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Co-variability of poleward propagating atmospheric energy with tropical and higher-latitude climate oscillations

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Abstract

One may infer from the poleward propagation of angular momentum that energy change in tropical regions may be manifested in polar regions through a poleward propagation. This idea does not seem to be extensively addressed in the literature. It has been found that the poleward propagation of total atmospheric energy appears to connect the tropics and the polar regions on the interannual timescale. The present study explores how this poleward propagation may be linked to prominent climate oscillations such as ENSO, PNA, NAO, AO, AAO, and PSA. Analysis suggests that the poleward propagation of energy is likely a result of the atmospheric circulation change modulated by the climate patterns of ENSO, PNA, NAO, AO from tropical to Arctic regions and by the climate patterns of ENSO, PSA, AAO from tropical to Antarctic regions. The existence of the poleward energy propagation may shed light on studies exploring the linkage between topical climate and polar climate.

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Notes

  1. NINO3.4 is the area-averaged sea surface temperature in the region bounded by 5°N–5°S, from 170°W to 120°W.

  2. http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/precip/CWlink/daily_ao_index/teleconnections.shtml.

  3. Similar characteristics of the stationary ΔFSFC, ΔFTOA, as well as the propagating behavior in their differences, also appear from the analysis using the data of ISCCP-FD (International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project; Rossow and Zhang 1995) (not shown).

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Acknowledgments

We thank anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions which greatly improved the manuscript. This research was partially supported by the Cheney Research Foundation. SYW was supported by the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station, Utah State University.

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  1. Wan-Ru Huang

    Present address: Guy Carpenter Asia–Pacific Climate Impact Centre, School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Ave., Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA

    Wan-Ru Huang & Tsing-Chang Chen

  2. Utah Climate Center and Department of Plants, Soils and Climate, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA

    Shih-Yu Wang

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  1. Wan-Ru Huang
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  2. Tsing-Chang Chen
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Correspondence to Wan-Ru Huang.

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Huang, WR., Chen, TC. & Wang, SY. Co-variability of poleward propagating atmospheric energy with tropical and higher-latitude climate oscillations. Clim Dyn 39, 1905–1912 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-011-1238-3

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