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Associations of atmospheric teleconnections with wintertime extratropical cyclones over East Asia and Northwest Pacific

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Abstract

Extratropical cyclones (ETCs) over East Asia and Northwest Pacific are identified and tracked by applying an objective algorithm to the 850-hPa relative vorticity fields from the ERA-Interim reanalysis. A total of 2866 ETCs originating at the western side of the date line have been identified in the extended November–March winters from 1979 to 2018. The ETC tracks are counted and visualized using a hexagonal tessellation rather than the regular longitude–latitude grids. Two generalized linear models (GLMs), Poisson regression model and Gamma regression model, are firstly applied to investigate the associations of wintertime ETCs with three atmospheric teleconnection patterns. The West Pacific (WP) pattern and the Pacific/North American (PNA) pattern are more responsible for the meridional variability of ETC activities in the North Pacific, while the influence of the Polar/Eurasia pattern on ETC activities is negligible. Results of composite analysis are qualitatively consistent with that of regression analysis. Composite maps of differences of jet stream, thermal gradient and mid-tropospheric baroclinicity in the positive and negative phases of teleconnection patterns also support the close associations of ETC activities with WP and PNA teleconnection patterns.

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Availability of data and material

The reanalysis data was provided by ECMWF. The teleconnection indices were provided by provided by NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction.

Code availability

The computer code for ETC identification and tracking was accessed from Dr. Flaounas via personal communication.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Key Deployment Project of Center for Ocean Mega-Science, CAS (No. COMS2019J02), the Key Research Program of Frontier Science of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. ZDBS-LY-7010), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31570423), and the Key Program of Shandong Natural Science Foundation (No. ZR2020KF031). MG was also partly supported by the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of CAS (2016195). The helpful comments from the editor and all anonymous reviewers are also acknowledged.

Funding

This study was funded by the Key Deployment Project of Center for Ocean Mega-Science, CAS (No. COMS2019J02), the Key Research Program of Frontier Science of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. ZDBS-LY-7010), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31570423), and the Key Program of Shandong Natural Science Foundation (No. ZR2020KF031). MG was also partly supported by the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of CAS (2016195).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mathematics and Information Sciences , Yantai University , Yantai, 264005 , China

    Meng Gao

  2. Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research , Chinese Academy of Sciences , Yantai, 264003 , China

    Meng Gao, Yidi Sun & Qian Zheng

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Yidi Sun & Qian Zheng

  4. Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Meng Gao

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  1. Meng Gao
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Correspondence to Meng Gao.

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Gao, M., Sun, Y. & Zheng, Q. Associations of atmospheric teleconnections with wintertime extratropical cyclones over East Asia and Northwest Pacific. Clim Dyn 57, 2079–2092 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-021-05795-9

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