Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Regionality of record-breaking low temperature events in China and its associated circulation

  • Published:
Climate Dynamics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Extreme cold events frequently occur around the world in recent several years and arouse widespread concern. In this study, 17 record-breaking event processes (RBEPs) of low temperature during 1981–2012 are identified by using daily minimum temperature at 1897 meteorological stations in China. These RBEPs are classified into two types based on the occurring area at northern or southern China to compositely examine the associated circulations. Although the correspondence between Arctic oscillation (AO) and RBEPs is not linearly stable, there still exist relationship between them, i.e. under AO negative phase the RBEPs tend to occur at northern China, nor the southern part, where the RBEPs prefer to happen under AO positive phase. In the RBEPs occurring at southern China, the continent high pressure over Mongolia area is extremely intensified and the East Asian polar front jet stream is enhanced accompanied with strong synoptic-scale eddy kinetic energy transports. Correspondingly, the cold air masses break out and unobstructed southward intrude to low latitudes, causing severe cooling effect in southern China. In the RBEPs occurring at northern China, however, the extremely intensified high pressure over northern Siberian area, combining with the northward enhanced subtropical jet stream, lead to the cold air mass accumulation and blockage at mid-latitudes and therefore RBEPs of low temperature at this area. Further study implies that interdecadal change of the AO phase and differences of synoptic-scale eddy activity might synthetically attribute to the different regional preference of those RBEPs of low temperature that are mostly located at southern China in 1990s but concentrated in northern China in 2000s.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alexander LV et al (2006) Global observed changes in daily climate extremes of temperature and precipitation. J Geophys Res 111:D05109. doi:10.1029/2005JD006290

    Google Scholar 

  • Allen RJ, Zender CS (2010) Effects of continental-scale snow albedo anomalies on the wintertime Arctic oscillation. J Geophys Res 115:D23105. doi:10.1029/2010JD014490

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allen RJ, Zender CS (2011) Forcing of the Arctic oscillation by Eurasian snow cover. J Clim 24:6528–6539

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baldwin MP, Dunkerton TJ (1999) Propagation of the Arctic oscillation from the stratosphere to the troposphere. J Geophys Res 104(24):30937–30946

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ballester J, Giorgi F, Rodò X (2010) Changes in European temperature extremes can be predicted from changes in PDF central statistics. Clim Change 98:277–284. doi:10.1007/s10584-009-9758-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen SF, Chen W, Wei K (2013) Recent trends in winter temperature extremes in eastern China and their relationship with the Arctic Oscillation and ENSO. Adv Atmos Sci 30(6):1712–1724. doi:10.1007/s00376-013-2296-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark RT, Brown SJ, Murphy JM (2006) Modeling Northern Hemisphere summer heat extreme changes and their uncertainties using a physics ensemble of climate sensitivity experiments. J Clim 19:4418–4435

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen J, Entekhabi D (1999) Eurasian snow cover variability and Northern Hemisphere climate predictability. Geophys Res Lett 26:345–348

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen JL, Furtado JC, Barlow MA, Alexeev VA, Cherry JE (2012) Arctic warming, increasing snow and widespread boreal winter cooling cover. Environ Res Lett. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/7/1/014007

    Google Scholar 

  • Della-Marta PM, Haylock MR, Luterbacher J, Wanner H (2007) Doubled length of western European summer heat waves since 1880. J Geophys Res 112:D15103. doi:10.1029/2007JD008510

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fink A, Brucher T, Kruger A, Leckebusch GC, Pinto JG, Ulbrich U (2004) The 2003 European summer heatwaves and drought—synoptic diagnosis and impacts. Weather 59:2009–2216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher C, Kushner P, Cohen J (2007) Stratospheric control of the extratropical circulation response to surface forcing. Geophys Res Lett 34:L21802

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glick N (1978) Breaking records and breaking boards. Am Math Mon 85:2–26. doi:10.2307/2978044

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gong DY, Wang SW, Zhu JH (2001) East Asian winter monsoon and Arctic oscillation. Geophys Res Lett 28:2073–2076

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Honda M, Inoue J, Yamane S (2009) Influence of low Arctic sea-ice minima on anomalously cold Eurasian winters. Geophys Res Lett 36:L08707. doi:10.1029/2008GL037079

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kalnay E et al (1996) The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project. Bull Am Meteor Soc 77:437–472

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kjellström E, Bärring L, Jacob D, Jones R, Lenderink G, Schär C (2007) Modeling daily temperature extremes: recent climate and future changes over Europe. Clim Change 81:249–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuang XY, Zhang YC, Liu J (2008) Relationship between subtropical upper-tropospheric westerly jet and East Asian winter monsoon. Plateau Meteorol 27(4):701–712 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuang XY, Zhang YC, Huang Y, Huang DQ (2014a) Spatial differences in seasonal variation of the upper-tropospheric jet stream in the Northern Hemisphere and its thermal dynamic mechanism. Theor Appl Climatol 117:103–112. doi:10.1007/s00704-013-0994-x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuang XY, Zhang YC, Huang Y, Huang D (2014b) Changes in the frequencies of record-breaking temperature events in China and its association with East Asian Winter Monsoon variability. J Geophys Res 119:1234–1248. doi:10.1002/2013JD020965

    Google Scholar 

  • Li JP, Wang JXL (2003) A modified zonal index and its physical sense. Geophys Res Lett 30(12):1632. doi:10.1029/2003GL017441

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liao ZJ, Zhang YC (2013) Concurrent variation between the East Asian subtropical jet and polar front jet during persistent snowstorm period in 2008 winter over southern China. J Geophys Res 118(12):6360–6373

    Google Scholar 

  • Lim YK, Schubert SD (2011) The impact of ENSO and the Arctic oscillation on winter temperature extremes in the southeast United States. Geophys Res Lett 38:L15706. doi:10.1029/2011GL048283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luterbacher J, Dietrich D, Xoplaki E, Grosjean M, Wanner H (2004) European seasonal and annual temperature variability, trends, and extremes since 1500. Science 303:1499–1503

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murakami M (1979) Large-scale aspects of deep convective activity over the GATE area. Mon Weather Rev 107:994–1013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park TW, Ho CH, Yang S (2011) Relationship between the Arctic oscillation and cold surges over East Asia. J Clim 24:68–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petoukhov V, Semenov VA (2010) A link between reduced Barents-Kara sea ice and cold winter extremes over northern continents. J Geophys Res 115:D21111. doi:10.1029/2009JD013568

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rebetez M, Dupont O, Giroud M (2009) An analysis of the July 2006 heatwave extent in Europe compared to the record year of 2003. Theor Appl Climatol 95:1–7. doi:10.1007/s00704-007-0370-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schaer C et al (2004) The role of increasing temperature variability in European summer heatwaves. Nature 427:332–336

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simolo C, Brunetti M, Maugeri M, Nanni T (2011) Evolution of extreme temperatures in a warming climate. Geophys Res Lett 38:L16701. doi:10.1029/2011GL048437

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sun C, Li JP (2012) Analysis of anomalously low surface air temperature in the Northern Hemisphere during 2009/2010 winter. Clim Environ Res 17(3):259–273 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Sun CF, Ren FM, Zhou B, Gong ZQ, Zuo JQ, Guo YJ (2012) Features and possible cause for the low temperature in winter 2011/2012. Meteorol Mon 38(7):884–889 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Takaya K, Nakamura H (2001) A formulation of a phase-independent wave-activity flux for stationary and migratory quasigeostrophic eddies on a zonally varying basic flow. J Atmos Sci 58:608–627

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang C, Liu H, Lee S (2010) The record-breaking cold temperatures during the winter of 2009/2010 in the Northern Hemisphere. Atmos Sci Lett. doi:10.1002/asl.278

    Google Scholar 

  • Wen M, Yang S, Arun K, Zhang PQ (2009) An analysis of the large-scale climate anomalies associated with the snowstorms affecting China in January 2008. Mon Weather Rev 137:1111–1131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wen HQ, Zhang X, Xu Y, Wang B (2013) Detecting human influence on extreme temperatures in China. Geophys Res Lett 40:1171–1176. doi:10.1002/grl.50285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu J, Gao X (2013) A gridded daily observation dataset over China region and comparison with the other datasets. Chin J Geophys 56(4):1102–1111 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu B, Wang J (2002) Winter Arctic oscillation, Siberian high and East Asian winter monsoon. Geophys Res Lett 29(19):1897. doi:10.1029/2002GL015373

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions for improving the manuscript. This work is jointly supported by the China National Basic Research Program under Grants 2012CB955901, the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants 41475092 and 41130963, the National Public Benefit Research Foundation of China under Grant GYHY201006019, the Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Climate Change.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, People’s Republic of China

    Xueyuan Kuang, Yaocun Zhang, Danqing Huang & Ying Huang

Authors
  1. Xueyuan Kuang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yaocun Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Danqing Huang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ying Huang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xueyuan Kuang.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kuang, X., Zhang, Y., Huang, D. et al. Regionality of record-breaking low temperature events in China and its associated circulation. Clim Dyn 46, 1719–1731 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-015-2670-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-015-2670-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation