Roles of wave trains and synoptic Rossby waves in creating midlatitude temperature extremes during winter

Rossby waves, found in the westerly flow at the upper troposphere, transfer energy, moisture, and momentum across large distances, being responsible for atmospheric teleconnections. Large-amplitude waves may contribute to rapid changes in wind and temperature, making them import for creating local temperature or precipitation extremes. Wirth et al (2018) separated Rossby waves into a low-frequency type, referred to as Rossby wave trains, and high-frequency, or synoptic, waves. In this work we explore a relative role of these two types in creating seasonal and synoptic temperature extremes in the midlatitudes.

We identify wave propagation regions at 300 hPa using ERA-Interim dataset for JFM 1980 – 2017. Our analysis is based on the daily data. This time scale allows identification of waveguides at a wide range of latitudes, suggesting possibility of Rossby wave propagation between midlatitudes and polar regions, as well as tropics. We show that winter temperature extremes in the midlatitudes are associated with anomalies in both high and low latitudes, while the relative importance of these areas differs across midlatitude regions. Furthermore, we demonstrate, that warm Arctic regions can create cold outbreaks in Siberia and North America.

Analysis of the evolution of midlatitude synoptic extremes reveals the importance of a pre-existing local temperature anomaly, that triggers amplification of large-scale Rossby wave trains and creates a local anomaly in the waveguide. The latter modifies propagation of synoptic scale Rossby waves that further amplify the local temperature anomaly.

References:

Wirth, V., M. Riemer, E. K. M. Chang, and O. Martius, 2018: Rossby Wave Packets on the Midlatitude Waveguide—A Review. Mon. Wea. Rev., 146, 1965–2001. https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-16-0483.1.