Identification

Title

Decadal relationship between European blocking and the North Atlantic Oscillation during 1978-2011. Part II: A theoretical model study

Abstract

In Part I of this study, it is revealed that decadal variations of European blocking, in its intensity, duration, and position, during 1978-2011 are modulated by decadal changes in the frequency of North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) events associated with background Atlantic conditions. In Part II, reanalysis data are analyzed to first show that a T-bone-type structure of the climatological-mean blocking frequency in the Euro-Atlantic sector roughly results from a combination of the blocking frequency distributions along the southeast-northwest (SE-NW) direction associated with negative-phase NAO (NAO⁻) events and along the southwest–northeast (SW-NE) direction associated with positive-phase NAO (NAO⁺) events. A nonlinear multiscale interaction (NMI) model is then used to examine the physical processes behind the blocking frequency distributions. This model shows that the combination of eastward- and westward-displaced blocking frequency patterns along the SW-NE and SE-NW directions associated with NAO⁺ and NAO⁻ events leads to a T-bone-type frequency distribution, as seen in reanalysis data. Moreover, it is found that the westward migration of intense, long-lived blocking anomalies over Europe following NAO⁺ events is favored (suppressed) when the Atlantic mean zonal wind is relatively weak (strong). This result is held for the strong (weak) western Atlantic storm track. This helps explain the findings in Part I. In particular, long-lived blocking events with double peaks can form over Europe because of reintensification during the NAO⁺ decay phase, when the mean zonal wind weakens. But the double-peak structure disappears and becomes a strong single-peak structure as the mean zonal wind strengthens.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7db8311

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2015-03-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Copyright 2015 American Meteorological Society (AMS). Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this work in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be "fair use" under Section 107 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law (17 USC, as revised by P.L. 94-553) does not require the Society's permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form on servers, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statements, requires written permission or license from the AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policies, available from the AMS at 617-227-2425 or amspubs@ametsoc.org. Permission to place a copy of this work on this server has been provided by the AMS. The AMS does not guarantee that the copy provided here is an accurate copy of the published work.

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact