Extreme Climatic Events in Recent Years and Their Links to Large-Scale Atmospheric Circulation Features

摘要

Impacts and large-scale circulation patterns of recent extreme weather and climatic events in selected countries are discussed in this paper. Results of detailed analyses of extreme rainfall and snowfall events in Japan and China, impacts of the cyclone "Nargis" on Myanmar and droughts in Australia are given in detail. Extreme rainfall events in Japan were inferentially associated with strong troposphere warming and stratosphere cooling. The unstable air mass over the northern Pacific and higher sea surface temperatures also contributed to an intense and extreme rainfall event in Tokyo metropolitan area. A minimum sea ice area in the Arctic Ocean in the summer of 2007 led to a development of the Arctic low from autumn to winter of 2007/2008 and a southward shift of the Siberian high and heavy snowfalls over Central South China occurred in the late-January of 2008. Recent droughts of Australia, particularly in 2002-2003 and 2006-2007 that caused extensive damage to environment, economy and human life were associated with El Nino events. These droughts were relatively severer than previous droughts due to an increase in day-time temperature.