Do Atlantic‐European Weather Regimes Physically Exist?

Abstract The subseasonal variability of the extratropical large‐scale atmospheric flow is characterized by recurrent or quasi‐stationary circulation anomalies, termed weather regimes. Despite the usefulness of these regimes in numerous meteorological and socioeconomic applications, there is an ongoi...

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Main Authors: Assaf Hochman, Gabriele Messori, Julian F. Quinting, Joaquim G. Pinto, Christian M. Grams
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2021-10-01
Series:Geophysical Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095574
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author Assaf Hochman
Gabriele Messori
Julian F. Quinting
Joaquim G. Pinto
Christian M. Grams
author_facet Assaf Hochman
Gabriele Messori
Julian F. Quinting
Joaquim G. Pinto
Christian M. Grams
author_sort Assaf Hochman
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The subseasonal variability of the extratropical large‐scale atmospheric flow is characterized by recurrent or quasi‐stationary circulation anomalies, termed weather regimes. Despite the usefulness of these regimes in numerous meteorological and socioeconomic applications, there is an ongoing debate as to whether they represent physical modes of the atmosphere, or are merely useful statistical categorizations. Here, we answer this question for wintertime Atlantic‐European regimes. We argue that dynamical systems theory applied to a refined regime definition provides strong evidence in support of most weather regimes being physically meaningful. This finding underpins the broad relevance of weather regimes, for understanding the response of the atmosphere to external forcing, supporting subseasonal weather forecasting, and down scaling of climate projections.
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institution OA Journals
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publisher Wiley
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series Geophysical Research Letters
spelling doaj-art-060287c5f1d14841b387a220ba04b08a2025-08-20T02:36:28ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072021-10-014820n/an/a10.1029/2021GL095574Do Atlantic‐European Weather Regimes Physically Exist?Assaf Hochman0Gabriele Messori1Julian F. Quinting2Joaquim G. Pinto3Christian M. Grams4Department of Tropospheric Research (IMK‐TRO) Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Karlsruhe GermanyDepartment of Earth Sciences and Centre of Natural Hazards and Disaster Science (CNDS) Uppsala University Uppsala SwedenDepartment of Tropospheric Research (IMK‐TRO) Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Karlsruhe GermanyDepartment of Tropospheric Research (IMK‐TRO) Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Karlsruhe GermanyDepartment of Tropospheric Research (IMK‐TRO) Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Karlsruhe GermanyAbstract The subseasonal variability of the extratropical large‐scale atmospheric flow is characterized by recurrent or quasi‐stationary circulation anomalies, termed weather regimes. Despite the usefulness of these regimes in numerous meteorological and socioeconomic applications, there is an ongoing debate as to whether they represent physical modes of the atmosphere, or are merely useful statistical categorizations. Here, we answer this question for wintertime Atlantic‐European regimes. We argue that dynamical systems theory applied to a refined regime definition provides strong evidence in support of most weather regimes being physically meaningful. This finding underpins the broad relevance of weather regimes, for understanding the response of the atmosphere to external forcing, supporting subseasonal weather forecasting, and down scaling of climate projections.https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095574subseasonal variabilityextratropical weather regimesclimate dynamicsEuropeEuro‐Atlantic
spellingShingle Assaf Hochman
Gabriele Messori
Julian F. Quinting
Joaquim G. Pinto
Christian M. Grams
Do Atlantic‐European Weather Regimes Physically Exist?
Geophysical Research Letters
subseasonal variability
extratropical weather regimes
climate dynamics
Europe
Euro‐Atlantic
title Do Atlantic‐European Weather Regimes Physically Exist?
title_full Do Atlantic‐European Weather Regimes Physically Exist?
title_fullStr Do Atlantic‐European Weather Regimes Physically Exist?
title_full_unstemmed Do Atlantic‐European Weather Regimes Physically Exist?
title_short Do Atlantic‐European Weather Regimes Physically Exist?
title_sort do atlantic european weather regimes physically exist
topic subseasonal variability
extratropical weather regimes
climate dynamics
Europe
Euro‐Atlantic
url https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095574
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AT julianfquinting doatlanticeuropeanweatherregimesphysicallyexist
AT joaquimgpinto doatlanticeuropeanweatherregimesphysicallyexist
AT christianmgrams doatlanticeuropeanweatherregimesphysicallyexist