Following the IASC/CliC/IMO/NOAA Northern Hemisphere Polar Jet Stream and Links with Arctic Climate Change Workshop held from November 13-15, 2013, at the Icelandic Met Office in Reykjavik, a group of eight international experts including one early career scientist met in Seattle from September 3-5, 2014 to address the topic of the current state of science in regards to the connection between the recent Arctic changes to influence broader Northern hemispheric weather.
The workshop resulted in a submission to the Journal of Climate on The Melting Arctic, the Polar Vortex, and Mid-latitude Weird Weather: Are They Connected?. As part of this project, a session will be held at the Third International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP III), where 28 abstracts have been submitted. The session is part of the ISAR-4/ICARP III Symposium to be held on April 27-30, 2015, in Toyama, Japan.
The Seattle workshop suggested a ‘way forward through case studies of regional episodic mechanisms. Two candidates for linkages are increased Siberian high pressure and wave trains of high/low pressures bring cold air into eastern Asia, and an amplification of the North American ridge/trough structure related to Greenland blocking (a slowing of the wind pattern) affecting cold weather in eastern North America.’