Advanced Search
CHEN Hongli, XU Haiming, MA Jing, et al. 2022. Characteristics of Air–Sea Interaction Associated with Large-Scale Sea Surface Temperature Warm Anomalies over the North Pacific in Winter on Submonthly Timescales [J]. Chinese Journal of Atmospheric Sciences (in Chinese), 46(2): 293−308. doi: 10.3878/j.issn.1006-9895.2106.21047
Citation: CHEN Hongli, XU Haiming, MA Jing, et al. 2022. Characteristics of Air–Sea Interaction Associated with Large-Scale Sea Surface Temperature Warm Anomalies over the North Pacific in Winter on Submonthly Timescales [J]. Chinese Journal of Atmospheric Sciences (in Chinese), 46(2): 293−308. doi: 10.3878/j.issn.1006-9895.2106.21047

Characteristics of Air–Sea Interaction Associated with Large-Scale Sea Surface Temperature Warm Anomalies over the North Pacific in Winter on Submonthly Timescales

  • Using the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/Department of Energy reanalysis 2 and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sea surface temperatures (SSTs) during the 1985–2015 period, eight warm events in the North Pacific are selected based on the definition of large-scale SST anomalies. The dynamic composite method, following the SST anomaly center, is used to study the large-scale SST warm anomalies with a lifespan of 50 days over the wintertime North Pacific and associated characteristics of the air–sea interaction on submonthly timescales before and after their peak stages. The results show the following: (1) The early stage of the large-scale SST warm anomalies are mainly characterized by the forcing of the atmosphere on the ocean, whereas the late stage is dominated by the forcing of the ocean on the atmosphere. (2) The atmospheric structure associated with the SST warm anomalies changes significantly from the early to late stages. The early stage shows an equivalent barotropic dipole pattern of pressure anomalies above the warmer SSTs, with an anomalous high in the northeast and an anomalous low in the southwest, corresponding to the anomalous easterly wind over SST anomalies. At the late stage, an equivalent barotropic anomalous cyclone is located to the north of warmer SSTs, with a weak anomalous anticyclone to the south, corresponding to the anomalous westerly wind over SST anomalies. (3) The cyclonic circulation anomaly occurs at the late stage mainly due to the high-frequency transient eddy vorticity feedback forcing, which acts as the major contributing factor. (4) The structure of the ocean current is also different between the early and late stages. At the early stage, the ocean dynamic process is not conducive to maintaining the SST warm anomalies. At the late stage, both anomalous warm advection and anomalous downwelling act to maintain the SST warming and thus its influence on the atmosphere.
  • loading

Catalog

    Turn off MathJax
    Article Contents

    /

    DownLoad:  Full-Size Img  PowerPoint
    Return
    Return