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A regional extreme low temperature event and its main atmospheric contributing factors

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Abstract

The regional extreme low temperature event from December 30, 2010 to February 2, 2011 was a very rare and protracted cold event with the largest integrated index (Z) since 1979. Two meteorological factors could be responsible for this extreme winter event. First, a persistent blocking pattern existed in the mid-latitudes. This not only allowed cold air to persist in southern China but also enabled each perturbation from the west propagating around the blocking high to trigger downstream cold air intrusions from the north. Second, the consistently downward negative Arctic Oscillation (AO) was favorable for the eastward moving of Rossby waves in middle latitudes, which made the upper reaches positive center in SLP and negative center in Z500 move to East Asia. This stable and consistent situation favored the polar area cold air invasion to the mid-latitude region. Of these two factors, the blocking pattern was likely to be the direct cause, the co-effects of consistently strong downward negative AO from the stratosphere, and the corresponding eastward moving wave train in Z500 and SLP might be the prophase teleconnection culprit.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41205040 and 41305075), the State Key development program for Basic Research (Grant No. 2012CB955203), and the Special Scientific Research Project for Public Interest (Grant No. GYHY201106015).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Climate Monitoring and Diagnose, National Climate Center China Meteorological Administration, Beijing, 100081, China

    Zhiqiang Gong, Guolin Feng & Fumin Ren

  2. Key Laboratory of Regional Climate-Environment Research for Temperature East Asia, the Institute of Atmospheric Physics Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, 100029, China

    Jianping Li

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  1. Zhiqiang Gong
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  2. Guolin Feng
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  3. Fumin Ren
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  4. Jianping Li
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Correspondence to Zhiqiang Gong.

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Gong, Z., Feng, G., Ren, F. et al. A regional extreme low temperature event and its main atmospheric contributing factors. Theor Appl Climatol 117, 195–206 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-013-0997-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-013-0997-7

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