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Suppressed midlatitude summer atmospheric warming by Arctic sea ice loss during 1979–2012
Author(s) -
Wu Qigang,
Cheng Luyao,
Chan Duo,
Yao Yonghong,
Hu Haibo,
Yao Ying
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2016gl068059
Subject(s) - environmental science , middle latitudes , climatology , sea ice , arctic , arctic geoengineering , arctic ice pack , global warming , arctic sea ice decline , arctic oscillation , atmospheric sciences , arctic dipole anomaly , troposphere , northern hemisphere , atmospheric circulation , climate change , oceanography , geology , drift ice
Since the 1980s, rapid Arctic warming, sea ice decline, and weakening summer circulation have coincided with an increasing number of extreme heat waves and other destructive weather events in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) midlatitudes in summer. Recent papers disagree about whether such high‐impact events are related to Arctic warming and/or ice loss. Here we use atmospheric model ensemble simulations to attribute effects of sea ice loss and other factors on observed summer climate trends during 1979–2012. The ongoing greenhouse gas buildup and resulting sea surface temperature warming outside the Arctic explains nearly all land warming and a significant portion of observed weakening zonal winds in the NH midlatitudes. However, sea ice loss has induced a negative Arctic Oscillation(AO)‐type circulation with significant summer surface and tropospheric cooling trends over large portions of the NH midlatitudes, which reduce the warming and might reduce the probability of regional severe hot summers.