Impact of Sea Ice Reduction in the Barents and Kara Seas on the Variation of the East Asian Trough in Late Winter

Using the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) interim reanalysis (ERA-Interim) dataset and the Specified Chemistry Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM-SC), the impacts of sea ice reduction in the Barents-Kara Seas (BKS) on the East Asian trough (EAT) in late winter are investigated. Results from both reanalysis data and simulations show that the BKS sea ice reduction leads to a deepened EAT in late winter, especially in February, while the EAT axis tilt is not sensitive to the BKS sea ice reduction. Further analysis shows that the BKS sea ice reduction influences the EAT through the tropospheric and stratospheric pathways. For the tropospheric pathway, the results from a linearized barotropic model and Rossby wave ray tracing model reveal that long Rossby wave trains stimulated by the BKS sea ice loss propagate downstream to the North Pacific, strengthening the EAT. For the stratospheric pathway, the upward planetary waves enhanced by the BKS sea ice reduction shift the subpolar westerlies near the tropopause southward. With the critical lines displaced equatorward, the poleward transient eddies break at lower latitudes, shifting the eddy momentum deposit throughout the troposphere equatorward. Tropospheric westerlies maintained by eddy momentum deposit are also shifted southward, inducing the cyclonic anomalies over the North Pacific and deepening the EAT in late winter. Nudging experiments show that the tropospheric pathway only contributes to around 29.7% of the deepening of the EAT in February induced by the BKS sea ice loss, while the remaining 70.3% is caused by stratosphere-troposphere coupling.

Automated summary

The study shows that reduction of sea ice in the Barents-Kara Seas leads to a deepening of the East Asian trough in late winter, mainly through tropospheric and stratospheric pathways. Analysis using climate models and tracing models reveals that the climate system response to BKS sea ice reduction is primarily through the propagation of long Rossby waves and enhanced upward planetary waves to impact the East Asian trough.