Influence of Okhotsk sea-ice extent on atmospheric circulation

An atmospheric general circulation model was used to investigate the influence of Okhotsk sea ice on large-scale atmospheric circulation. Significant differences in the model responses between heavy and light ice cover are evident not only around the Sea of Okhotsk but also downstream towards North America in the form of a stationary wavetrain in the troposphere. Because the wave activity flux associated vith the wavetrain emanates downstream from the Sea of Okhotsk, this remote response is regarded as a stationary Rossby wave excited thermally through an anomalous surface heat flux over the Sea of Okhotsk. The wavetrain is thermally reinforced downstream by the anomalous heat flux associated with wind anomalies over the ocean surface, which are induced by the wavetrain itself.