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Ensemble integrations using a primitive-equation dry atmospheric model were performed to investigate the atmospheric transient response to tropical thermal forcings that resemble El Niño and La Niña. The response develops in the North Pacific within 1 week after the integration. The signal in the North Atlantic and Europe is established by the end of the second week. Significant asymmetry was found between the responses in El Niño and La Niña that is similar to the observations, that is, one feature is that the 550-hPa positive height response in the North Pacific of the La Niña run is located about 30° west of the negative response of the El Niño run; another feature is that the responses in the North Atlantic and Europe for the La Niña and El Niño cases have similar patterns with the same polarity. The first feature is established within 2 weeks of the integration, while the second feature develops starting from the end of the second week. Several factors contribute to this nonlinearity of the response. In the Tropics, the shape of the Rossby wave response and the zonal extent of the Kelvin wave are not symmetric between El Niño and La Niña, which seems to be associated with the dependence of the wave property on the modified zonal mean flow. This is especially important in the equatorial region to the west of the forcing, which is likely responsible for the phase shift of the major extratropical response in the North Pacific. The transient eddy activity in the extratropics feeds back to the response and helps to maintain the nonlinearity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A primitive equation dry atmospheric model is used to perform ensemble seasonal predictions. The predictions are done for 51 winter seasons [December–January–February (DJF)] from 1948 to 1998. Ensembles of 24 forecasts are produced, with initial conditions of 1 December plus small perturbations. The model uses a forcing field that is calculated empirically from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction–National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP–NCAR) reanalyses. The forcing used to forecast a given winter is the sum of its winter climatological forcing plus an anomaly. The anomalous forcing is obtained as that of the month prior to the start of the forecast (November), which is also calculated from NCEP data. The predictions are thus made without using any information about the season to be predicted. The ensemble-mean predictions for the 51 winters are verified against the NCEP–NCAR reanalyses. Comparisons are made with the results obtained with a full GCM. It is found that the skill of the simple GCM is comparable in many ways to that of the full GCM. The skill in predicting the amplitude of the main patterns of Northern Hemisphere mean-seasonal variability, the Arctic Oscillation (AO) and the Pacific–North American (PNA) pattern is also discussed. The simple GCM has skill not only in predicting the PNA pattern during winters with strong ENSO forcing, but it also has skill in predicting the AO in winters without appreciable ENSO forcing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A primitive equations dry atmospheric model is used to investigate the atmospheric response to a tropical diabatic forcing pattern and explore how the atmospheric response changes as a function of the amplitude of the forcing. The forcing anomaly represents a linear fit of the model forcing to a tropical SST pattern of an El Niño/La Niña type. The time-averaged 500-hPa geopotential height anomaly responses of two long integrations, with forcing anomalies of equal amplitudes but opposite signs, show an asymmetric feature that is similar to observations and to previous modeling results related to El Niño and La Niña. Ensemble experiments with 61 different amplitudes of this forcing pattern are conducted. An EOF analysis of the ensemble mean of the 90-day-averaged 500-hPa height for different amplitudes of forcings shows that the leading mode of the forced variability resembles the Pacific–North American (PNA) pattern, while the second mode is a wave train across the North Atlantic to Eurasia. The relationship between the amplitude of the PNA mode and the amplitude of the forcing is linear, while the amplitude of the Atlantic/Eurasian mode has a nearly parabolic relationship with the amplitude of the forcing. A set of linear experiments with forcing perturbations and eddy flux anomalies associated with the positive and negative amplitudes of forcing conditions indicates that the nonlinearity of the extratropical response primarily results from the modification of the “basic state” caused by the large-amplitude forcing and the subsequent sensitivity of the response to that modified basic flow. A La Niña–type basic state yields a stronger response in the North Atlantic to the tropical Pacific forcing than does an El Niño–type basic state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Seasonal forecasts performed over a 26 yr period as part of the Historical Seasonal Forecasting Project (HFP) are used to analyze the influence of North Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies on the atmospheric circulation, its seasonality, and model dependence. The signals related to the El Niño events are first removed from both the SST and the atmospheric data. The North Atlantic SST and the ensemble mean forecast are then correlated over the 26 yr to identify the model response to the SST forcing. The signal-to-noise ratio shows that in spring there is a significant forecast signal that is related to the SST anomaly in the North Atlantic. In that season the two models used in the HFP yield responses to the SST anomaly that are both similar to each other and to the observed response. For the other seasons the agreement between the responses and the observed atmospheric anomalies is poor. In winter the response is very sensitive to the model used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT A simple GCM (SGCM) is constructed by adding empirically derived time-independent forcing terms to a dry primitive equation model. This yields a model with realistic time-mean jets and storm tracks. The SGCM is then used to study the equilibrium response to an imposed heating anomaly in the midlatitude Pacific, recant to represent an anomaly in the sea surface temperature. Using the SGCM's own climatology as a basic state, the same model is then used to find the time-independent linear response to the same heating anomaly. The difference between the two responses is clearly attributed to the Forcing due to anomalous transient eddies. The sensitivity of the response to the strength and vertical profile of the heating, and to the presence of the wind speed in the surface flux parameterization, is explored. It is found that for a reasonable range of heating amplitude the transient eddy forcing is proportional to the heating and the responses to heating and cooling arc almost antisymmetric. The antisymmetry breaks down at large amplitude. The vertical profile oF heating has a small but systematic effect on the response: deeper heating leads to stronger equivalent barotropic features. The inclusion of wind speed in the surface flux parameterization alters the response mainly by virtue of altering the basic model climatology, rather than by any local effect on the heating. The position of the heating anomaly is varied in both latitude and longitude to gain insight into the possible effects of systematic errors in GCMs.... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compares the mechanisms that maintain the potential vorticity (PV) balance during normal winters with mechanisms that maintain the balance during winters with anomalies. Information on mean seasonal anomalies; Presentation of the mean PV budget; How budget is modified during winters with anomalies.

Presents a study which examined the remote response to the El Nino climate signal using a primitive equation model. Overview of El Nino; Discussion on the linear and linear results; Conclusions.

A 25-yr dataset is used to investigate the role of transient eddies in the dynamics of the Pacific-North American (PNA) pattern. Monthly mean vorticity and sensible heat flux divergences associated with submonthly transients are computed over the Northern Hemisphere for each winter month. These fields are composited over months with strong PNA patterns, and the average over all winter months is subtracted to obtain anomaly fields. The vorticity flux divergence anomaly is found to be well correlated with the PNA height field, particularly in the upper troposphere, where an eddy vorticity flux convergence (divergence) is found in the low (high) height regions of the PNA anomaly. The sensible heat flux divergence, on the other hand, is negatively correlated with the PNA temperature anomaly, so that the transient eddies produce a sensible heat flux out of the warm regions of the PNA and into the cold regions, thus tending to destroy the temperature anomaly. A linear quasi-nondivergent global steady-state model is constructed using the observed climatology. The eddy vorticity and sensible heat flux divergence anomalies are treated as empirical forcing functions to simulate the response of the atmosphere. The model response to the transient-eddy forcing is found to be qualitatively similar to the PNA pattern. The amplitude of the response is weaker than observed over the North Pacific but nearly as observed over North America. The wave-activity flux computed from the model response is in reasonable agreement with that obtained from the observed PNA, except that the model shows a weaker wave activity and a spurious flux southward from the main cell of the PNA in the North Pacific. A possible explanation for this deficiency, as for the underestimation of the response in the North Pacific, is the absence of tropical forcing in the model. The results clearly show the crucial role of the transient eddies in the dynamics of the PNA, particularly... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently there has been an increase in interest in hemispheric-scale teleconnections. The circumglobal teleconnection pattern (CGT) is a special zonal phase of the jet whereby disturbances originating near the South Asian jet entrance, or within the jet, remain trapped and can propagate around the globe. Recent studies have shown that this CGT pattern affects climatic conditions across the entire hemisphere, from North America to Europe to South Asia. The CGT is generally thought of as an internal mode of atmospheric variability, but this study aims to examine whether the CGT can be forced during the boreal winter when the jet is at its peak amplitude. To accomplish this, we make use of a simple general circulation model to test whether an imposed diabatic heating anomaly in the tropics can force the CGT. Results from the simple model show that heating over the equatorial Indian Ocean and cooling over the western Tropical Pacific Ocean can drive a CGT-like pattern. Lagged regression using pentad reanalysis data supports these results, showing that a dipole convection pattern in these same regions precede the CGT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prediction skill of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) in boreal winter is assessed in the operational models of the WCRP/WWRP Subseasonal-to-Seasonal (S2S) prediction project. Model performance in representing the contribution of different processes to the NAO forecast skill is evaluated. The S2S models with relatively higher stratospheric vertical resolutions (high-top models) are in general more skillful in predicting the NAO than those models with relatively lower stratospheric resolutions (low-top models). Comparison of skill is made between different groups of forecasts based on initial condition characteristics: phase and amplitude of the NAO, easterly and westerly phases of the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO), warm and cold phases of ENSO, and phase and amplitude of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO). The forecasts with a strong NAO in the initial condition are more skillful than with a weak NAO. Those with negative NAO tend to have more skillful predictions than positive NAO. Comparisons of NAO skill between forecasts during easterly and westerly QBO and between warm and cold ENSO show no consistent difference for the S2S models. Forecasts with strong initial MJO tend to be more skillful in the NAO prediction than weak MJO. Among the eight phases of MJO in the initial condition, phases 3–4 and phase 7 have better NAO forecast skills compared with the other phases. The results of this study have implications for improving our understanding of sources of predictability of the NAO. The situation dependence of the NAO prediction skill is likely useful in identifying "windows of opportunity" for subseasonal to seasonal predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multivariable linear regression model is constructed based on the status of the Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO) and persistence in order to forecast wintertime surface air temperature anomalies over North America out to 4 pentads (20 days). The current and previous states of the MJO are utilized as predictors, based on the Real-time Multivariate (RMM) indices of Wheeler and Hendon. Beyond the persistence-driven first pentad, potentially useful skill is mainly observed during strong MJO events in phases 3, 4, 7, and 8, which correspond to a dipole diabatic heating anomaly in the tropical Indian Ocean and western Pacific. This skill is largely centered over the eastern United States and the Great Lakes region during pentads 2 and 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential role of tropical Pacific forcing in driving the seasonal variability of the Arctic Oscillation (AO) is explored using both observational data and a simple general circulation model (SGCM). A lead–lag regression technique is first applied to the monthly averaged sea surface temperature (SST) and the AO index. The AO maximum is found to be related to a negative SST anomaly over the tropical Pacific three months earlier. A singular value decomposition (SVD) analysis is then performed on the tropical Pacific SST and the sea level pressure (SLP) over the Northern Hemisphere. An AO-like atmospheric pattern and its associated SST appear as the second pair of SVD modes. Ensemble integrations are carried out with the SGCM to test the atmospheric response to different tropical Pacific forcings. The atmospheric response to the linear fit of the model’s empirical forcing associated with the SST variability in the second SVD modes strongly projects onto the AO. Idealized thermal forcings are then designed based on the regression of the seasonally averaged tropical Pacific precipitation against the AO index. Results indicate that forcing anomalies over the western tropical Pacific are more effective in generating an AO-like response while those over the eastern tropical Pacific tend to produce a Pacific-North American (PNA)-like response. The physical mechanisms responsible for the energy transport from the tropical Pacific to the extratropical North Atlantic are investigated using wave activity flux and vorticity forcing formalisms. The energy from the western tropical Pacific forcing tends to propagate zonally to the North Atlantic because of the jet stream waveguide effect while the transport of the energy from the eastern tropical Pacific forcing mostly concentrates over the PNA area. The linearized SGCM results show that nonlinear processes are involved in the generation of the forced AO-like pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the bivariate Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) index defined by Wheeler and Hendon and 25 yr (1979–2004) of pentad data, the association between the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the MJO on the intraseasonal time scale during the Northern Hemisphere winter season is analyzed. Time-lagged composites and probability analysis of the NAO index for different phases of the MJO reveal a statistically significant two-way connection between the NAO and the tropical convection of the MJO. A significant increase of the NAO amplitude happens about 5–15 days after the MJO-related convection anomaly reaches the tropical Indian Ocean and western Pacific region. The development of the NAO is associated with a Rossby wave train in the upstream Pacific and North American region. In the Atlantic and African sector, there is an extratropical influence on the tropical intraseasonal variability. Certain phases of the MJO are preceded by the occurrence of strong NAOs. A significant change of upper zonal wind in the tropical Atlantic is caused by a modulated transient westerly momentum flux convergence associated with the NAO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The output of two global atmospheric models participating in the second phase of the Canadian Historical Forecasting Project (HFP2) is utilized to assess the forecast skill of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO). The two models are the third generation of the general circulation model (GCM3) of the Canadian Centre for Climate Modeling and Analysis (CCCma) and the Global Environmental Multiscale (GEM) model of Recherche en Prévision Numérique (RPN). Space–time spectral analysis of the daily precipitation in near-equilibrium integrations reveals that GEM has a better representation of the convectively coupled equatorial waves including the MJO, Kelvin, equatorial Rossby (ER), and mixed Rossby–gravity (MRG) waves. An objective of this study is to examine how the MJO forecast skill is influenced by the model’s ability in representing the convectively coupled equatorial waves. The observed MJO signal is measured by a bivariate index that is obtained by projecting the combined fields of the 15°S–15°N meridionally averaged precipitation rate and the zonal winds at 850 and 200 hPa onto the two leading empirical orthogonal function (EOF) structures as derived using the same meridionally averaged variables following a similar approach used recently by Wheeler and Hendon. The forecast MJO index, on the other hand, is calculated by projecting the forecast variables onto the same two EOFs. With the HFP2 hindcast output spanning 35 yr, for the first time the MJO forecast skill of dynamical models is assessed over such a long time period with a significant and robust result. The result shows that the GEM model produces a significantly better level of forecast skill for the MJO in the first 2 weeks. The difference is larger in Northern Hemisphere winter than in summer, when the correlation skill score drops below 0.50 at a lead time of 10 days for GEM whereas it is at 6 days for GCM3. At lead times longer than about 15 days, GCM3 performs slightly better. There are some features that are common for the two models. The forecast skill is better in winter than in summer. Forecasts initialized with a large amplitude for the MJO are found to be more skillful than those with a weak MJO signal in the initial conditions. The forecast skill is dependent on the phase of the MJO at the initial conditions. Forecasts initialized with an MJO that has an active convection in tropical Africa and the Indian Ocean sector have a better level of forecast skill than those initialized with a different phase of the MJO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the second phase of the Canadian Historical Forecasting Project (HFP2), four global atmospheric general circulation models (GCMs) were used to perform seasonal forecasts over the period of 1969–2003. Little predictive skill was found from the uncalibrated GCM ensemble seasonal predictions for the Canadian winter precipitation. This study is an effort to improve the precipitation forecasts through a postprocessing approach. Canadian winter precipitation is significantly influenced by two of the most important atmospheric large-scale patterns: the Pacific–North American pattern (PNA) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The time variations of these two patterns were found to be significantly correlated with those of the leading singular value decomposition (SVD) modes that relate the ensemble mean forecast 500-mb geopotential height over the Northern Hemisphere and the tropical Pacific SST in the previous month (November). A statistical approach to correct the ensemble forecasts was formulated based on the regression of the model’s leading forced SVD patterns and the observed seasonal mean precipitation. The performance of the corrected forecasts was assessed by comparing its cross-validated skill with that of the original GCM ensemble mean forecasts. The results show that the corrected forecasts predict the Canadian winter precipitation with statistically significant skill over the southern prairies and a large area of Québec–Ontario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, ensemble seasonal predictions of the Arctic Oscillation (AO) were conducted for 51 winters (1948–98) using a simple global atmospheric general circulation model. A means of estimating a priori the predictive skill of the AO ensemble predictions was developed based on the relative entropy (R) of information theory, which is a measure of the difference between the forecast and climatology probability density functions (PDFs). Several important issues related to the AO predictability, such as the dominant precursors of forecast skill and the degree of confidence that can be placed in an individual forecast, were addressed. It was found that R is a useful measure of the confidence that can be placed on dynamical predictions of the AO. When R is large, the prediction is likely to have a high confidence level whereas when R is small, the prediction skill is more variable. A small R is often accompanied by a relatively weak AO index. The value of R is dominated by the predicted ensemble mean. The relationship identified here, between model skills and the R of an ensemble prediction, offers a practical means of estimating the confidence level of a seasonal forecast of the AO using the dynamical model. Through an analysis of the global sea surface temperature (SST) forcing, it was found that the winter AO-related R is correlated significantly with the amplitude of the SST anomalies over the tropical central Pacific and the North Pacific during the previous October. A large value of R is usually associated with strong SST anomalies in the two regions, whereas a poor prediction with a small R indicates that SST anomalies are likely weak in these two regions and the observed AO anomaly in the specific winter is likely caused by atmospheric internal dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A long integration of a primitive equation dry atmospheric model with time-independent forcing under boreal winter conditions is analyzed. A variety of techniques such as time filtering, space–time spectral analysis, and lag regressions are used to identify tropical waves. It is evident that oscillations with intraseasonal time scales and a Kelvin wave structure exist in the model tropical atmosphere. Coherent eastward propagations in the 250-hPa velocity potential and zonal wind are found, with a speed of about 15 m s-1. The oscillation is stronger in the Eastern Hemisphere than in the Western Hemisphere. Interactions between the tropical and extratropical flows are found to be responsible for the simulated intraseasonal variability. Wave activity flux analysis reveals that a tropical influence occurs in the North Pacific region where a northeastward wave activity flux is found associated with the tropical divergent flow in the western and central Pacific. In the North Atlantic sector, on the other hand, a strong extratropical influence is observed with a southward wave activity flux into the Tropics. The extratropical low-frequency variability develops by extracting kinetic energy from the basic mean flow and through interactions with synoptic-scale transient eddies. Linear experiments show that the tropical atmospheric response to the extratropical forcing in the North Atlantic leads to an eastward-propagating wave in the tropical easterly mean flow of the Eastern Hemisphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A diagnostic algorithm, based on the empirical normal mode decomposition technique, is proposed as a diagnostic tool in studies of the atmospheric variability. It begins by analyzing the transient eddies in terms of empirical modes that are orthogonal with respect to wave activities. Time-dependent amplitudes together with wave activity spectra are used to classify the modes and compute their propagation properties. The algorithm is applied to a sequence of four Northern Hemisphere winters taken from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction reanalyses, with a focus on the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, giving a set of empirical modes of wind, pressure, specific volume, and potential vorticity. Results indicate that most of the wave activity is carried by large-scale, eastward-propagating modes centered at middle and high latitudes. Some properties of the leading modes, such as their average phase speeds, are in good agreement with the predictions of linear dynamics. Characteristics of the leading wavenumber-5 mode, such as its dipolar pressure pattern near the summer hemisphere tropopause, its propagation speed of 12 m s[sup -1] and decay rate of 3 days, can be explained by the theory of quasi modes, defined as superpositions of singular modes sharply peaked in the phase speed domain. Other large-scale, midlatitude modes also show properties compatible with the quasi-modal description, suggesting that quasi modes play an important role in the upper-troposphere dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An algorithm based on the empirical normal mode analysis is used in a comparative study of the climatology and variability in dynamical-core experiments of the Global Environmental Multiscale model. The algorithm is proposed as a means to assess properties of the model's dynamical core and to establish objective criteria for model intercomparison studies. In this paper, the analysis is restricted to the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Two dynamical-core experiments are considered: one with the forcing proposed by Held and Suarez, later modified by Williamson et al. (called HSW experiment), and the other with a forcing inspired by the prescriptions of Boer and Denis (BD). Results are also compared with those of an earlier diagnosis of NCEP reanalyses. Normal modes and wave-activity spectra are similar to those found in the reanalysis data, although details depend on the forcing. For instance, wave-energy amplitudes are higher with the BD forcing, and an approximate energy equipartition is observed in the spectrum of wavenumber-1 modes in the NCEP data and the BD experiment but not in the HSW experiment. The HSW forcing has a relatively strong relaxation acting on the complete temperature field, whereas the BD forcing only acts on the zonal-mean temperature, letting the internal dynamics alone drive the wave-activity spectral cascade. This difference may explain why the BD forcing is more successful in reproducing the observed wave activity in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Part II. Presents the Influence of seasonal forecasts to extratropical signal generated by Midlatitude sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) in the Pacific. Basis of global climate model on extended seasonal range; Representation of SSTA by heating perturbation; Effects of midlatitude SSTA.