Weakening of the stratospheric polar vortex by Arctic sea-ice loss
SCIE
SCOPUS
- Title
- Weakening of the stratospheric polar vortex by Arctic sea-ice loss
- Authors
- Kim, BM; Son, SW; Min, SK; Jeong, JH; Kim, SJ; Zhang, XD; Shim, T; Yoon, JH
- Date Issued
- 2014-09
- Publisher
- NATURE
- Abstract
- Successive cold winters of severely low temperatures in recent years have had critical social and economic impacts on the mid-latitude continents in the Northern Hemisphere. Although these cold winters are thought to be partly driven by dramatic losses of Arctic sea-ice, the mechanism that links sea-ice loss to cold winters remains a subject of debate. Here, by conducting observational analyses and model experiments, we show how Arctic sea-ice loss and cold winters in extra-polar regions are dynamically connected through the polar stratosphere. We find that decreased sea-ice cover during early winter months (November-December), especially over the Barents-Kara seas, enhances the upward propagation of planetary-scale waves with wavenumbers of 1 and 2, subsequently weakening the stratospheric polar vortex in mid-winter (January-February). The weakened polar vortex preferentially induces a negative phase of Arctic Oscillation at the surface, resulting in low temperatures in mid-latitudes.
- URI
- https://oasis.postech.ac.kr/handle/2014.oak/13082
- DOI
- 10.1038/NCOMMS5646
- ISSN
- 2041-1723
- Article Type
- Article
- Citation
- NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, vol. 5, page. 4646, 2014-09
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