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Possible impacts of winter Arctic Oscillation on Siberian high, the East Asian winter monsoon and sea–ice extent

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Abstract

Using the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis dataset covering a 40–year period from January 1958 to December 1997, sea surface temperature (1950–1992), and monthly sea-ice concentration dataset for the period from 1953 to 1995, we investigate connections between winter Arctic Oscillation (AO) and Siberian high (SH), the East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM), and winter sea-ice extent in the Barents Sea. The results indicate that winter AO not only influences climate variations in the Arctic and the North Atlantic sector, but also shows possible effects on winter SH, and further influences EAWM. When winter AO is in its positive phase, both of winter SH and the EAWM are weaker than normal, and air temperature from near the surface to the middle troposphere is about 0.5–2°C higher than normal in the southeastern Siberia and the East Asian coast, including eastern China, Korea, and Japan. When AO reaches its negative phase, an opposite scenario can be observed.

The results also indicate that winter SH has no significant effects on climate variations in Arctic and the North Atlantic sector. Its influence intensity and extent are obviously weaker than AO, exhibiting a ‘local’ feature in contrast to AO. This study further reveals the possible mechanism of how the winter AO is related to winter SH. It is found that winter SH variation is closely related to both dynamic processes and air temperature variations from the surface to the middle troposphere. The western SH variation mainly depends on dynamic processes, while its eastern part is more closely related to air temperature variation. The maintaining of winter SH mainly depends on downward motion of airflow of the nearly entire troposphere. The airflow originates from the North Atlantic sector, whose variation is influenced by the AO. When AO is in its positive (negative) phase, downward motion remarkably weakened (strengthened), which further influences winter SH. In addition, winter AO exhibits significant influences on the simultaneous sea-ice extent in the Barents Sea.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100029, Beijing

    Wu Bingyi

  2. International Arctic Research Center-Frontier Research System for Global, Change, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 99775, Alaska

    Wang Jia

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  1. Wu Bingyi
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  2. Wang Jia
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This work was supported by the National Key Basic Research Program (Grant No.G1998040900). the Frontier Research System for Global Change of Japan and the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No.49905003.

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Bingyi, W., Jia, W. Possible impacts of winter Arctic Oscillation on Siberian high, the East Asian winter monsoon and sea–ice extent. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 19, 297–320 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-002-0024-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-002-0024-x

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