Role of Atmospheric Variability in Driving the "Warm‐Arctic, Cold‐Continent" Pattern Over the North America Sector and Sea Ice Variability Over the Chukchi‐Bering Sea. Issue 13 (25th June 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Guan, Weina; Jiang, Xianan; Ren, Xuejuan; Chen, Gang; Ding, Qinghua
• Is Part Of: Geophysical research letters. Volume 47:Issue 13(2020)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2020-06-25
• Subjects: Arctic warming -- surface air temperature -- sea ice loss -- atmospheric variability -- large‐scale circulation; Geophysics -- Periodicals; Planets -- Periodicals; Lunar geology -- Periodicals; 550
• DOI: 10.1029/2020GL088599
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0094-8276

Abstract

Abstract: While the observed decline of sea ice over the Chukchi‐Bering Sea (CBS) has coincided with the "warm‐Arctic, cold‐continent" (WACC) pattern over the North America (NA) sector, there is a debate on the causes of the WACC pattern. Here we present a very similar WACC pattern over the NA sector on both interannual and subseasonal time scales. Lead‐lag regression analyses on the shorter time scale indicate that an anomalous anticyclonic circulation over Alaska/Yukon in conjunction with the downward surface turbulent heat flux and long‐wave radiation anomalies over CBS leads the formation of the WACC pattern by about 1–2 days, while the latter further leads CBS sea ice reduction by about 3 days. These results indicate that atmospheric variability may play an active role in driving both the WACC pattern over NA and CBS sea ice variability. Key Points: A similar "warm‐Arctic, cold‐continent" (WACC) pattern is found on both interannual and subseasonal time scales over North America (NA) On shorter time scales, the Alaska anomalous high leads the WACC pattern by 1 to 2 days, which further leads CBS sea ice loss by about 3 days This study indicates that atmospheric variability plays an active role in driving the WACC pattern over NA and CBS sea ice variability