Southeast Asian Pressure Surges and Significant Events of Atmospheric Mass Loss from the Northern Hemisphere, and a Case Study Analysis

A recent study of significant events of atmospheric mass depletion from the Northern Hemisphere (NH) during the extended boreal winter indicated that Southeast Asian pressure surges were an important physical mechanism that acted to channel the atmospheric mass equatorward out of the NH on a rapid time scale. This study builds upon this finding and examines both the direct and indirect roles of Southeast Asian pressure surges for a particular event of dry atmospheric mass depletion from the NH. The focus of this study is on the enhanced interhemispheric interactions and associated Southern Hemisphere (SH) tropical and extratropical responses resulting from the pressure surges. First, this study examines the conservation of dry atmospheric mass (i.e., the relationship between the dry meridional winds and the area-integrated dry air surface pressure) in the NCEP reanalysis for the 25 significant events of dry atmospheric mass depletion from the NH. Results indicate that the NCEP dry meridional wind...