Quasi-biennial oscillation effect on climate indicators: Lithuania’s case

Abstract

The quasi-biennial oscillation (further -QBO) is a quasi-periodic oscillation of the equatorial zonal wind between easterlies and westerlies in the tropical stratosphere with a mean period of 26 to 29 months. Together with other circulation mechanisms, the QBO comprises a global climate system which affects the climate indices of different regions of the globe including Lithuania. The authors of the present paper chose to address the issue of the anomalies of precipitation in Lithuania. The research encompasses the time frame from 1953 to 2009: relationship between the periods without precipitation for 10 and more days, monthly precipitation sum and different phases of QBO. The highest statistically significant precipitation deviations according the QBO phase at the 30 hPa level were established to be in May, September and November. The anomalies of precipitation were found to be predetermined by the atmospheric circulation patterns.

Accuracy of Monthly and Seasonal Forecasts Generated for the Territory of Lithuania Using Noaa’s Climate Forecast System Version 2

“…Other global-scale processes and feedbacks in the climate system are, of course, no less important. The impact of the NAO/AO is also dependent on the QBO: the impact during the eastern phase of the QBO is felt in larger territories and reaches higher altitudes, whereas during the western phase of the QBO, the impact signal is more local (Kuroda 2007;Akstinas & Bukantis, 2015). NAO fluctuations and the long-term anomalies thereof lead to conditions favourable to the development of long-term weather anomalies within the Baltic Sea Region (Bukantis & Bartkeviciene, 2005;Mickevičius & Bukantis, 2013).…”