Linking Northern Hemisphere blocking and storm track biases in the CMIP5 climate models

Zappa, G., Masato, G., Shaffrey, L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2696-752X, Woollings, T. and Hodges, K. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0894-229X (2014) Linking Northern Hemisphere blocking and storm track biases in the CMIP5 climate models. Geophysical Research Letters, 41 (1). pp. 135-139. ISSN 0094-8276 doi: 10.1002/2013GL058480

Abstract/Summary

The relationship between biases in Northern Hemisphere (NH) atmospheric blocking frequency and extratropical cyclone track density is investigated in 12 CMIP5 climate models to identify mechanisms underlying climate model biases and inform future model development. Biases in the Greenland blocking and summer Pacific blocking frequencies are associated with biases in the storm track latitudes while biases in winter European blocking frequency are related to the North Atlantic storm track tilt and Mediterranean cyclone density. However, biases in summer European and winter Pacific blocking appear less related with cyclone track density. Furthermore, the models with smaller biases in winter European blocking frequency have smaller biases in the cyclone density in Europe, which suggests that they are different aspects of the same bias. This is not found elsewhere in the NH. The summer North Atlantic and the North Pacific mean CMIP5 track density and blocking biases might therefore have different origins.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/35475
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > NCAS Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Uncontrolled Keywords	climate models;blocking;storm tracks;CMIP5;biases;extratropical cyclones
Publisher	American Geophysical Union
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