The Tibetan Plateau’s Far-Reaching Impacts on Arctic and Antarctic Climate: Seasonality and Pathways

Abstract As the highest and most extensive plateau in world, Tibetan Plateau (TP) has remarkable effects on global climate. Through coupled model sensitivity experiments with without TP, we show that TP can affect Arctic directly via orography-forced stationary waves, influence Antarctic indirectly waves forced by sea surface temperature (SST) Indian Ocean. These far-reaching impacts occur mainly wintertime. The fast atmospheric processes play an important role; particularly, midlatitude westerly flow, which is stronger closer to equator winter, provides a favorable condition for eastward poleward energy propagation of waves. In Northern Hemisphere, removing causes wave train traveling from Asian continent North America–Atlantic Ocean region, resulting intensified westerlies thus enhancement stratospheric polar vortex cooling. pathways are northeastward upper level due background westerlies, while they then lower level, modulated winter monsoon. To south, perturbation anomalous cross-equatorial leading SST dipole pattern austral winter; this generates propagating southeastward tropical Antarctic, Rossby circulating around Antarctic. Our study identifies seasonality affecting regions, may help understand role future climate changes regions.