Western Pacific Jet Stream Anomalies at 200 hPa in Winter Associated with Oceanic Surface Heating and Transient Eddy Activity

The relationships between the 200-hPa westerly jet stream anomalies over the East Asian coastal waterwestern Pacific (WPJS), and the oceanic surface heating and synoptic-scale transient eddy (STE) activity anomalies over the North Pacific in wintertime are examined by using ERA-40 and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data. The analysis demonstrates that the surface heating and the STE anomalies have different patterns,corresponding to the three WPJS anomalous modes, respectively. In the first WPJS anomalous mode, the WPJS main part shows no robust anomaly. The anomalous westerly wind, occurring over the mid-latitude central-eastern Pacific past the date line is associated with the anomalous heating presenting both in the tropical central-eastern Pacific past the date line and the center of the North Pacific basin. Meanwhile, the STE anomaly appears around the region of the anomalous zonal wind. The fluctuation in jet strength shown in the second WPJS mode is strongly related to the heating anomaly in the Kuroshio Current region and the STE anomaly in the jet exit region. The third mode demonstrates a northward/southward shift of the WPJS, which has a statistical connection with a south-north dipolar pattern of the heating anomaly in the western North Pacific separated at 35°N. Meanwhile, the STE spatial displacement is in conjunction with jet shifts in the same direction. The heating anomaly has a close connection with the atmospheric circulation,and thus changes the milatitude baroclinicity, leading to the STE anomaly, which then reinforces the WPJS anomaly via internal atmospheric dynamics.