Publication Abstracts

Singh et al. 2016

Singh, D., D.L. Swain, J.S. Mankin, D.E. Horton, L.N. Thomas, B. Rajaratnam, and N.S. Diffenbaugh, 2016: Recent amplification of the North American winter temperature dipole. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 121, no. 17, 9911-9928, doi:10.1002/2016JD025116.

During the winters of 2013-2014 and 2014-2015, anomalously warm temperatures in western North America and anomalously cool temperatures in eastern North America resulted in substantial human and environmental impacts. Motivated by the impacts of these concurrent temperature extremes and the intrinsic atmospheric linkage between weather conditions in the western and eastern United States, we investigate the occurrence of concurrent "warm-West/cool-East" surface temperature anomalies, which we call the "North American winter temperature dipole." We find that, historically, warm-West/cool-East dipole conditions have been associated with anomalous mid-tropospheric ridging over western North America and downstream troughing over eastern North America. We also find that the occurrence and severity of warm-West/cool-East events have increased significantly between 1980 and 2015, driven largely by an increase in the frequency with which high-amplitude "ridge-trough" wave patterns result in simultaneous severe temperature conditions in both the West and East. Using a large single-model ensemble of climate simulations, we show that the observed positive trend in the warm-West/cool-East events is attributable to historical anthropogenic emissions including greenhouse gases, but that the co-occurrence of extreme western warmth and eastern cold will likely decrease in the future as winter temperatures warm dramatically across the continent, thereby reducing the occurrence of severely cold conditions in the East. Although our analysis is focused on one particular region, our analysis framework is generally transferable to the physical conditions shaping different types of extreme events around the globe.

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BibTeX Citation

@article{si00200u,
  author={Singh, D. and Swain, D. L. and Mankin, J. S. and Horton, D. E. and Thomas, L. N. and Rajaratnam, B. and Diffenbaugh, N. S.},
  title={Recent amplification of the North American winter temperature dipole},
  year={2016},
  journal={Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres},
  volume={121},
  number={17},
  pages={9911--9928},
  doi={10.1002/2016JD025116},
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - JOUR
ID  - si00200u
AU  - Singh, D.
AU  - Swain, D. L.
AU  - Mankin, J. S.
AU  - Horton, D. E.
AU  - Thomas, L. N.
AU  - Rajaratnam, B.
AU  - Diffenbaugh, N. S.
PY  - 2016
TI  - Recent amplification of the North American winter temperature dipole
JA  - J. Geophys. Res. Atmos.
JO  - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
VL  - 121
IS  - 17
SP  - 9911
EP  - 9928
DO  - 10.1002/2016JD025116
ER  -

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