Analysis and modeling of the Arctic Oscillation using a simple barotropic model with baroclinic eddy forcing

A numerical simulation of the Arctic Oscillation (AO) is conducted using a simple barotropic model that considers the barotropic-baroclinic interactions as the external forcing. The barotropic S model has been integrated for 51 years under a perpetual January condition and the dominant empirical ort...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the atmospheric sciences 2003-06, Vol.60 (11), p.1359-1379
Main Author: TANAKA, H. L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Arctic Oscillation
Atmosphere
Atmospheric pressure
Baroclinic instability
Barotropic mode
Climate
Disturbances
Earth, ocean, space
Empirical analysis
Exact sciences and technology
External geophysics
General circulation models
History
Inverse problems
Mathematical models
Meteorology
Modelling
Natural variability
Numerical simulations
Orthogonal functions
Other topics in atmospheric geophysics
Partial differential equations
Planetary waves
Simulation
Storm tracks
Storms
Stratosphere
Synoptic disturbances
Wavelengths
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A numerical simulation of the Arctic Oscillation (AO) is conducted using a simple barotropic model that considers the barotropic-baroclinic interactions as the external forcing. The barotropic S model has been integrated for 51 years under a perpetual January condition and the dominant empirical orthogonal function (EOF) models in the model have been analyzed. According to the result, the first EOF of the model atmosphere appears to be the AO similar to the observation. This suggests that the AO can be understood as the natural variability of the barotropic component of the atmosphere induced by the inherent barotropic dynamics, which is forced by the barotropic-baroclinic interactions. The fluctuating upscale energy cascade from planetary waves and synoptic disturbances to the zonal motion plays the key role for the excitation of the AO.
ISSN:0022-4928
1520-0469
DOI:10.1175/1520-0469(2003)060<1359:AAMOTA>2.0.CO;2