Based on the daily mean temperature data of CN05.2 from 1961 to 2012, cold events(CEs) are first divided into two categories according to their duration: strong cold events(SCEs) and weak cold events(WCEs). Then, the characteristics of CEs, SCEs, and WCEs during springtime are investigated. The results indicate that in the pre-1990 s epoch, ENSO and Arctic Oscillation events in the previous winter are closely related to SCEs in the following spring. The multidecadal variations of CEs, SCEs, and WCEs are obvious. The intensity trend for SCEs is significantly negative, but it seems less apparent for WCEs.Further analysis reveals that when both SCEs and WCEs occur, a typical East Asian trough in the 850-h Pa wind field, whose northwesterly wind component invades Northeast China(NEC) and causes freezing days, can be found in every decade. For the SCEs, a cold vortex, with its center located over Okhotsk and northeasterly current affecting NEC, is found as an additional feature. For the WCEs, the cold vortex is located in Karafuto and its northwesterly airflow intrudes into NEC. As for the difference between SCEs and WCEs, the northwestern flow is weaker while the northeastern counterpart is stronger during the SCEs,in all decades. In the Takaya–Nakamura flux and divergence fields, for the SCEs, a divergence center exists over NEC; and over its downstream regions, a stronger divergence center appears, not like a wave train.However, the opposite is the case for the WCEs; moreover, the wave train appears clearly during the WCEs,which means that the wave energy can propagate and dissipate more easily during WCEs.
In the mid 20 th century, great efforts were made to investigate the formation process of high-latitude cold vortex, which is regarded as a major weather system in the atmospheric circulation. In the late 1970 s,Chinese researchers noticed that the Northeast China cold vortex(NECV) is an active and frequently occurring weather system over Northeast Asia, which is generated under specific conditions of topography and land–sea thermal contrast on the local and regional scales. Thereby, the NECV study was broadened to include synoptic situations, mesoscale and dynamic features, the heavy rain process, etc. Since the 21 st century, in the context of the global warming, more attention has been paid to studies of the mechanisms that cause the NECV variations during spring and early summer as well as the climatic impacts of the NECV system. Note that the NECV activity, frequent or not, not only affects local temperature and precipitation anomalies, but also regulates the amount of precipitation over northern China, the Huai River basin, and the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River. The NECV influence can even reach the Guangdong–Guangxi region. However, compared to the achievements for the blocking system study, theoretical studies with regard to the NECV system are still insufficient. Research activities regarding the mechanisms for the NECV formation, particularly theoretical studies using linear or weak nonlinear methods need to be strengthened in the future. Meanwhile, great efforts should be made to deepen our understanding of the relations of the NECV system to the oceanic thermal forcing, the low-frequency atmospheric variations over mid–high latitudes, and the global warming.
Under the background of global warming, summer (JJA) low temperature events in Northeast China had not occurred for about 15 yr since 1994, but one such event took place in 2009. By using the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data, the 100-yr station temperature data at Harbin and Changchun, and the Hadley Center sea surface temperature (SST) data, this paper intends to reveal the cause, circulation background, and influencing factors of this event. Analysis of both horizontal and vertical circulations of a low-value system over Northeast China in summer 2009 during the low temperature event shows that anomalous activities of the Northeast China cold vortex (NECV) played the most direct role. A decadal cooling trend of-0.8 C (10 yr)-1 over 1999-2008 at Changchun and Harbin was found, which is obviously out-of-phase with the linear warming trend (0.2 C (10 yr)-1 ) over 1961-2000 for Northeast China in response to the global warming. The previous winter North Pacific polar vortex (NPPV) area index, significantly positively related to the observed summer temperatures of Harbin and Changchun, was also in a significantly declining tendency. These provide favorable decadal backgrounds for the 2009 low temperature event. Different from the average anomaly field of 500-hPa height for summer 1994-2008 in Northeast China, in the summer of 2009, the Arctic Oscillation (AO) showed a strong negative phase distribution, and significant negative height anomalies dominated Northeast Asia, Aleutian Islands, and North Atlantic. Furthermore, the negative phase of North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) in the winter of 2008 was obviously strong, and it maintained in the spring of 2009. Meanwhile, the SSTA in the equatorial eastern-central Pacific Ocean in the winter of 2008 showed a La Nina phase, but the strength of the La Nina weakened obviously in the spring of 2009. The abnormally strong activities of NECV in June and July of 2009 were related to the disturbances of stationary waves that replaced the original ultra-long waves over the North Pacific
