A link between reduced Barents-Kara sea ice and cold winter extremes over northern continents.

Petoukhov, V. and Semenov, Vladimir (2010) A link between reduced Barents-Kara sea ice and cold winter extremes over northern continents. Open Access Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 115 . D21111. DOI 10.1029/2009JD013568.

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Abstract

The recent overall Northern Hemisphere warming was accompanied by several severe northern continental winters, as for example, extremely cold winter 2005/2006 in Europe
and northern Asia. Here we show that anomalous decrease of wintertime sea ice concentration in the Barents-Kara (B-K) Seas could bring about extreme cold events like winter 2005/2006. Our simulations with the ECHAM5 general circulation model demonstrate that lower-troposphere heating over the B-K Seas in the Eastern Arctic caused by the sea ice reduction may result in strong anti-cyclonic anomaly over the Polar Ocean and anomalous easterly advection over northern continents. This causes a
continental-scale winter cooling reaching -1.5°C, with more than three times increased probability of cold winter extremes over large areas including Europe. Our results imply that several recent severe winters do not conflict the global warming picture but rather supplement it, being in qualitative agreement with the simulated large-scale atmospheric circulation realignment. Furthermore, our results suggest that high-latitude atmospheric
circulation response to the B-K sea ice decrease is highly nonlinear and characterized by transition from anomalous cyclonic circulation to anticyclonic one and then again back to cyclonic type of circulation as the B-K sea ice concentration gradually reduces from 100% to ice free conditions. We present a conceptual model which may explain the nonlinear local atmospheric response in the B-K Seas region by counter play between convection over the surface heat source and baroclinic effect due to modified temperature gradients in the vicinity of the heating area.

Document Type: Article
Keywords: Meteorology; global warming; atmosphere circulation; Arctic sea ice; atmospheric circulation; nonlinear dynamics
Research affiliation: OceanRep > GEOMAR > FB1 Ocean Circulation and Climate Dynamics > FB1-ME Maritime Meteorology
Refereed: Yes
Open Access Journal?: No
Publisher: AGU (American Geophysical Union)
Date Deposited: 03 Aug 2010 13:46
Last Modified: 06 Feb 2018 12:53
URI: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/8738

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