Dehai Luo, Wenqi Zhang, Binhe Luo. 2024: A nonlinear multi-scale interaction model for atmospheric blocking: A tool for exploring the impact of changing climate on mid-high latitude weather extremes. Adv. Atmos. Sci., https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-024-4435-9
Citation: Dehai Luo, Wenqi Zhang, Binhe Luo. 2024: A nonlinear multi-scale interaction model for atmospheric blocking: A tool for exploring the impact of changing climate on mid-high latitude weather extremes. Adv. Atmos. Sci., https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-024-4435-9

A nonlinear multi-scale interaction model for atmospheric blocking: A tool for exploring the impact of changing climate on mid-high latitude weather extremes

  • The first author spent about 30 years to propose and develop a nonlinear multi-scale interaction (NMI) model to represent the evolution of atmospheric blocking. In this review paper, we first review the creation and development of the NMI model and then emphasize that the NMI model is a new tool for identifying the basic physics of how climate change influences mid-high latitude weather extremes. The building of the NMI model experienced three main periods: In 1990s, a nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation model is presented to describe atmospheric blocking as a wave packet. But it cannot depict the life time (10-20 days) of atmospheric blocking. After ten years of effort, in 2000s we proposed an NMI model of atmospheric blocking in a uniform basic flow by deriving an eddy-forced NLS equation. This model can describe the life cycle of atmospheric blocking. In 2020s, the NMI model was extended to include the impact of changing climate via altering the magnitude of meridional background potential vorticity gradient (PVy). Model results show that when PVy is smaller, blocking has weaker dispersion and stronger nonlinearity so that blocking can be more persistent and have longer zonal scale and weaker eastward movement, thus favoring stronger weather extremes. However, when PVy is below a critical threshold under much stronger winter Arctic warming, atmospheric blocking becomes less persistent locally and shows much stronger westward movement to inhibit local cold weather extremes. Such a case does not happen in summer because PVy is not below a critical threshold.
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