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Role of Ferrel cell in daily variability of Northern Hemisphere Annular Mode

  • Article
  • Atmospheric Science
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Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

The Northern Hemisphere Annular Mode (NAM) represents the zonally symmetric planetary-scale atmospheric mass fluctuations between middle and high latitudes, whose variations have shown a large impact on other components of the climate system. Previous studies have indicated that the NAM is correlated with the Ferrel cell in their monthly or longer timescale variability. However, there have been few studies investigating their connections at daily timescale, though daily variability of NAM has been suggested to be an important component and has significant implication for weather forecast. The results from this study demonstrate that variability of the Ferrel cell leads that of the NAM by about 1–2 days. This statistically identified temporal phase difference between NAM and Ferrel cell variability can be elucidated by meridional mass redistribution. Intensified (weakened) Ferrel cell causes anomalously smaller (larger) poleward mass transport from the middle to the high latitudes, resulting in an increase (a decrease) in mass in the middle latitudes and a decrease (an increase) in the high latitudes. As a consequence, anomalously higher (lower) poleward pressure gradient forms and the NAM subsequently shifts to a positive (negative) phase at a time lag of 1–2 days. The findings here would augment the existing knowledge for better understanding the connection between the Ferrel Cell and the NAM, and may provide skillful information for improving NAM as well as daily scale weather prediction.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Jie Song and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (40905040 and 41030961), the National Basic Research Program of China (2010CB950400), and the R&D Special Fund for Public Welfare Industry of China (meteorology) (GYHY201306031).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Xiao-Feng Li, Jianping Li & Cheng Sun

  2. International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, 99775, USA

    Xiangdong Zhang

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  1. Xiao-Feng Li
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  2. Jianping Li
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Correspondence to Jianping Li.

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Li, XF., Li, J., Zhang, X. et al. Role of Ferrel cell in daily variability of Northern Hemisphere Annular Mode. Chin. Sci. Bull. 59, 3457–3464 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-014-0477-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-014-0477-1

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