Causes of extreme ridges that induce California droughts

Teng, Haiyan; Branstator, Grant

doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0524.1

i

Causes of extreme ridges that induce California droughts

2016
By Teng, Haiyan ; Branstator, Grant

Details

Journal Title:

Journal of Climate
Personal Author:

Teng, Haiyan ; Branstator, Grant
NOAA Program & Office:

OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; CPO (Climate Program Office)
Description:

California droughts are often caused by high-amplitude and persistent ridges near and off the west coast of North America without apparent connections with ENSO. Here with a hierarchy of climate models, it is demonstrated that extreme ridges in this region are associated with a continuum of zonal wavenumber-5 circumglobal teleconnection patterns that originate from midlatitude atmospheric internal dynamics. Although tropical diabatic heating anomalies are not essential to the formation and maintenance of these wave patterns, certain persistent heating anomalies may double the probability of ridges with amplitudes in the 90th percentile occurring on interannual time scales. Those heating anomalies can be caused by either natural variability or possibly by climate change, and they do not necessarily depend on ENSO. The extreme ridges that occurred during the 2013/14 and 2014/15 winters could be examples of ridges produced by heating anomalies that are not associated with ENSO. This mechanism could provide a source of subseasonal-to-interannual predictability beyond the predictability provided by ENSO.
Keywords:

Atmospheric Circulation Climatic Changes Heating Oscillation Variability Atmospheric Circulation Climatic Changes Climate Variability Diabatic Heating Pacific-North American Pattern Interannual Variability
Source:

Journal of Climate, 30(4), 1477-1492
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0524.1
Document Type:

Journal Article
Funding:

Grant no. NA14OAR4310224
Place as Subject:

Pacific Area ; North America
Rights Information:

Other
Compliance:

Submitted
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha256:249b5f6a620553c24da4f1486381f91819522591a6f960d19b37225b12dcbe95
Download URL:

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/28350/noaa_28350_DS1.pdf
File Type:

[PDF - 3.33 MB ]

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