• Energy Research

The stratospheric polar vortex is a cyclonic circulation that forms over the winter pole, whose edge is characterized by a strong westerly jet (also called polar night jet, PNJ). The PNJ plays a key role in processes such as the distribution of atmospheric constituents in the polar stratosphere or the wave propagation. Further, variations in PNJ can also affect the troposphere, being behind the occurrence of extreme events near the Earth’s surface. Thus, it is important to correctly characterize the mean state of the PNJ and its variability. Already existing algorithms, although working, may present several issues. The simplest ones, those based on zonal mean wind, can miss important information. In contrast, the 2-dimensional ones usually involve multiple calculations with several fields, some of them not always included in typical datasets. In this study, we describe a new artificial intelligence technique to characterize the PNJ. The algorithm only requires data of zonal wind that is classified each time step with a decision trees algorithm with 95.5% accuracy, trained with images processed by a climate science researcher. The classifier is applied to JRA-55 reanalysis data and the output of simulations of three climate models and is found to perform reasonably well when validated against traditional zonal-mean methods. Indeed, it provides more information about the PNJ, as it offers in one step the PNJ region, averaged magnitudes and even identify if the PNJ is under perturbed conditions. We have explored two examples of potential applications of the classifier such as the study of the influence of climate change on the PNJ and the variability of the PNJ on monthly and daily scales. In both cases, our algorithm has produced coherent results with those produced with previous studies, but with more detail obtained at a single step.

Future changes in the occurrence rates of major stratospheric warmings (MSWs) have recently been identified in chemistry‐climate model (CCM) simulations, but without reaching a consensus, potentially due to the competition of different forcings. We examine future variations in the occurrence rates of MSWs in transient and timeslice simulations of the ECHAM/MESSy atmospheric chemistry (EMAC) CCM, with a focus on the individual effect of different external factors. Although no statistically significant variation is found in the decadal‐mean frequency of MSWs, a shift of their timing toward midwinter is detected in the future. The strengthening of the polar vortex in early winter is explained by recovering ozone levels following the future decrease in ozone‐depleting substances. In midwinter, a stronger dynamical forcing associated with changes in tropical sea surface temperatures will lead to more MSWs, through a similar mechanism that explains the stratospheric response to El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

AbstractMajor sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs), vortex formation, and final breakdown dates are key highlight points of the stratospheric polar vortex. These phenomena are relevant for stratosphere‐troposphere coupling, which explains the interest in understanding their future changes. However, up to now, there is not a clear consensus on which projected changes to the polar vortex are robust, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere, possibly due to short data record or relatively moderate CO2 forcing. The new simulations performed under the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, Phase 6, together with the long daily data requirements of the DynVarMIP project in preindustrial and quadrupled CO2 (4xCO2) forcing simulations provide a new opportunity to revisit this topic by overcoming the limitations mentioned above. In this study, we analyze this new model output to document the change, if any, in the frequency of SSWs under 4xCO2 forcing. Our analysis reveals a large disagreement across the models as to the sign of this change, even though most models show a statistically significant change. As for the near‐surface response to SSWs, the models, however, are in good agreement as to this signal over the North Atlantic: There is no indication of a change under 4xCO2 forcing. Over the Pacific, however, the change is more uncertain, with some indication that there will be a larger mean response. Finally, the models show robust changes to the seasonal cycle in the stratosphere. Specifically, we find a longer duration of the stratospheric polar vortex and thus a longer season of stratosphere‐troposphere coupling.

AbstractThe mechanistic pathways connecting ocean-atmosphere variability and terrestrial productivity are well-established theoretically, but remain challenging to quantify empirically. Such quantification will greatly improve the assessment and prediction of changes in terrestrial carbon sequestration in response to dynamically induced climatic extremes. The jet stream latitude (JSL) over the North Atlantic-European domain provides a synthetic and robust physical framework that integrates climate variability not accounted for by atmospheric circulation patterns alone. Surface climate impacts of north-south summer JSL displacements are not uniform across Europe, but rather create a northwestern-southeastern dipole in forest productivity and radial-growth anomalies. Summer JSL variability over the eastern North Atlantic-European domain (5-40E) exerts the strongest impact on European beech, inducing anomalies of up to 30% in modelled gross primary productivity and 50% in radial tree growth. The net effects of JSL movements on terrestrial carbon fluxes depend on forest density, carbon stocks, and productivity imbalances across biogeographic regions.

Abstract Previous research shows that blocking highs (BHs) influence wintertime polar stratospheric variability through the modulation of the climatological planetary waves (PWs) depending on the BH location. BHs over the Euro-Atlantic sector tend to enhance the upward PW propagation, and those over the northwestern Pacific Ocean tend to reduce it. Future changes are examined in the response of the wave activity flux to the BH location and their relationship with wintertime stratospheric variability in transient simulations of ECHAM/Modular Earth Submodel System (MESSy) Atmospheric Chemistry (EMAC). After it is verified that EMAC can reproduce qualitatively well the geographical dependence of the BH influence on PW activity injection, it is shown that this dependence does not change in the future. However, an eastward shift of the pattern of the BH influence on PW propagation over the Pacific, a farther eastward extension of the pattern over the Atlantic Ocean, and an intensification of the wavenumber-1 component of the interaction between climatological and anomalous waves are detected. Changes in the upper-tropospheric jet and an intensification of the wavenumber-1 climatological wave due to a strengthening of the Aleutian low agree with these variations. The spatial distribution of future BHs preceding extreme polar vortex events is also affected by the slight modifications in the wave activity pattern. Hence, future BHs preceding strong vortex events tend to be more concentrated over the Pacific than in the past, where BHs interfere negatively with wavenumber-1 climatological waves. Future BHs prior to major stratospheric warmings are located in a broader area than in the past, predominantly over an extended Euro-Atlantic sector.