics of upward planetary wave propagation associated with Arctic sea ice loss under present climate conditions are examined using reanalysis data and simulation results. Recent Arctic sea ice loss results in increased stratospheric poleward eddy heat fluxes in the eastern and central Eurasia regions and enhanced upward propagation of planetary‐scale waves in the stratosphere. A linear decomposition scheme reveals that this modulation of the planetary waves arises from coupling of the climatological planetary wavefield with temperature anomalies for the eastern Eurasia region and with meridional wind anomalies for the central Eurasia region. Propagation of stationary Rossby wave packets results in a dynamic link between these temperature and meridional wind anomalies with sea ice loss over the Barents‐Kara Sea. The results provide strong evidence that recent Arctic sea ice loss significantly modulates atmospheric circulation in winter to modify poleward eddy heat fluxes so as to drive stratosphere‐troposphere coupling processes.

We characterize the differences in the upward planetary‐scale wave propagation during observed weak polar vortex (WPV) events between heavy‐ and light‐sea‐ice years in the Barents‐Kara Sea based on a composite analysis for the period of 1979–2015. Upward wave propagation during WPV events in heavy‐ice years is dominated by the wavenumber 1 component. In contrast, WPV events occurring in light‐ice years are characterized by stronger wavenumber 2 propagation, which is caused by the tropospheric wavenumber 2 response to sea‐ice reduction in the Barents‐Kara Sea. The above observed features are supported by an Atmospheric General Circulation Model experiment. Thus, under present climate conditions, Arctic sea‐ice loss is a possible factor modulating the wave propagation during the WPV events. We also find that the WPV events in light‐ice years have stronger stratosphere‐troposphere coupling, followed by colder midlatitude surface conditions particularly over Eurasia.

Abstract. The quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) is quasi-periodic oscillation of the tropical zonal wind in the stratosphere. When the tropical lower stratospheric wind is easterly (westerly), the winter Northern Hemisphere (NH) stratospheric polar vortex tends to be weak (strong). This relation is known as the Holton–Tan relationship. Several mechanisms for this relationship have been proposed, especially linking the tropics with high latitudes through stratospheric pathway. Although QBO impacts on the troposphere have been extensively discussed, a tropospheric pathway of the Holton–Tan relationship has not been explored previously. Here, we propose a tropospheric pathway of the QBO impact, which may partly account for the Holton–Tan relationship in early winter, especially in the November–December period. The study is based on analyses of observational data and results from a simple linear model and atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) simulations. The mechanism is summarized as follows: the easterly phase of the QBO is accompanied with colder temperature in the tropical tropopause layer, which enhances convective activity over the tropical western Pacific and suppresses it over the Indian Ocean, thus enhancing the Walker circulation. This convection anomaly generates a Rossby wave train, propagating into the midlatitude troposphere, which constructively interferences with the climatological stationary waves, especially in wavenumber 1, resulting in enhanced upward propagation of the planetary wave and a weakened polar vortex.

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> The quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) is quasi-periodic oscillation of the tropical zonal wind in the stratosphere. When the tropical lower stratospheric wind is easterly (westerly), the winter Northern Hemisphere (NH) stratospheric polar vortex tends to be weak (strong). This relation is known as Holton–Tan relationship. Several mechanisms for this relationship have been proposed, especially linking the tropics with high-latitudes through stratospheric pathway. Although QBO impacts on the troposphere have been extensively discussed, a tropospheric pathway of the Holton–Tan relationship has not been explored previously. We here propose a tropospheric pathway of the QBO impact, which may partly account for the Holton–Tan relationship in early winter, especially in the November–December period. The study is based on analyses on observational data and results from a simple linear model and atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) simulations. The mechanism is summarized as follows: the easterly phase of the QBO is accompanied with colder temperature in the tropical tropopause layer, which enhances convective activity over the tropical western Pacific and suppresses over the Indian Ocean, thus enhancing the Walker circulation. This convection anomaly generates Rossby wave train, propagating into the mid-latitude troposphere, which constructively interferences with the climatological stationary waves, especially in wavenumber 1, resulting in enhanced upward propagation of the planetary wave and a weakened polar vortex.</p>