Two typical modes in the variabilities of wintertime North Pacific basin‐scale oceanic fronts and associated atmospheric eddy‐driven jet. (18th August 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wang, Liying; Yang, Xiu‐Qun; Yang, Dejian; Xie, Qian; Fang, Jiabei; Sun, Xuguang
• Is Part Of: Atmospheric science letters. Volume 18:Number 9(2017)
• Page Start: 373
• Page End: 380
• Publication Date: 2017-08-18
• Subjects: Basin scale oceanic front -- sea surface temperature -- eddy‐driven jet -- transient eddy forcing -- Pacific Decadal Oscillation -- North Pacific Gyre Oscillation; Atmospheric physics -- Periodicals; 551
• DOI: 10.1002/asl.766
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1530-261X

Abstract

Abstract : Schematic diagram of two typical modes in the variabilities of wintertime North Pacific basin‐scale oceanic fronts and associated atmospheric eddy‐driven jet: (a) the enhanced westerly jet mode corresponding to an enhanced STFZ and an southward shifted SAFZ, caused by the PDO‐like SST anomaly, and (b) the northward shifted westerly jet mode corresponding to an enhanced SAFZ and an northward shifted STFZ, caused by the NPGO‐like SST anomaly. Note that the climatological westerly jet is shaded. Abstract: The role of oceanic fronts in the midlatitude air–sea interaction remains unclear. This study defines new indexes to quantify the intensity and location of two basin‐scale oceanic frontal zones in the wintertime North Pacific, i.e. the subtropical and subarctic frontal zones (STFZ, SAFZ). With these indexes, two typical modes, which are closely related to two large‐scale sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly patterns resembling Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO), respectively, are found in the oceanic front variabilities as well as in their associations with the midlatitude atmospheric eddy‐driven jet. Corresponding to an PDO‐like SST anomaly pattern, an enhanced STFZ occurs with a southward shifted SAFZ, which is associated with enhanced overlying atmospheric front, baroclinicity and transient eddy vorticity forcing, thus with an intensification of the westerly jet; and vice versa. On the other hand, corresponding to an NPGO‐like SST pattern, an enhanced SAFZ occurs with a northward shifted STFZ, which is associated with a northward shift of the atmospheric front, baroclinicity, transient eddy vorticity forcing, and westerly jet; and vice versa. These results suggest that the basin‐scale oceanic frontal zone is a key region for the midlatitude air–sea interaction in which the atmospheric transient eddy's dynamical forcing is a key player in such an interaction.