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Atmospheric dynamics encompasses all physical processes within atmospheres, including global and regional-scale circulation, convection, tropical and extratropical cyclones, and interannual variability. Information about atmospheric dynamics informs both short range weather forecasting and projections for medium to long term climate change.
Humid heatwaves are often limited by the onset of convective rain, such as thunderstorms. Observational reanalysis data and climate models indicate that dry air 1–3 km above the Earth’s surface can curtail convective storms, allowing humid heatwaves to intensify on the ground. This effect is likely to be exacerbated by increasing global temperatures.
This study uses complex networks to identify atmospheric teleconnections driving summer heatwaves in the Northern Hemisphere. The results show that changes in certain teleconnections drive the spatial differences in heatwave variability and trends.
Summer snow accumulation and its albedo effect on Arctic sea ice are controlled by the Arctic Oscillation atmospheric circulation pattern, according to a combined modelling and remote sensing analysis.
Winter chill – required to break dormancy for many fruit and nut crops in California – can be forecast skillfully one month in advance, using temperature forecasts from seasonal prediction systems.
Climate model experiments suggest intense tropical cyclones will become more frequent in the Central Pacific but reduce in the Southern Hemisphere by 2100 and could drive high wind speeds even at locations thousands of km from the storm centre.
Humid heatwaves are often limited by the onset of convective rain, such as thunderstorms. Observational reanalysis data and climate models indicate that dry air 1–3 km above the Earth’s surface can curtail convective storms, allowing humid heatwaves to intensify on the ground. This effect is likely to be exacerbated by increasing global temperatures.
Phase-curve observations of the ‘hot Jupiter’ exoplanet WASP-43b, made at mid-infrared wavelengths using JWST, provide evidence that fast winds limit the formation of methane on the cooler, cloudy nightside of the planet.
An absence of precipitation combined with drying of the ground through evaporation can deplete fresh water crucial for societies and ecosystems. However, new research highlights a more remote driver of drought.
