Two typical modes in the variabilities of wintertime North Pacific basin‐scale oceanic fronts and associated atmospheric eddy‐driven jet

Abstract

AbstractThe role of oceanic fronts in the midlatitude air–sea interaction remains unclear. This study defines new indexes to quantify the intensity and location of two basin‐scale oceanic frontal zones in the wintertime North Pacific, i.e. the subtropical and subarctic frontal zones (STFZ, SAFZ). With these indexes, two typical modes, which are closely related to two large‐scale sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly patterns resembling Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO), respectively, are found in the oceanic front variabilities as well as in their associations with the midlatitude atmospheric eddy‐driven jet. Corresponding to an PDO‐like SST anomaly pattern, an enhanced STFZ occurs with a southward shifted SAFZ, which is associated with enhanced overlying atmospheric front, baroclinicity and transient eddy vorticity forcing, thus with an intensification of the westerly jet; and vice versa. On the other hand, corresponding to an NPGO‐like SST pattern, an enhanced SAFZ occurs with a northward shifted STFZ, which is associated with a northward shift of the atmospheric front, baroclinicity, transient eddy vorticity forcing, and westerly jet; and vice versa. These results suggest that the basin‐scale oceanic frontal zone is a key region for the midlatitude air–sea interaction in which the atmospheric transient eddy's dynamical forcing is a key player in such an interaction.