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On the Meridional Structure of Annular Modes

Wittman, M. A. H., Charlton, A. J. and Polvani, L. M. (2005) On the Meridional Structure of Annular Modes. Journal of Climate, 18 (12). pp. 2119-2122. ISSN 1520-0442

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To link to this item DOI: 10.1175/JCLI3394.1

Abstract/Summary

Using a simple stochastic model, the authors illustrate that the occurrence of a meridional dipole in the first empirical orthogonal function (EOF) of a time-dependent zonal jet is a simple consequence of the north–south excursion of the jet center, and this geometrical fact can be understood without appealing to fluid dynamical principles. From this it follows that one ought not, perhaps, be surprised at the fact that such dipoles, commonly referred to as the Arctic Oscillation (AO) or the Northern Annular Mode (NAM), have robustly been identified in many observational studies and appear to be ubiquitous in atmospheric models across a wide range of complexity.

Item Type:Article
Refereed:Yes
Divisions:Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
ID Code:1572
Uncontrolled Keywords:ARCTIC OSCILLATION; NORTHERN WINTER; VARIABILITY; SIMULATION; CLIMATE
Publisher:American Meteorological Society

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