EGU21-5271, updated on 18 Jan 2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-5271
EGU General Assembly 2021
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

How does the Arctic affect North Atlantic climate? Fresh perspectives on a long-standing question.

Marilena Oltmanns1, N. Penny Holliday1, James Screen2, D. Gwyn Evans1, Simon A. Josey1, Ben Moat1, Johannes Karstensen3, and G. W. Kent Moore4
Marilena Oltmanns et al.
  • 1National Oceanography Centre, Marine Physics and Ocean Climate, United Kingdom of Great Britain – England, Scotland, Wales (marilena.oltmanns@noc.ac.uk)
  • 2University of Exeter, Mathematics, United Kingdom of Great Britain – England, Scotland, Wales
  • 3GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Physical Oceanography, Germany
  • 4University of Toronto, Department of Physics, Canada

Recent decades have been characterised by amplified Arctic warming and increased occurrence of extreme weather events in the North Atlantic region. While earlier studies noticed statistical links between high-latitude warming and mid-latitude weather extremes, the underlying dynamical connections remained elusive. Combining different data products, I will demonstrate a new mechanism linking Arctic ice losses with cold anomalies and storms in the subpolar region in winter, and with heat waves and droughts over Europe summer. Considering feedbacks of the identified mechanism on the Arctic Ocean circulation, I will further present new support for the potential of Arctic warming to trigger a rapid change in climate.

How to cite: Oltmanns, M., Holliday, N. P., Screen, J., Evans, D. G., Josey, S. A., Moat, B., Karstensen, J., and Moore, G. W. K.: How does the Arctic affect North Atlantic climate? Fresh perspectives on a long-standing question., EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-5271, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-5271, 2021.

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