The role of observed cloud-radiative anomalies for the dynamics of the North Atlantic Oscillation on synoptic time-scales

Abstract

Clouds shape weather and climate by regulating the latent and radiative heating in the atmosphere. Recent work has demonstrated the importance of cloud-radiative effects (CRE) for the mean circulation of the extratropical atmosphere and its response to global warming. In contrast, little research has been done regarding the impact of CRE on internal variability. Here, we study how clouds and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) couple on synoptic time-scales during Northern Hemisphere winter via CRE within the atmosphere (ACRE). A regression analysis based on 5-day mean data from CloudSat/CALIPSO, CERES and GERB satellite observations and ERA-Interim short-term forecast data reveals a robust dipole of high-level and low-level cloud-incidence anomalies during a positive NAO, with increased high-level cloud incidence along the storm track (near 45°N) and the subpolar Atlantic, and decreased high-level cloud incidence poleward and equatorward of this track. Opposite changes occur for low-level cloud incidence. The cloud anomalies lead to an anomalous column-mean heating from ACRE over the region of the Iceland low, and to a cooling over the region of the Azores high. To quantify the impact of the ACRE anomalies on the NAO, and to thereby test the hypothesis of a cloud-radiative feedback on the NAO persistence, we apply the surface pressure tendency equation for ERA-Interim short-term forecast data. The NAO-generated ACRE anomalies amplify the NAO-related surface pressure anomalies over the Azores high but have no area-averaged impact on the Iceland low. In contrast, diabatic processes as a whole, including latent heating and clear-sky radiation, strongly amplify the NAO-related surface pressure anomalies over both the Azores high and the Iceland low, and their impact is much more spatially coherent. This suggests that, while atmospheric cloud-radiative effects lead to an increase in NAO persistence on synoptic time-scales, their impact is relatively minor and much smaller than other diabatic processes.