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Three‐dimensional structure and long‐term trend of heat wave events in western Eurasia revealed with an anomaly‐based approach
Author(s) -
Qian Weihong,
Wu Kaijun,
Leung Jeremy CheukHin
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
international journal of climatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.58
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-0088
pISSN - 0899-8418
DOI - 10.1002/joc.4634
Subject(s) - geopotential height , anomaly (physics) , climatology , troposphere , heat wave , environmental science , spatial ecology , geology , atmospheric sciences , climate change , geography , meteorology , precipitation , condensed matter physics , ecology , biology , oceanography , physics
ABSTRACT In the summer of 2010, western Russia experienced extreme heat, which was noted for its exceptional spatial spread, long duration, high intensity and impacts. We use an anomaly‐based approach to decompose atmospheric variables into daily climatic components and anomalies from two reanalysis datasets. We show that a surface heat wave event results from a downward extension of an anomalously warm air column below a centre of positive geopotential height anomalies in the upper troposphere. Therefore, we use this approach to analyse all summer regional heat wave events with spatial scales larger than 2000 km and durations greater than 5 days over western Eurasia from 1980 to 2014. Our results demonstrate that the rapid increase in regional heat wave events over western Eurasia since 2010 is a direct response to the increasing frequency of large‐scale, quasi‐stationary positive centres of maximum height anomalies in the upper troposphere.