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Northern hemisphere extratropical circulation anomalies and recent January land surface temperature trends
Author(s) -
Palecki Michael A.,
Leathers Daniel J.
Publication year - 1993
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 - 10.1029/93gl00509
Subject(s) - extratropical cyclone , northern hemisphere , climatology , geopotential height , troposphere , atmospheric circulation , environmental science , geopotential , circulation (fluid dynamics) , southern hemisphere , atmospheric sciences , geology , geography , precipitation , meteorology , physics , thermodynamics
This study demonstrates that long‐term January temperature trends in the Northern Hemisphere are strongly related to decadal‐scale variations in extratropical mid‐tropospheric circulation modes. Circulation indices derived from a rotated principal components analysis of 500‐mb geopotential heights explain 72% of the January Northern Hemisphere land surface air temperature variance. An analysis of the spatial characteristics of January temperature trends from 1966 through 1985 indicates a close correspondence between the observed trends and those obtained from consideration of the phase and strength of the major modes of low‐frequency mid‐tropospheric variation.