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ATMOSPHERIC AND OCEANIC SCIENCE LETTERS, 2014, VOL. 7, NO.

1, 710

Stationary Wave Activity Associated with the East Asian Winter Monsoon
Pathway
WANG Lin
Center for Monsoon System Research, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
Received 28 April 2013; revised 19 May 2013; accepted 20 May 2013; published 16 January 2014

Abstract The pathway of the East Asian winter mon- temperatures, whereas a weak EAWM is not. The con-
soon (EAWM) that usually leads to the out-of-phase pat- sensus is that the seasonal mean surface air temperature is
tern of surface air temperature between northern and below (above) normal over most parts of East Asia in
southern East Asia is an important feature in the variabil- strong (weak) EAWM winters. This may be why so many
ity of the EAWM besides its strength. Using the European indices have been proposed to reveal the variability in and
Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts 40-year mechanism of the strength of the EAWM (Wang and
(ERA40) reanalysis dataset, this study investigates the Chen, 2010).
pathway-related stationary wave activity to explore the Despite the importance of the strength of the EAWM in
mechanism of the interannual variations in the EAWM the East Asian winter climate, it has been noticed that the
pathway. It reveals that when the southern pathway of the EAWM also varies in other important characteristics in
EAWM is strong, the phase of the climatological station- addition to the strength, as observed in both the circula-
ary wave tends to be shifted westward significantly in tion (Wu et al., 2006; Wang et al., 2009) and temperature
both the horizontal and vertical directions by an anoma- (Kang et al., 2006, 2009; Wang et al., 2010) fields. For
lous wavenumber 2 pattern at mid-latitudes, whereas the example, Kang et al. (2006, 2009) proposed for the first
changes are relatively small in the subtropics. The hori- time that the winter mean surface air temperature in China
zontal changes in the stationary wave phase facilitate a is characterized by two major modes on both interannual
north-south-oriented East Asian trough in the middle tro- and interdecadal timescales on the basis of observational
posphere that eventually produces the strong southern data from 160 Chinese stations. The first leading mode
pathway of the EAWM. The vertical changes in the sta- reflects the variability of the surface air temperature in all
tionary wave, in contrast, feature a westward-tilted phase of China, and it is related to the strength of the EAWM.
line with height over the North Pacific, indicating en- The second leading mode, in contrast, describes an oscil-
hanced upward propagation of waves into the strato- lation of the surface air temperature between the northern
sphere. This result suggests that the phase of stationary and southern parts of China (“oscillation mode” hereaf-
waves at mid-latitudes dominate the interannual variations ter). Two similar modes were also obtained by analyzing
in the EAWM pathway. Moreover, it supports our previ- reanalysis data in a larger domain over East Asia (Wang et
ous interpretation of the possible role of the North Pacific al., 2010; Sohn et al., 2011). Although the oscillation
sea surface temperature (SST) in the EAWM pathway mode explains a smaller variance than the first leading
variability. It also implies that the excitation of anomalous mode does, its effect could be important during certain
mid-latitude stationary waves may be the key in the re- years. For example, the 2007/08 winter featured a weak
sponse of the EAWM pathway to the North Pacific SST. EAWM, but the southern part of China experienced se-

Keywords: East Asian winter monsoon, pathway, sta- vere and persistent snowstorms and freezing weather,
tionary wave, phase with higher temperatures in the northern part of China
Citation: Wang, L., 2014: Stationary wave activity asso- (Wen et al., 2009; Zhou et al., 2009). This temperature
ciated with the East Asian winter monsoon pathway, At- pattern resembles the oscillation mode and suggests that it
mos. Oceanic Sci. Lett., 7, 7‒10, doi:10.3878/j.issn.1674- is important to explore the related mechanism.
2834.13.0043. Recently, Wang et al. (2009) proposed the concept of
the EAWM pathway in the winter mean sense and sug-
1 Introduction gested that the variations in the EAWM pathway could
lead to out-of-phase oscillations of surface air temperature
The East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) is a distinct between northern and southern East Asia. When the
and active component of the global climate system. It southern pathway is strong, the main cold air flow is
dominates the wintertime weather and climate of East along the coast of China and penetrates into the deep
Asia and significantly influences human lives there tropics. Accordingly, significant cooling is observed in
(Chang et al., 2006; Huang et al., 2012; Wang and Lu, southern China, the South China Sea, and Southeast Asia,
2013). Among the many aspects of the EAWM, its whereas warming is observed in the northern part of East
strength is possibly the most interesting to both research- Asia (Wang et al., 2009). The climate anomalies ap-
ers and weather forecasters because a strong EAWM is proximately reverse signs when the eastern pathway is
usually associated with damaging snowstorms or low strong. This pattern resembles the oscillation mode, and it
suggests that the latter could be accounted for in part by
Corresponding author: WANG Lin, wanglin@mail.iap.ac.cn the variations in the EAWM pathway. Furthermore, Wang
8 ATMOSPHERIC AND OCEANIC SCIENCE LETTERS VOL. 7

et al. (2009) suggested that the EAWM pathway may be where Fx, Fy, and Fz denote the longitudinal, latitudinal,
caused by the horizontal tilt of the East Asian trough, a and vertical components of the EP flux, respectively, and
quasi-stationary trough in the middle troposphere. Their p, a, , , , z, ′, and N denote the pressure, radius of
results imply an active role of the stationary waves in the the earth, rotation rate of the earth, longitude, latitude,
variations in the EAWM pathway and suggest the need to log-pressure vertical coordinate, perturbed quasi-geostro-
analyze the associated stationary wave activities. How- phic stream function, and buoyancy frequency, respec-
ever, analyses of this aspect were not performed in Wang tively.
et al. (2009). Hence, in this study we will briefly delineate
the three-dimensional stationary wave activities associated 3 Results
with the interannual variations in the EAWM pathway.
Figure 1a shows the composite difference in the 500-
2 Data and methods hPa geopotential height (H500) between high- and low-
TAI winters, which features a Eurasian (EU)-like pattern
The data used in this study are from the European Cen- and Pacific-North America (PNA)-like pattern (Wallace
tre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts 40-year (ERA40) and Gutzler, 1981) over Eurasia and North America re-
monthly mean reanalysis dataset. It has a 2.5 × 2.5 hor- spectively. The associated dipole over the North Pacific is
izontal resolution and extends from 1000 to 1 hPa with 23 almost identical to those in the high- and low-TAI phases
vertical pressure levels, spanning 45 years from Sep- except for the polarity (Figs. 6b and 8b of Wang et al.,
tember 1957 to August 2002 (Uppala et al., 2005). Sea-
2009), implying that it is reasonable to apply quasi-linear
sonal means are considered throughout this paper; they
analysis to the variability of the EAWM pathway. The
are constructed from the monthly means by averaging the
strong positive center around the Aleutian Islands streng-
data for December, January, and February (DJF), yielding
thens the climatological ridge over Northwest America
results for 45 winters (1957–2001). Here the winter of
1957 refers to the 1957/58 winter. and weakens the climatological trough over East Asia,
The interannual variations in the EAWM pathway are hence shifting the mid-latitude (40–70N) horizontal qua-
determined by the trough axis index (TAI) proposed in si-stationary trough-ridge system westward in the East
Wang et al. (2009). It is defined as the normalized time Asia-North Pacific region. At subtropical latitudes (15–
series of the second principal component via empirical 35N), in contrast, the negative H500 anomalies along the
orthogonal function analysis of the normalized winter coasts of East Asia tend to enhance the climatological
mean 500-hPa geopotential height in the region (25– trough, although the changes in H500 are relatively small
50N, 100–180E). Using the criterion of ±0.5 standard and not easily recognized solely from Fig. 1a. This con-
deviations, 15 (15) high- (low-)TAI winters are selected figuration indicates a horizontal westward shift of the
(Table 1), consistent with Wang et al. (2009). The winters stationary wave phases in the middle troposphere, espe-
with high- (low-)TAI correspond to strong southern (east- cially at mid-latitudes. It facilitates a more north-south-
ern) EAWM pathway (Wang et al., 2009). In this study, oriented East Asian trough at 500-hPa (i.e., high TAI),
we focus on the composite difference between high- and which in turn leads to a warm north-cold south tempera-
low-TAI winters. The significance of the results is evalu- ture pattern (i.e., a strong southern EAWM pathway,
ated with the two-sided Student’s t-test. Wang et al., 2009) by steering cold air equatorward to the
southern part of East Asia.
Table 1 High- and low-TAI winters used in this study.
To further delineate the three-dimensional characteris-
Year tics of stationary waves associated with the variability of
High TAI 1957, 1958, 1961, 1962, 1967, 1970, 1971, 1973, the EAWM pathway, two vertical profiles are plotted
1975, 1981, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1996
Low TAI 1959, 1960, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1977,
along 50N and 25N (Figs. 1b and 1c, respectively). At
1980, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1998, 2000 50N, both the climatological and the anomalous station-
ary waves feature clear wavenumber 2 structures (Fig.
As a diagnostic tool, the three-dimensional Eliassen- 1b). The anomalous troughs and ridges are located west of
Palm (EP) flux defined by Plumb (1985) is used to indi- their climatological mean locations, indicating a ~ 90
cate the stationary wave activities associated with the westward shift of the climatological stationary waves.
EAWM pathway. The quasi-geostrophic version of the EP This suggests that the variability of the EAWM pathway
flux in spherical geometry with a log-pressure vertical is associated with significant changes in the phase of the
coordinate is defined as follows: stationary waves in both the horizontal and vertical direc-
 1   ' 2  2 '   tions. In addition, we notice that the anomalous ridge over
    ' 2   the North Pacific tilts westward with height from near the
 2a cos    
2 2
   surface into the lower stratosphere, whereas the other
 Fx   
   1   '  '  2 '   anomalous ridges and troughs are almost barotropic (Fig.
Fs   Fy   p cos   2   '  , 1b). The vertically westward tilt of the wave structure
F   2a cos        corresponds to a poleward eddy heat flux; hence, the
 z   anomalous tilted ridge over the North Pacific indicates
 2 sin    '  '  '   '  
2 2 2
enhanced upward propagation of stationary waves in this
 N 2 a cos    z z  
   region.
NO. 1 WANG: STATIONARY WAVE AND EAST ASIAN WINTER MONSOON PATHWAY 9

upward propagation of stationary waves is observed


mainly from the Sea of Okhotsk to northern North Amer-
ica (Fig. 2), consistent with the analysis of Fig. 1b.
Moreover, it is noteworthy that Wang et al. (2009) sug-
gested that the interannual variability of the EAWM
pathway is driven by the North Pacific sea surface tem-
perature (SST) anomalies. Here the enhanced upward
propagation of stationary waves is observed just to the
north of the SST anomalies indicated by Wang et al.
(2009). This suggests that the response of the stationary
waves is the likely mechanism by which the North Pacific
SST influences the EAWM pathway.

4 Summary and discussions


Using the ERA40 reanalysis dataset, this study inves-
tigates the three-dimensional activity of stationary waves
associated with the interannual variations in the EAWM
pathway. It reveals that when the southern EAWM path-
way is strong, the 500-hPa geopotential height field fea-
tures a combination of EU-like and PNA-like anomalies.
The anomalous stationary waves take on a wavenumber 2
pattern at mid-latitudes, which shifts the climatological
stationary waves westward over the East Asia-North Pa-
cific region. In the subtropics, in contrast, the anomalous
Figure 1 (a) Composite difference (shading) of winter (December, stationary waves feature a wavenumber 1 pattern, which
January, and February (DJF)) mean 500-hPa geopotential height be-
tween high- and low-TAI years overlaid on the climatology of 500-hPa
deepens the climatological East Asian trough and weak-
geopotential height (contours). Composite difference (shading) of winter ens the climatological North Pacific ridge in the tropo-
(DJF) mean geopotential height between high- and low-TAI years over-
laid on the climatology of geopotential height departures from zonal
means (contours) at (b) 50N and (c) 25N. Contour and shading inter-
vals are 50 gpm and 20 gpm, respectively. Zero contour lines are bold.
Stippling indicates at the 95% confidence level.

The climatological stationary waves at 25N also fea-


ture a wavenumber 2 pattern (Fig. 1c), similar to that at
50N (Fig. 1b) but with a 180 phase difference. The am-
plitude at 25N, in contrast, is at least 50% smaller than
that at 50N. Accompanying the enhanced southern
EAWM pathway, the geopotential height anomalies at
25N are negative over most longitudes except the North
American longitude (Fig. 1c). This anomalous wavenum-
ber 1 pattern is equivalent-barotropic and is mainly con-
fined below 50-hPa. From the vertical profile, it is evident
that the anomalous stationary wave enhances its mid-
tropospheric climatological trough at the longitude of the
East Asian coast (around 120E) and weakens its clima-
tological ridge over the North Pacific. The former clari-
fies the related analysis on Fig. 1a and suggests that the
horizontal tilt of the mid-tropospheric East Asian trough is
induced mainly by the changes in mid-latitude (e.g.,
50N) stationary waves.
The EP flux is a convenient and useful tool in station-
ary-wave-related diagnostics because it is parallel to the
group velocity (Plumb, 1985). Figure 2 shows the
three-dimensional EP flux associated with the variability
of the EAWM pathway at different pressure levels. The
Figure 2 The (a) 850-hPa, (b) 500-hPa, and (c) 50-hPa winter (DJF)
most dominant feature is the upward and northeastward
mean wave activity fluxes associated with the stationary Rossby wave
propagation of stationary waves around the North Pacific between high- and low-TAI years. Arrows and shading indicate horizon-
when the southern pathway of the EAWM is strong. The tal and vertical components, respectively.
10 ATMOSPHERIC AND OCEANIC SCIENCE LETTERS VOL. 7

sphere. Accordingly, the horizontal East Asian trough axis winter temperature in China and their relationship with the
is oriented more in the north-south direction, which in atmospheric circulation and sea surface temperature, Climatic
turn leads to a warm north-cold south temperature pattern Environ. Res. (in Chinese), 14, 45–53.
by steering cold air equatorward to the southern part of Kang, L., W. Chen, and K. Wei, 2006: The interdecadal variation of
winter temperature in China and its relation to the anomalies in
East Asia. In this process, the mid-latitude stationary
atmospheric general circulation, Climatic Environ. Res. (in
waves are the dominant contributor to the changes in the Chinese), 11, 330–339.
tilt of the East Asian trough. Plumb, R. A., 1985: On the three-dimensional propagation of
Inspections of the vertical profiles at different latitudes stationary waves, J. Atmos. Sci., 42, 217–229.
suggest that the anomalous stationary waves feature a Sohn, S.-J., C.-Y. Tam, and C.-K. Park, 2011: Leading modes of
clear westward tilt with height at mid-latitudes (e.g., at East Asian winter climate variability and their predictability: An
50N). This configuration shifts the climatological sta- assessment of the APCC multi-model ensemble, J. Meteor. Soc.
tionary waves westward and facilitates more upward Japan, 89, 455–474.
propagation of waves into the stratosphere. The diagnos- Uppala, S. M., P. W. Kållberg, A. J. Simmons, et al., 2005: The
ERA-40 re-analysis, Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 131, 2961–
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the North Pacific SST influences the EAWM pathway.
Wang, L., W. Chen, W. Zhou, et al., 2009: Interannual variations of
East Asian trough axis at 500 hPa and its association with the
Acknowledgments. We thank the two anonymous reviewers for
East Asian winter monsoon pathway, J. Climate, 22, 600–614.
their comments that led to improvement of the paper. This work was
supported jointly by the National Basic Research Program of China Wang, L., and M.-M. Lu, 2013: The East Asian winter monsoon, in:
(2010CB428603) and the National Natural Science Foundation of The Fifth WMO International Workshop on Monsoons (IWM-V),
China (41230527 and 41025017). Macao, 28 October–1 November, 2013, 252–260.
Wen, M., S. Yang, A. Kumar, et al., 2009: An analysis of the large-
scale climate anomalies associated with the snowstorms affecting
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