Postdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany,
Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of Kiel, Germany
A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics RAS, Moscow, Russia
riguardante la connessione tra la riduzione della banchisa sui mari di Barents e di Kara (quella porzione di Oceano Artico tra la Scandinavia, le Is. Svalbard e la Siberia), e le variazioni di circolazione atmosferica emisferica e dell'Europa, con particolare riferimento alle colate fredde e quindi agli inverni.
Il collegamento sarebbe questo:
data la riduzione di ghiaccio nella suddetta area, dove si avrebbero temperature troposferiche più alte, si formerebbero più facilmente anticicloni artici capaci di forzare avvezioni fredde da est verso ovest (antizonali) sui continenti nordici, con una riduzione termica media di 1.5 °C e soprattutto con probabilità triplicate di frequenza di inverni estremamente freddi su vaste aree, inclusa l'Europa.
Questo meccanismo non sarebbe molto stabile, si avrebbero cioè oscillazioni barocline, sull'area di Artico interessata, direttamente collegate all'andamento dei ghiacciai.
In condizioni di "oceano scoperto" (senza ghiacci), sarebbero probabili gli anticicloni, con conseguente innesco dei moti antizonali, mentre non appena il mare verrebbe ricoperto dai ghiacci, ecco che gli anticicloni lascerebbero il passo alle depressioni, e così via... una specie di meccanismo naturale di compensazione del clima "contro il riscaldamento globale"... meccanismo che, effettivamente, sembrerebbe essere in grado di spiegare certe oscillazioni periodiche della circolazione atmosferica dell'Emisfero Nord e quindi del clima.
Secondo gli scienziati, sembrerebbero essere riconducibili a questo sistema anche alcuni degli ultimi inverni freddi del continente europeo.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 115, D21111, 11 PP., 2010
doi:10.1029/2009JD013568
A link between reduced Barents-Kara sea ice and cold winter extremes over northern continents
Vladimir Petoukhov
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany
Vladimir A. Semenov
Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of Kiel, Germany
A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics RAS, Moscow, Russia
The recent overall Northern Hemisphere warming was accompanied by several severe northern continental winters, as for example, extremely cold winter 2005–2006 in Europe and northern Asia. Here we show that anomalous decrease of wintertime sea ice concentration in the Barents-Kara (B-K) seas could bring about extreme cold events like winter 2005–2006. Our simulations with the ECHAM5 general circulation model demonstrate that lower-troposphere heating over the B-K seas in the Eastern Arctic caused by the sea ice reduction may result in strong anticyclonic anomaly over the Polar Ocean and anomalous easterly advection over northern continents. This causes a continental-scale winter cooling reaching −1.5°C, with more than 3 times increased probability of cold winter extremes over large areas including Europe. Our results imply that several recent severe winters do not conflict the global warming picture but rather supplement it, being in qualitative agreement with the simulated large-scale atmospheric circulation realignment. Furthermore, our results suggest that high-latitude atmospheric circulation response to the B-K sea ice decrease is highly nonlinear and characterized by transition from anomalous cyclonic circulation to anticyclonic one and then back again to cyclonic type of circulation as the B-K sea ice concentration gradually reduces from 100% to ice free conditions. We present a conceptual model that may explain the nonlinear local atmospheric response in the B-K seas region by counter play between convection over the surface heat source and baroclinic effect due to modified temperature gradients in the vicinity of the heating area.
http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2010/2009JD013568.shtml
Colder winters possible due to climate change-study
16 Nov 2010 14:52:16 GMT
* Colder winters possible in northern regions
* Shrinking sea ice causes airstream anomalies
* Finding does not conflict with global warming
BERLIN, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Climate change could lead to colder winters in northern regions, according to a study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research on Tuesday.
Vladimir Petoukhov, lead author of the study, said a shrinking of sea ice in the eastern Arctic causes some regional warming of lower air levels and may lead to anomalies in atmospheric airstreams, triggering an overall cooling of the northern continents.
"These anomalies could triple the probability of cold winter extremes in Europe and northern Asia," he said. "Recent severe winters like last year's or the one of 2005/06 do not conflict with the global warming picture but rather supplement it."
Petoukhov, whose study is entitled "A link between reduced Barents-Kara sea ice and cold winter extremes over northern continents", said in a statement a warming of the air over the Barents-Kara Sea appeared to bring cold winter winds to Europe.
"This is not what one would expect," Petoukhov said. "Whoever thinks that the shrinking of some far away sea ice won't bother him could be wrong."
The U.N. panel of climate scientists say a creeping rise in global temperatures will bring ever more floods, droughts, heat waves and rising sea levels.
Almost 200 nations meet in Mexico from Nov. 29 to Dec. 10 to try to agree a "green fund" to help poor countries deal with climate change and other steps towards an elusive treaty to tackle global warming. [ID:nLDE6AF0FB] (Reporting by Erik Kirschbaum; editing by Janet Lawrence)