Decadal variation of the impact of La Niña on the winter Arctic stratosphere

Abstract

The impact of La Niña on the winter Arctic stratosphere has thus far been an ambiguous topic of research. Contradictory results have been reported depending on the La Niña events considered. This study shows that this is mainly due to the decadal variation of La Niña’s impact on the winter Arctic stratosphere since the late 1970s. Specifically, during the period 1951–78, the tropospheric La Niña teleconnection exhibits a typical negative Pacific–North America pattern, which strongly inhibits the propagation of the planetary waves from the extratropical troposphere to the stratosphere, and leads to a significantly strengthened stratospheric polar vortex. In contrast, during 1979–2015, the La Niña teleconnection shifts eastwards, with an anomalous high concentrated in the northeastern Pacific. The destructive interference of the La Niña teleconnection with climatological stationary waves seen in the earlier period reduces greatly, which prevents the drastic reduction of planetary wave activities in the extratropical stratosphere. Correspondingly, the stratospheric response shows a less disturbed stratospheric polar vortex in winter.