On the Linear Theory of the Atmospheric Response to Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies

Egger, J.

doi:10.1175/1520-0469(1977)034<0603:otltot>2.0.co;2

Cited by 44 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…Using an aquaplanet model experiment, they found that the tropical SST forcing generates large extratropical stationary eddies that modulate the storm track distribution. The most straightforward mechanism for explaining the midlatitude equilibrium response is Rossby wave propagation forced by convective heating anomalies that develop locally in response to the SST anomalies (Egger 1977;Hoskins and Karoly 1981;Schneider et al 2003;Inatsu and Hoskins 2004). A zonal enhancement of extratropical SST gradients generates little stationary eddies but leads to large zonal variations in the storm track (Inatsu et al 2002;Inatsu and Hoskins 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Storm Tracks and Climate Change

2006

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Extratropical and tropical transient storm tracks are investigated from the perspective of feature tracking in the ECHAM5 coupled climate model for the current and a future climate scenario. The atmosphere-only part of the model, forced by observed boundary conditions, produces results that agree well with analyses from the 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40), including the distribution of storms as a function of maximum intensity. This provides the authors with confidence in the use of the model for the climate change experiments. The statistical distribution of storm intensities is virtually preserved under climate change using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A1B scenario until the end of this century. There are no indications in this study of more intense storms in the future climate, either in the Tropics or extratropics, but rather a minor reduction in the number of weaker storms. However, significant changes occur on a regional basis in the location and intensity of storm tracks. There is a clear poleward shift in the Southern Hemisphere with consequences of reduced precipitation for several areas, including southern Australia. Changes in the Northern Hemisphere are less distinct, but there are also indications of a poleward shift, a weakening of the Mediterranean storm track, and a strengthening of the storm track north of the British Isles. The tropical storm tracks undergo considerable changes including a weakening in the Atlantic sector and a strengthening and equatorward shift in the eastern Pacific. It is suggested that some of the changes, in particular the tropical ones, are due to an SST warming maximum in the eastern Pacific. The shift in the extratropical storm tracks is shown to be associated with changes in the zonal SST gradient in particular for the Southern Hemisphere.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Storm Tracks and Climate Change

2006

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“…Along with this the pre-season rainfall in the Nordeste is reduced, and the equatorial Pacific waters are anomalously warm As indicated in Fig. 3a, the surface waters of the eastern equatorial Pacific tend to be anomalously warm during Nordeste drought years; the atmospheric circulation mechanisms leading from Pacific SST anomalies to those in the Atlantic have been progressively elucidated in a sequence of studies (Covey and Hastenrath 1978;Egger 1977;Horel and Wallace 1981;Hoskins and Karoly 1981;Nobre and Moura 1984;Curtis and Hastenrath 1995;Hastenrath 2000a,b;2006;Kucharski et al 2008). During El Nino years, an uppertropospheric wave train extends from the equatorial eastern Pacific to the tropical North Atlantic, affecting the pattern of upper-tropospheric topography and divergence, and hence of vertical motion over the Atlantic.…”

Section: B) Wet Years In Northernmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the climate problems of Brazil’s Nordeste: a review

2011

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This article reviews the exploration of the climate dynamics of Brazil's Nordeste in the course of a century. The drought-prone and semi-arid northern Nordeste of Brazil experiences a short rainy season around March-April, when the interhemispheric gradient of sea surface temperature (SST) in the tropical Atlantic is weakest and the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) reaches its southernmost position in the course of the annual cycle. The recurrent Secas (droughts) have a severe socio-economic impact. During drought years, the interhemispheric SST gradient in the tropical Atlantic is steep and the ITCZ stays far North, while the waters of the eastern equatorial Pacific tend to be anomalously warm. Based on the extensive diagnostic exploration of the circulation mechanisms of interannual climate variability, empirical methods have been developed for the forecasting of the Nordeste rainy season. These have been applied in the real-time prediction of seasonal rainfall anomalies throughout the last decade of the 20th century.

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“…In the meantime, there have been some simplified or idealized models that have shown downstream effects of midlatitudinal SST anomalies (58,59). These simple models indicate that certain wavelengths in the atmosphere may be excited preferentially by heating or cooling, which then can produce perturbations in the atmospheric flow in areas remote from the imposed SST anomaly pattern.…”

Section: Influence Of the Atmosphere On The Oceanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large-Scale Air-Sea Interactions and Short-Period Climatic Fluctuations

Namias

Cayan

1981

Science

119

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Research during the last 15 years has shown that there is order in large-scale air-sea interactions, so that space scales of abnormalities of the lower atmosphere's circulation and the upper oceanic thermal structure are comparable. Because of this air-sea coupling, each oceanic or atmospheric pattern can be reasonably well specified by the other. Patterns of oceanic thermal anomalies are about an order of magnitude more persistent than those of atmospheric circulations, and empirical studies have had some success in using sea surface temperature patterns in long-range weather prediction. In addition to empirical studies, efforts continue in the development of numerical-dynamical models in order to understand the complex linkages of the large-scale air-sea system.

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On the Linear Theory of the Atmospheric Response to Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies

Cited by 44 publications

References 0 publications

Storm Tracks and Climate Change

Storm Tracks and Climate Change

Exploring the climate problems of Brazil’s Nordeste: a review

Large-Scale Air-Sea Interactions and Short-Period Climatic Fluctuations

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