Double‐mode adjustment of Tibetan Plateau heating to the summer circumglobal teleconnection in the Northern Hemisphere

Abstract

ABSTRACTA quasi‐stationary circumglobal teleconnection (CGT) in the Northern Hemisphere in summer is associated with summer droughts and floods and exhibits some vorticity anomalies. The CGT anomaly and its forcing sources were explored based on reanalysis data and the EI Nino 3.4 index. The term ∂v′/∂x was used to describe the multi‐scale variability of vorticity and the CGT anomaly, which had a 7‐wavenumber and a small interannual amplitude of ∂v′/∂x from 1987 to 2000 but a large amplitude from 2000 to 2010. The interannual CGT intensity was enhanced by an EI Nino sea surface temperature pattern in spring via key forcing sources that led to an enduring effect on the summer circulation; it was also a response to anomalies in Tibetan Plateau (TP) heating in spring–summer in two ways. First, increasing TP heating in the mid‐eastern TP caused an eastward shift and northerly extension of the South Asian High (SAH), which exhibited a Tibetan‐mode SAH as well as a 7‐wavenumber CGT anomaly. This enhanced the CGT over Eurasia and extended the wave pattern of the EI Nino contribution over the North Pacific and Eurasia. Second, increased snow cover in the west of the TP could have offset the TP heating effect and adjusted the position and intensity of the Tibetan‐mode SAH. This phenomenon weakened vorticity and wave amplitude and finally led to a weak CGT anomaly. This finding indicates a coupled effect of double‐mode TP heating (i.e. both heating and TP snow cover) on the CGT anomaly, which reveals the linkage of TP heating with weather over Eurasia and North America that could be predicted by TP heating and other factors.