Journal
NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE
Volume 4, Issue 1, Pages 45-50Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/NCLIMATE2065
Keywords
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Funding
- National Basic Research Program of China [2012CB955403]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [41171031]
- Hundred Talents Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
- NSF/ARCSS [1304097]
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Office of Polar Programs (OPP) [1304097] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The past decade has seen an exceptional number of unprecedented summer extreme weather events(1-4) in northern mid-latitudes, along with record declines in both summer Arctic sea ice(5,6) and snow cover on high-latitude land(7). The underlying mechanisms that link the shrinking cryosphere with summer extreme weather, however, remain unclear(8-12). Here, we combine satellite observations of early summer snow cover and summer sea-ice extent(13) with atmospheric reanalysis data(14) to demonstrate associations between summer weather patterns in mid-latitudes and losses of snow and sea ice. Results suggest that the atmospheric circulation responds differently to changes in the ice and snow extents, with a stronger response to sea-ice loss, even though its reduction is half as large as that for the snow cover. Atmospheric changes associated with the combined snow/ice reductions reveal widespread upper-level height increases, weaker upper-level zonal winds at high latitudes, a more amplified upper-level pattern, and a general northward shift in the jet stream. More frequent extreme summer heat events over mid-latitude continents are linked with reduced sea ice and snow through these circulation changes.
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