Fig. 4: Column local wave activity (LWA) and its tendency during the onset of Euro-Atlantic blocking. | Nature Communications

Fig. 4: Column local wave activity (LWA) and its tendency during the onset of Euro-Atlantic blocking.

From: Cloud radiative effects significantly increase wintertime atmospheric blocking in the Euro-Atlantic sector

Fig. 4: Column local wave activity (LWA) and its tendency during the onset of Euro-Atlantic blocking.

a–c Composite of column LWA tendency (shading, unit: m s−1 day−1) and 500-hPa geopotential height anomalies (contours, unit: m) averaged during the onset period (days  − 3 to  − 1) for (a) control (CTL), b cloud-locking (CLOCK), and c longwave cloud radiative effect–off (LWOFF). Vectors indicate vertically averaged horizontal LWA flux (arrows; Fλ, Fϕ; units: m2 s−2). Stippling marks regions statistically significant at the 95% level from a bootstrap test. d Blocking-centered averages of the composite LWA anomaly (units: m s−1) and its tendency during the onset period from the MERRA-2 and model simulations. The average is computed over a 10∘ × 10∘ area centered on the blocking high (i.e., the local maximum of geopotential height anomaly) from each map in (a–c). Error bars in (d) indicate  ± 1 standard deviation.

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