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Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Increasing greenhouse gas concentrations is likely to enhance the interannual variability of climate change around the globe, particularly in the midlatitude areas, potentially causing more frequent extreme weather/climate events. Studies have identified that the extent of land–atmosphere interactions or coupling prevails at local, regional, and global scales. Regions with substantial strengths are termed hotspots due to the complex behavior of variables that govern those feedbacks and couplings. The regions identified mostly influence the near-surface temperature and energy regimes by disturbing and controlling the surface energy balance and water cycle, in which evapotranspiration is the key to the connection between the land and the atmosphere. Challenges still exist in understanding the spatial and temporal variations in land–atmosphere coupling due to limited observations in heat fluxes. Land surface conditions including soil moisture, precipitation, temperature, land use, land cover, and snow cover could considerably affect atmospheric processes in many parts of the globe. Both surface temperature and precipitation variations may be strongly influenced by the land–atmosphere coupling strength at various temporospatial scales.

In this regard, we invite the submission of original research articles and reviews on any aspect of land–atmosphere coupling under climate change. The Special Issue aims to improve our understanding of the processes, interactions, feedback, coupling, and teleconnections at the land–atmosphere interface from the perspectives of reanalysis, observation, simulation, and future projection. We especially encourage studies using the most recent technology, such as reanalysis and using state-of-the-art CMIP6 GCMs, to address such issues.

Prof. Dr. Xinmin Zeng
Dr. Irfan Ullah
Dr. Huilin Huang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

land–atmosphere interactions
land–air–sea interactions
land–atmosphere coupling
land surface
soil moisture
precipitation
temperature
land use/land cover–vegetation interactions
CMIP6 Projection
extreme weather events such as drought, heat wave, and flood
large-scale land–atmosphere teleconnections

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 10639 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Extratropical Cyclone Response to Projected Reductions in Snow Extent over the Great Plains

by Ryan M. Clare, Ankur R. Desai, Jonathan E. Martin, Michael Notaro and Stephen J. Vavrus

Atmosphere 2023, 14(5), 783; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14050783 - 26 Apr 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1239

Abstract

Extratropical cyclones develop in regions of enhanced baroclinicity and progress along climatological storm tracks. Numerous studies have noted an influence of terrestrial snow cover on atmospheric baroclinicity. However, these studies have less typically examined the role that continental snow cover extent and changes anticipated with anthropogenic climate change have on cyclones’ intensities, trajectories, and precipitation characteristics. Here, we examined how projected future poleward shifts in North American snow extent influence extratropical cyclones. We imposed 10th, 50th, and 90th percentile values of snow retreat between the late 20th and 21st centuries as projected by 14 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase Five (CMIP5) models to alter snow extent underlying 15 historical cold-season cyclones that tracked over the North American Great Plains and were faithfully reproduced in control model cases, providing a comprehensive set of model runs to evaluate hypotheses. Simulations by the Advanced Research version of the Weather Research and Forecast Model (WRF-ARW) were initialized at four days prior to cyclogenesis. Cyclone trajectories moved on average poleward (μ = 27 +/− σ = 17 km) in response to reduced snow extent while the maximum sea-level pressure deepened (μ = −0.48 +/− σ = 0.8 hPa) with greater snow removed. A significant linear correlation was observed between the area of snow removed and mean trajectory deviation (r² = 0.23), especially in mid-winter (r² = 0.59), as well as a similar relationship for maximum change in sea-level pressure (r² = 0.17). Across all simulations, 82% of the perturbed simulation cyclones decreased in average central sea-level pressure (SLP) compared to the corresponding control simulation. Near-surface wind speed increased, as did precipitation, in 86% of cases with a preferred phase change from the solid to liquid state due to warming, although the trends did not correlate with the snow retreat magnitude. Our results, consistent with prior studies noting some role for the enhanced baroclinity of the snow line in modulating storm track and intensity, provide a benchmark to evaluate future snow cover retreat impacts on mid-latitude weather systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land–Atmosphere Coupling under Climate Change)

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Review

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12 pages, 16154 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Review of Impacts of the Tibetan Plateau Snow on Climate Variability over East Asia and North America

by Zhibiao Wang, Renguang Wu and Xiaojing Jia

Atmosphere 2023, 14(4), 618; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14040618 - 24 Mar 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1299

Abstract

Snow anomalies over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) have been shown to contribute to the climate variability in the neighboring and remote regions. The present study provides a review of the research progress of studies on the impacts of the TP snow anomalies on the climate over East Asia and North America. This review covers long-term TP snow variations in different seasons and in different regions, interdecadal TP snow changes in different times and their contributions to the interdecadal rainfall changes over East Asia, impacts of TP snow anomalies in different parts and different seasons on East Asian and North America climate variability on interannual time scales, intraseasonal TP snow variations and their impacts on East Asian atmospheric circulation, and interdecadal changes in the relationship of the East Asian rainfall and North American air temperature to the TP snow. The review also includes the atmospheric circulation patterns that link the TP snow to East Asian and North American climate. Discussions are provided for relevant issues of the TP snow impacts. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land–Atmosphere Coupling under Climate Change)

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