Search for: All records

Abstract The relationship of upper tropospheric jet variability to El Niño / Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in reanalysis datasets is analyzed for 1979–2018, revealing robust regional and seasonal variability. Tropical jets associated with monsoons and the Walker circulation are weaker and the zonal mean subtropical jet shifts equatorward in both hemispheres during El Niño, consistent with previous findings. Regional and seasonal variations are analyzed separately for subtropical and polar jets. The subtropical jet shifts poleward during El Niño over the NH eastern Pacific in DJF, and in some SH regions in MAMand SON. Subtropical jet altitudes increase during El Niño, with significant changes in the zonal mean in the NH and during summer/fall in the SH. Though zonal mean polar jet correlations with ENSO are rarely significant, robust regional/seasonal changes occur: The SH polar jet shifts equatorward during El Niño over Asia and the western Pacific in DJF, and poleward over the eastern Pacific in JJA and SON. Polar jets are weaker (stronger) during El Niño in the western (eastern) hemisphere, especially in the SH; conversely, subtropical jets are stronger (weaker) in the western (eastern) hemisphere during El Niño in winter and spring; these opposing changes, along with an anticorrelation between subtropical and polar jet windspeed, reinforce subtropical/polar jet strength differences during El Niño, and suggest ENSO-related covariability of the jets. ENSO-related jet latitude, altitude, and windspeed changes can reach 4(3)°, 0.6(0.3) km, and 6(3) ms −1 , respectively, for the subtropical (polar) jets. 

This paper introduces the special collection inGeophysical Research LettersandJournal of Geophysical Research:Atmosphereson the exceptional stratospheric polar vortex in 2019/2020. Papers in this collection show that the 2019/2020 stratospheric polar vortex was the strongest, most persistent, and coldest on record in the Arctic. The unprecedented Arctic chemical processing and ozone loss in spring 2020 have been studied using numerous satellite and ground‐based data sets and chemistry‐transport models. Quantitative estimates of chemical loss are broadly consistent among the studies and show profile loss of about the same magnitude as in the Arctic in 2011, but with most loss at lower altitudes; column loss was comparable to or larger than that in 2011. Several papers show evidence of dynamical coupling from the mesosphere down to the surface. Studies of tropospheric influence and impacts link the exceptionally strong vortex to reflection of upward propagating waves and show coupling to tropospheric anomalies, including extreme heat, precipitation, windstorms, and marine cold air outbreaks. Predictability of the exceptional stratospheric polar vortex in 2019/2020 and related predictability of surface conditions are explored. The exceptionally strong stratospheric polar vortex in 2019/2020 highlights the extreme interannual variability in the Arctic winter/spring stratosphere and the far‐reaching consequences of such extremes.