Sea-ice anomalies in the Sea of Okhotsk and the relationship with storm tracks in the Northern Hemisphere during winter

Michel D. S. Mesquita; Kevin I. Hodges; David E. Atkinson; Jürgen Bader

doi:10.1111/j.1600-0870.2010.00483.x

Sea-ice anomalies in the Sea of Okhotsk and the relationship with storm tracks in the Northern Hemisphere during winter

Tellus

Volume 63 (2011): Issue 2

By: Michel D. S. Mesquita, Kevin I. Hodges, David E. Atkinson and Jürgen Bader

Open Access

|Jan 2011

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that sea-ice in the Sea of Okhotsk can be affected by local storms; in turn, the resultant sea-ice changes can affect the downstream development of storm tracks in the Pacific and possibly dampen a pre-existing North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) signal in late winter. In this paper, a storm tracking algorithm was applied to the six hourly horizontal winds from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis data from 1978(9) to 2007 and output from the atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) ECHAM5 forced by sea-ice anomalies in the Sea of Okhotsk. The life cycle response of storms to sea-ice anomalies is investigated using various aspects of storm activity—cyclone genesis, lysis, intensity and track density. Results show that, for enhanced positive sea-ice concentrations in the Sea of Okhotsk, there is a decrease in secondary cyclogenesis, a westward shift in cyclolysis and changes in the subtropical jet are seen in the North Pacific. In the Atlantic, a pattern resembling the negative phase of the NAO is observed. This pattern is confirmed by the AGCM ECHAM5 experiments driven with above normal sea-ice anomalies in the Sea of Okhotsk.

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0870.2010.00483.x | Journal eISSN: 3035-9554

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Language: English

Page range: 312 - 323

Submitted on: Nov 30, 2009

Accepted on: Aug 20, 2010

Published on: Jan 1, 2011

Published by: Stockholm University Press

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

© 2011 Michel D. S. Mesquita, Kevin I. Hodges, David E. Atkinson, Jürgen Bader, published by Stockholm University Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 63 (2011): Issue 2