Phase Speed Spectra and the Latitude of Surface Westerlies: Interannual Variability and Global Warming Trend

Abstract

The extratropical annular-mode-like atmospheric responses to ENSO and global warming and the internal variability of annular modes are associated with similar, yet distinct, dynamical characteristics. In particular, La Niña, global warming, and the positive phase of annular modes are all associated with a poleward shift of midlatitude jet streams and surface westerlies. To improve understanding of these phenomena, the authors identify and compare patterns of interannual variability and global warming trends in the midlatitude surface westerlies and the space–time spectra of associated eddy momentum fluxes by analyzing simulations of the present climate in an atmosphere-only climate model, in which the ENSO-induced extratropical response is validated with that in reanalysis data, and by projection of future climate changes using a coupled atmosphere–ocean model.

While the response to ENSO is consistent with the refraction of midlatitude eddies due to subtropical wind anomalies, the interannual internal variability of the annular modes marks a change in the eastward propagation speed of midlatitude eddies. In response to global warming, the dominant eddies exhibit a trend toward faster eddy phase speeds in both hemispheres, in a manner similar to the positive phase of interannual internal variability. These diagnoses suggest that the annular mode trend due to greenhouse gas increases may be more related to extratropical processes, especially in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere, rather than being forced from the deep tropics.