Anomalous winter moisture transport associated with the recent surface warming over the Barents–Kara seas region since the mid‐2000s

Abstract

Observational evidences have shown that the increased water vapour and accompanying enhancement of downward infrared radiation (IR) can explain the abrupt warming of surface air temperature (SAT) over the Barents–Kara Seas during boreal winter. This study investigates anomalous moisture transport associated with the abrupt change of SAT since the mid‐2000s over the Barents–Kara Seas, since moisture transport contributes to the anomalous water vapour and downward IR. Results show that anomalous stationary moisture flux induces anomalous moisture convergence over the Barents–Kara Seas region, whereas the anomalous transient flux opposes the anomalous moisture convergence there. Hence, the anomalous stationary moisture transport is suggested to be responsible to the increased water vapour over the Barents–Kara Seas region. Further decomposition of the stationary moisture flux indicates that the anomalous moisture convergence associated with the change in atmospheric mean flow plays an important role in the increased water vapour on both interannual and decadal time scales. In addition, decrease in the synoptic‐scale eddy activity observed over northern Siberia may contribute to generation of the anomalous atmospheric mean flow via eddy feedback processes.

Impact of internal variability on recent opposite trends in wintertime temperature over the Barents–Kara Seas and central Eurasia

“…In this part, we examine the physical processes responsible for the internal variability of the winter SAT trends over the Barents-Kara Seas. Previous studies have reported that the interdecadal increase in SAT over the Barents-Kara Seas can be explained by an interdecadal increase in wintertime water vapor and accompanying enhancement of downward longwave radiation (DLR) (Wang et al 2020b). The intermember spread of winter SAT trends over the Barents-Kara Seas may be driven by the same mechanism.…”

“…Since the 1990s, rapid surface warming has occurred over the Arctic region (Polyakov et al 2002;Johannessen et al 2004;Serreze et al 2008;Screen and Simmonds 2010b;Screen and Simmonds 2010a;Serreze and Barry 2011). During boreal winter, the strongest surface warming signal can be observed over the Barents-Kara Seas (Kug et al 2015;Park et al 2015;Wang et al 2020b). Over the same period, cooling trends have been observed in mid-latitudes, especially over central Eurasia (Wu et al 2011;Cohen et al 2012a;Cohen et al 2012b;Liu et al 2012).…”

“…On the contrary, some studies indicate that the warmer Arctic is a consequence, not a cause, of the increased waviness in the atmospheric ow (Trenberth et al 2014). For example, some studies have indicated that recent recovery of the Siberian high (Feng and Wu 2015;Wang et al 2020b) can contribute positively to the warming trend over the Barents-Kara Seas. Furthermore, some studies have indicated that most of the winter SAT and sea-ice trends can be attributed to internal atmospheric variability (Park et al 2015;Gong et al 2017).…”

Nonstationary relationship between sea ice overKara–Laptevseas duringAugust–Septemberand Ural blocking in the following winter

“…Previous studies have indicated that during winter months a synoptic‐scale eddy feedback plays an important role in the maintenance and development of the anticyclonic anomalies around the Ural Mountains (Wang et al ., 2020a; Wang et al ., 2020b). The synoptic‐scale eddy induced low‐frequency atmospheric circulation anomalies can be quantitatively estimated by the feedback term in the geopotential height tendency equation (Lau, 1988; Cai et al ., 2007).…”

High‐Resolution Elemental Record From the Holocene Sediments of an Alpine Lake in the Central Altai Mountains: Implications for Arctic Sea‐Ice Variations

“…On the annual to decadal time scale, Artic sea ice has been recognized as a major driver of Arctic amplification via sea‐ice‐albedo feedback and changes in oceanographic and atmospheric circulation (Chylek et al., 2009; Cohen et al., 2012). Increasing attention is being paid to recent Arctic sea ice loss and its impact on climate in midlatitudes of the Northern Hemisphere (Cho & Kim, 2020; Liu et al., 2012; Park et al., 2015; Wang et al., 2020). This is because sea ice loss could cause an increase in atmospheric water vapor content in the Arctic, and thus more frequent incursions of cold air masses from the Arctic into Central Siberia and Asia, leading to increased precipitation (Inoue et al., 2012; Liu et al., 2012; Nakamura et al., 2019; Wu et al., 2011).…”