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Estimates of the sensitivity of cyclonic activity in the troposphere of extratropical latitudes to changes in the temperature regime

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Abstract

Quantitative estimates of the sensitivity of the number and size of extratropical cyclones in the Northern Hemisphere to changes in the surface temperature are obtained with the use of NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data over a 60-year period and are compared with estimates on the basis of a relatively simple model of the cyclonic and anticyclonic activities in the atmosphere of extratropical latitudes associated with characteristics of atmospheric temperature stratification (MMPKh model). The model estimates are also obtained for a dry and moist atmosphere. With the use of the reanalysis data, extratropical latitudes are, on the whole, characterized by a general decrease in the number of cyclones and the density of their packing in extratropical latitudes as the surface temperature increases. However, in the MMPKh model for moist atmosphere, estimates of the parameter of sensitivity of the number of cyclones at midlatitudes and at extratropical latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere as a whole are close to those based on the reanalysis data. The influences of the meridional gradient of the surface temperature and the vertical temperature gradient in the troposphere on changes in the number and size of extratropical cyclones are estimated from the reanalysis data and model calculations. It is noted that the most significant changes in annual mean variations in the number and size of extratropical cyclones are associated with the vertical temperature gradient in the troposphere. In this case, an increase in the vertical temperature gradient in the troposphere decreases the size of cyclones. The relative influences of the vertical and meridional temperature gradients are different for different latitudinal zones.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pyzhevskii per. 3, Moscow, 119017, Russia

    M. G. Akperov & I. I. Mokhov

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  1. M. G. Akperov
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  2. I. I. Mokhov
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Correspondence to M. G. Akperov.

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Original Russian Text © M.G. Akperov, I.I. Mokhov, 2013, published in Izvestiya AN. Fizika Atmosfery i Okeana, 2013, Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 129–136.

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Akperov, M.G., Mokhov, I.I. Estimates of the sensitivity of cyclonic activity in the troposphere of extratropical latitudes to changes in the temperature regime. Izv. Atmos. Ocean. Phys. 49, 113–120 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001433813020035

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