Dry soil moisture on the Tibetan plateau drives synchronous extreme heatwaves in Europe and East Asia

Abstract Recently, extreme heatwaves have frequently concurrently swept across Europe and East Asia, causing severe cascading socioeconomic consequences. However, the nonlinear synchronization relationship between these heatwaves and their underlying physical mechanisms remains poorly understood. Ut...

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Main Authors: Jilan Jiang, Yimin Liu, Jun Meng, Guoxiong Wu, Bian He, Tingting Ma, Wen Bao, Jingfang Fan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2024-11-01
Series:npj Climate and Atmospheric Science
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-024-00831-x
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author Jilan Jiang
Yimin Liu
Jun Meng
Guoxiong Wu
Bian He
Tingting Ma
Wen Bao
Jingfang Fan
author_facet Jilan Jiang
Yimin Liu
Jun Meng
Guoxiong Wu
Bian He
Tingting Ma
Wen Bao
Jingfang Fan
author_sort Jilan Jiang
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Recently, extreme heatwaves have frequently concurrently swept across Europe and East Asia, causing severe cascading socioeconomic consequences. However, the nonlinear synchronization relationship between these heatwaves and their underlying physical mechanisms remains poorly understood. Utilizing the event synchronization climate network method, atmospheric dynamic diagnostics, and numerical experiments, we revealed robust synchronization between heatwaves over Europe and East Asia, strongly associated with dry soil moisture conditions over the Tibetan Plateau from the preceding winter to summer. Dry soil moisture triggers an equivalent barotropic anticyclone north of the Tibetan Plateau, coinciding with the subtropical westerly jet waveguide and initiating circumglobal atmospheric Rossby waves propagating westward and eastward. Consequently, an equivalent barotropic anticyclone develops over Europe. These anticyclones induce simultaneous heatwaves across Europe and East Asia by increasing downward solar radiation and adiabatic sinking, amplified by positive land-atmosphere feedback. Our findings significantly enhance the understanding and predictive capabilities of these synchronous heatwaves across Eurasia.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2397-3722
language English
publishDate 2024-11-01
publisher Nature Portfolio
record_format Article
series npj Climate and Atmospheric Science
spelling doaj-art-ff35f914ba71434487a17e0f5dda2ef52024-11-24T12:16:59ZengNature Portfolionpj Climate and Atmospheric Science2397-37222024-11-017111010.1038/s41612-024-00831-xDry soil moisture on the Tibetan plateau drives synchronous extreme heatwaves in Europe and East AsiaJilan Jiang0Yimin Liu1Jun Meng2Guoxiong Wu3Bian He4Tingting Ma5Wen Bao6Jingfang Fan7State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of SciencesKey Laboratory of Earth System Numerical Modeling and Application, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of SciencesSchool of Science, Beijing University of Posts and TelecommunicationsState Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of SciencesKey Laboratory of Earth System Numerical Modeling and Application, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of SciencesChina Meteorological Administration Training CentreChinese Research Academy of Environmental SciencesSchool of Systems Science, Beijing Normal UniversityAbstract Recently, extreme heatwaves have frequently concurrently swept across Europe and East Asia, causing severe cascading socioeconomic consequences. However, the nonlinear synchronization relationship between these heatwaves and their underlying physical mechanisms remains poorly understood. Utilizing the event synchronization climate network method, atmospheric dynamic diagnostics, and numerical experiments, we revealed robust synchronization between heatwaves over Europe and East Asia, strongly associated with dry soil moisture conditions over the Tibetan Plateau from the preceding winter to summer. Dry soil moisture triggers an equivalent barotropic anticyclone north of the Tibetan Plateau, coinciding with the subtropical westerly jet waveguide and initiating circumglobal atmospheric Rossby waves propagating westward and eastward. Consequently, an equivalent barotropic anticyclone develops over Europe. These anticyclones induce simultaneous heatwaves across Europe and East Asia by increasing downward solar radiation and adiabatic sinking, amplified by positive land-atmosphere feedback. Our findings significantly enhance the understanding and predictive capabilities of these synchronous heatwaves across Eurasia.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-024-00831-x
spellingShingle Jilan Jiang
Yimin Liu
Jun Meng
Guoxiong Wu
Bian He
Tingting Ma
Wen Bao
Jingfang Fan
Dry soil moisture on the Tibetan plateau drives synchronous extreme heatwaves in Europe and East Asia
npj Climate and Atmospheric Science
title Dry soil moisture on the Tibetan plateau drives synchronous extreme heatwaves in Europe and East Asia
title_full Dry soil moisture on the Tibetan plateau drives synchronous extreme heatwaves in Europe and East Asia
title_fullStr Dry soil moisture on the Tibetan plateau drives synchronous extreme heatwaves in Europe and East Asia
title_full_unstemmed Dry soil moisture on the Tibetan plateau drives synchronous extreme heatwaves in Europe and East Asia
title_short Dry soil moisture on the Tibetan plateau drives synchronous extreme heatwaves in Europe and East Asia
title_sort dry soil moisture on the tibetan plateau drives synchronous extreme heatwaves in europe and east asia
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-024-00831-x
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