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Climate impact of the European winter blocking episodes from the NCEP/NCAR Reanalyses

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Abstract

A comprehensive multivariable characterisation of the climatic impacts of winter blocking and strong zonal-flow (non-blocking) episodes over the Euro-Atlantic sector is presented here, using a 40-year (1958–97) consistent dataset from NCEP/NCAR. Anomaly fields of surface or low troposphere climate variables are then interpreted based on large-scale physical mechanisms, namely, the anomalous mean flow (characterised by the 500 hPa geopotential height and the surface wind) and the anomalous eddy activity (characterised by the surface vorticity and cyclonic activity). It is shown that the lower troposphere (850 hPa) temperature patterns are mainly controlled by the advection of heat by the anomalous mean flow. However, at the surface level, the anomaly patterns obtained for maximum and minimum temperatures present important asymmetries, associated with a different control mechanism, namely the modulation of shortwave and longwave radiation by cloud cover variations. It is shown that blocking and non-blocking episodes are typically associated with important meridional shifts in the location of maximum activity of transient eddies. The influence of persistent anomaly events in precipitable water is strongly related to the corresponding anomaly fields of lower troposphere temperature. The precipitation rate, however, appears to be essentially controlled by the surface vorticity field and preferred locations of associated cyclones.

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Acknowledgements

The Reanalyses data have been produced by the NCEP and NCAR DSS. The window (30°N–80°N, 60°E–70°W) has been extracted and kindly provided by Ian Harris and David Viner (CRU). The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Jean Palutikof and Ms. Célia Gouveia for their helpful suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Geofísica da Universidade de Lisboa, Departamento de Física, Faculdade de Cièncias Campo Grande, Ed C8, Piso 6, 1749-016, Lisbon, Portugal

    R. M. Trigo, I. F. Trigo & C. C. DaCamara

  2. Departamento de Eng. Civil da Universidade Lusófona, Lisbon, Portugal

    R. M. Trigo

  3. Instituto de Meteorologia, Lisbon, Portugal

    I. F. Trigo & C. C. DaCamara

  4. Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

    T. J. Osborn

Authors
  1. R. M. Trigo
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  2. I. F. Trigo
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  3. C. C. DaCamara
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  4. T. J. Osborn
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Correspondence to R. M. Trigo.

Appendix

Appendix

1.1 Cyclone tracking algorithm

The detection and tracking of North Atlantic cyclones is based on an algorithm previously developed for the Mediterranean region by Trigo IF et al. (1999). Both the detection and tracking schemes are performed using 6-hourly sea level pressure (SLP), available from NCEP/NCAR reanalyses on a 2.5° × 2.5° grid. The data cover the area from 30°N to 80°N and 60°W to 70°E, and the period 1958–97.

A candidate cyclone is identified as a local SLP minimum, over a 3 × 3 grid point area. To be considered a cyclone, this minimum must fulfil two thresholds found empirically:

  1. 1.

    A maximum value of 1020 hPa is required for the central sea level pressure

  2. 2.

    The mean pressure gradient, estimated for an area of 12.5° long. × 10° lat. around the minimum pressure, must be at least 0.55 hPa/100 km

The cyclone tracking algorithm is based on a nearest-neighbour search procedure (as in Blender et al. 1997; Serreze et al. 1997): a cyclone’s trajectory is determined by computing the distance to cyclones detected in the previous chart and assuming the cyclone has taken the path of minimum distance; if the nearest neighbor in the previous chart is not within an area determined by imposing a maximum cyclone velocity of 50 km/h in the westward direction and of 110 km/h in any other, then cyclogenesis is assumed to have occurred. Again, these thresholds were determined empirically by observing cyclone behaviour in SLP charts.

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Trigo, R.M., Trigo, I.F., DaCamara, C.C. et al. Climate impact of the European winter blocking episodes from the NCEP/NCAR Reanalyses. Climate Dynamics 23, 17–28 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-004-0410-4

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