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The Role of snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere winter to summer transition
Author(s) -
Barriopedro David,
GarcíaHerrera Ricardo,
Hernández Emiliano
Publication year - 2006
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 - 10.1029/2006gl025763
Subject(s) - northern hemisphere , north atlantic oscillation , snow cover , climatology , snow , snow line , environmental science , arctic oscillation , winter season , cold winter , physical geography , geology , geography , meteorology
This paper examines the role of North Hemisphere snow cover in the linkage between the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the summer Northern Annular Mode (NAM). This transition is partially supported by the persistence of the NAO‐induced snow cover anomalies and the asymmetric thermal distribution induced by summer snow cover. We define an index of subpolar temperature difference which links winter NAO with the subsequent summer NAM. The index is also significant in the linkage between summer and winter climates and can be used as an useful predictor of the upcoming winter NAO.