Chinese Science Bulletin

, Volume 55, Issue 22, pp 2469–2472 | Cite as

Atmospheric oscillations over the last millennium

  • JianBin Huang
  • ShaoWu Wang
  • DaoYi Gong
  • TianJun Zhou
  • XinYu Wen
  • ZiYin Zhang
  • JinHong Zhu
Article Atmospheric Science
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

The variations of global atmospheric oscillations over the last millennium, including the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) highly associated with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), the Southern Oscillation (SO) and the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO), are studied and compared in this paper based on observations and reconstructed data. The cross correlation analysis of AAO, NAO and NPO shows that there is no significant relationship on interannual variation among them. However, the consistency on decadal variability is prominent. During A.D.1920–1940 and A.D.1980–2000, the positive (strong) phase was dominant and the negative (weak) one noticeable during A.D.1940–1980. In addition, the reconstructed atmospheric oscillations series demonstrate that the positive phase existed in the early of the last millennium for NAO and in the late of the last millennium for AAO, respectively; while it occurred in the mid-late of the last millennium for PDO and ENSO.

Keywords

atmospheric oscillation climate variability ENSO Medieval Warm Period Little Ice Age 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. 1.
    Trenberth K E, Jones P D, Ambenje P, et al. Observations: Surface and Atmospheric Climate Change. In: Solomon S, Qin D, Manning M, et al., eds. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. 235–335Google Scholar
  2. 2.
    Bjerknes J. Atmospheric teleconnections from the equatorial Pacific. Mon Weather Rev, 1969, 97: 163–172CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. 3.
    Wallace J M, Gutzler D S. Teleconnections in the geopotential height field during the Northern Hemisphere winter. Mon Weather Rev, 1981, 109: 784–812CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. 4.
    David W J, Thompson, Wallace J M. The arctic oscillation signature in the wintertime geopotential height and temperature fields. Geophys Res Lett, 1998, 25: 1297–1300CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. 5.
    Hurrell J W, Kushnir Y, Ottersen G, et al. An overview of the North Atlantic Oscillation. In: Hurrell J W, ed. The North Atlantic Oscillation: Climatic Significance and Environmental Impact, Geophys Monogr, 2003, 134. Washington D C: American Geophysical Union, 1–35Google Scholar
  6. 6.
    Deser C, Phillips A S, Hurrell J W. Pacific interdecadal climate variability: Linkages between the tropics and the north Pacific during boreal winter since 1900. J Clim, 2004, 17: 3109–3124CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. 7.
    Mantua N J, Hare S R. The Pacific Decadal Oscillation. J Oceanogr, 2002, 58: 35–44CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. 8.
    Wang S W, Zhu J H, Cai J N, et al. Reconstruction and analysis of time series of ENSO for the last 500 years. Prog Nat Sci, 2004, 14: 1074–1079CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. 9.
    Trenberth K E, Caron J M. The Southern Oscillation revisited: sea level pressures, surface temperatures and precipitation. J Clim, 2000, 13: 4358–4365CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. 10.
    Gong D Y, Wang S W. Definition of Antarctic oscillation index. Geophys Res Lett, 1999, 26: 459–462CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. 11.
    Marshall G J. Trends in the Southern Annular Mode from observations and reanalysis. J Clim, 2003, 16: 4134–4143CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. 12.
    Visbeck M. A station-based Southern Annular Mode Index from 1884 to 2005. J Clim, 2009, 22: 940–950CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. 13.
    Gong D Y, Wang S W. Contribution of the atmospheric oscillations to the global surface pressure system (in Chinese). Plat Meteorol, 2000, 16: 148–154Google Scholar
  14. 14.
    Trouet V, Esper J, Graham N E, et al. Persistent positive North Atlantic Oscillation mode dominated the Medieval Climate Anomaly. Science, 2009, 324: 78–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. 15.
    MacDonald G M, Case R A. Variations in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation over the past millennium. Geophys Res Lett, 2005, 32,L08703, doi: 10.1029/2005 GL022478Google Scholar
  16. 16.
    Diaz H F, Pulwarty R S. An analysis of the time scales of variability in centuries-long ENSO-sensitive records in the last 1000 years. Clim Change, 1994, 26: 317–342CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. 17.
    Mayr C, Wille M, Haberzettl T, et al. Holocene variability of the Southern Hemisphere westerlies in Argentinean Patagonia (52°S). Quat Sci Rev, 2007, 226: 579–584CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. 18.
    Moreno P I, Françsois J P, Villa-Martínez R P, et al. Millennial-scale variability in Southern Hemisphere westerly wind activity over the last 5000 years in S W Patagonia. Quat Sci Rev, 2009, 28: 25–38CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. 19.
    Mayr C, Fey M, Haberzettl T, et al. Palaeoenvironmental changes in southern Patagonia during the last millennium recorded in lake sediments from Laguna Azul (Argentina). Palaeogeosr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol, 2005, 228: 203–227CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. 20.
    Mann M E, Cane M A, Zebiak S E, et al. Volcanic and solar forcing of the tropical Pacific over the past 1000 years. J Clim, 2005, 18: 447–456CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Science China Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  • JianBin Huang
    • 1
  • ShaoWu Wang
    • 1
  • DaoYi Gong
    • 2
  • TianJun Zhou
    • 3
  • XinYu Wen
    • 1
  • ZiYin Zhang
    • 2
  • JinHong Zhu
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Atmospheric Sciences, School of PhysicsPeking UniversityBeijingChina
  2. 2.State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, College of Resources Science and TechnologyBeijing Normal UniversityBeijingChina
  3. 3.LASG, Institute of Atmospheric PhysicsChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina

Personalised recommendations