edu.ucar.opensky::articles:18460 UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact 2025-12-26T02:49:19.062072 ISO 19115-2 Geographic Information - Metadata - Part 2: Extensions for Imagery and Gridded Data ISO 19115-2:2009(E) https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7ks6t4b The roles of radiative forcing, sea surface temperatures, and atmospheric and land initial conditions in U.S. summer warming episodes 2016-06-01T00:00:00Z publication https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7ks6t4b https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0471.1 Jia, L. author Vecchi, G. author Yang, Xiaosong author Gudgel, R. author Delworth, T. author Stern, W. author Paffendorf, K. author Underwood, S. author Zeng, F. author UCAR/NCAR - Library publisher This study investigates the roles of radiative forcing, sea surface temperatures (SSTs), and atmospheric and land initial conditions in the summer warming episodes of the United States. The summer warming episodes are defined as the significantly above-normal (1983–2012) June–August 2-m temperature anomalies and are referred to as heat waves in this study. Two contrasting cases, the summers of 2006 and 2012, are explored in detail to illustrate the distinct roles of SSTs, direct radiative forcing, and atmospheric and land initial conditions in driving U.S. summer heat waves. For 2012, simulations with the GFDL atmospheric general circulation model reveal that SSTs play a critical role. Further sensitivity experiments reveal the contributions of uniform global SST warming, SSTs in individual ocean basins, and direct radiative forcing to the geographic distribution and magnitudes of warm temperature anomalies. In contrast, for 2006, the atmospheric and land initial conditions are the key drivers. The atmospheric (land) initial conditions play a major (minor) role in the central and northwestern (eastern) United States. Because of changes in radiative forcing, the probability of areal-averaged summer temperature anomalies over the United States exceeding the observed 2012 anomaly increases with time over the early twenty-first century. La Niña (El Niño) events tend to increase (reduce) the occurrence rate of heat waves. The temperatures over the central United States are mostly influenced by El Niño/La Niña, with the central tropical Pacific playing a more important role than the eastern tropical Pacific. Thus, atmospheric and land initial conditions, SSTs, and radiative forcing are all important drivers of and sources of predictability for U.S. summer heat waves. UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact PDF Text theme Resource Type 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z publication Copyright 2016 American Meteorological Society (AMS). Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this work in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be "fair use" under Section 107 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law (17 USC, as revised by P.L. 94-553) does not require the Society's permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form on servers, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statements, requires written permission or license from the AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policies, available from the AMS at 617-227-2425 or amspubs@ametsoc.org. Permission to place a copy of this work on this server has been provided by the AMS. The AMS does not guarantee that the copy provided here is an accurate copy of the published work. None eng geoscientificInformation