Decadal variability and trends in extratropical Rossby wave packet amplitude, phase, and phase speed

The ongoing global yet spatially inhomogeneous warming prompts the inspection of decadal variability in the extratropical upper-tropospheric circulation properties. This study provides observational evidence in this regard by utilizing reanalysis data to examine the past interannual-to-decadal variability and unveil trends in the probability distribution of Rossby wave packet (RWP) amplitude (E), phase (Φ), and phase speed (cp). First, a comparison between the NE Pacific and N Atlantic regions indicates that the 300 hPa E probability distribution exhibits a seasonally and regionally varying decadal variability. No apparent discrepancy arises between different reanalysis datasets, except fro…

Global Climatologies of Eulerian and Lagrangian Flow Features based on ERA-Interim

Abstract This paper introduces a newly compiled set of feature-based climatologies identified from ERA-Interim (1979–2014). Two categories of flow features are considered: (i) Eulerian climatologies of jet streams, tropopause folds, surface fronts, cyclones and anticyclones, blocks, and potential vorticity streamers and cutoffs and (ii) Lagrangian climatologies, based on a large ensemble of air parcel trajectories, of stratosphere–troposphere exchange, warm conveyor belts, and tropical moisture exports. Monthly means of these feature climatologies are openly available at the ETH Zürich web page (http://eraiclim.ethz.ch) and are annually updated. Datasets at higher resolution can be obtained…

Current and emerging developments in subseasonal to decadal prediction

Weather and climate variations on subseasonal to decadal time scales can have enormous social, economic, and environmental impacts, making skillful predictions on these time scales a valuable tool for decision-makers. As such, there is a growing interest in the scientific, operational, and applications communities in developing forecasts to improve our foreknowledge of extreme events. On subseasonal to seasonal (S2S) time scales, these include high-impact meteorological events such as tropical cyclones, extratropical storms, floods, droughts, and heat and cold waves. On seasonal to decadal (S2D) time scales, while the focus broadly remains similar (e.g., on precipitation, surface and upper-…

SARS-CoV-2 infection and venous thromboembolism after surgery: an international prospective cohort study

SARS-CoV-2 has been associated with an increased rate of venous thromboembolism in critically ill patients. Since surgical patients are already at higher risk of venous thromboembolism than general populations, this study aimed to determine if patients with peri-operative or prior SARS-CoV-2 were at further increased risk of venous thromboembolism. We conducted a planned sub-study and analysis from an international, multicentre, prospective cohort study of elective and emergency patients undergoing surgery during October 2020. Patients from all surgical specialties were included. The primary outcome measure was venous thromboembolism (pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis) within 30 da…

Local Rossby Wave Packet Amplitude, Phase Speed, and Group Velocity: Seasonal Variability and Their Role in Temperature Extremes

AbstractTransient Rossby wave packets (RWPs) are a prominent feature of the synoptic to planetary upper-tropospheric flow at the midlatitudes. Their demonstrated role in various aspects of weather and climate prompts the investigation of characteristic properties like their amplitude, phase speed, and group velocity. Traditional frameworks for the diagnosis of the two latter have so far remained nonlocal in space or time, thus preventing a detailed view on the spatiotemporal evolution of RWPs. The present work proposes a method for the diagnosis of horizontal Rossby wave phase speed and group velocity locally in space and time. The approach is based on the analytic signal of upper-troposphe…

Local Finite-Amplitude Wave Activity as a Diagnostic for Rossby Wave Packets

AbstractUpper-tropospheric Rossby wave packets (RWPs) are important dynamical features, because they are often associated with weather systems and sometimes act as precursors to high-impact weather. The present work introduces a novel diagnostic to identify RWPs and to quantify their amplitude. It is based on the local finite-amplitude wave activity (LWA) of Huang and Nakamura, which is generalized to the primitive equations in isentropic coordinates. The new diagnostic is applied to a specific episode containing large-amplitude RWPs and compared with a more traditional diagnostic based on the envelope of the meridional wind. In this case, LWA provides a more coherent picture of the RWPs an…

Large-scale Rossby wave and synoptic-scale dynamic analyses of the unusually late 2016 heatwave over Europe

This paper analyses the late summer heatwave over Europe in 2016. Central, western and southwestern Europe were primarily affected by the high temperatures. Seville, Spain, for example, experienced the highest September temperature on record on 5 September 2016, reaching a maximum of 44.8°C, and temperatures in Trier, Germany reached 34.2°C on 13 September 2016. The heatwave was marked by three distinct peaks, accompanied by record‐breaking values for 500hPa geopotential heights and, to a lesser extent, 850hPa temperatures. These peaks were associated with the arrival of high‐amplitude Rossby wave packets in western Europe. The latter originated several days before the event over western No…

Extreme precipitation events over northern Italy. Part II : Dynamical precursors

The connection between weather extremes and Rossby wave packets (RWP) has been increasingly documented in recent years. RWP propagation and characteristics can modulate the midlatitude weather, setting the scene for temperature and precipitation extremes and controlling the geographical area affected. Several studies on extreme precipitation events (EPEs) in the Alpine area reported, as the main triggering factor, a meridionally elongated upper‐level trough as part of an incoming Rossby wave packet. In this work, we investigate a wide number of EPEs occurring between 1979 and 2015 in northern‐central Italy. The EPEs are subdivided into three categories (Cat1, Cat2, Cat3) according to thermo…

Linking Northern Hemisphere temperature extremes to Rossby wave packets