Continental Geometry’s Role in Shaping Wintertime Temperature Variance

Abstract

Abstract The factors controlling the present-day pattern of temperature variance are poorly understood. In particular, it is unclear why the variance of wintertime near-surface temperatures on daily and synoptic time scales is roughly twice as high over North America as over Eurasia. In this study, continental geometry’s role in shaping regional wintertime temperature variance is investigated using idealized climate model simulations run with midlatitude continents of different shapes. An isolated, rectangular midlatitude continent suggests that in the absence of other geographic features, the highest temperature variance will be located in the northwest of the continent, roughly collocated with the region of largest meridional temperature gradients, and just north of the maximum near-surface wind speeds. Simulations with other geometries, mimicking key features of North America and Eurasia, investigate the impacts of continental length and width, sloping coastlines, and inland bodies of water on regional temperature variance. The largest effect comes from tapering the northwest corner of the continent, similar to Eurasia, which substantially reduces the maximum temperature variance. Narrower continents have smaller temperature variance in isolation, implying that the high variances over North America must be due to the nonlocal influence of stationary waves. Support for this hypothesis is provided by simulations with two midlatitude continents, which show how continental geometry and stationary waves can combine to shape regional temperature variance. Significance Statement Wintertime temperature variance over North America is roughly twice as high as over Eurasia, but the reasons for this are unknown. Here we use idealized climate model simulations to investigate how continental geometry shapes regional temperature variance. We find that the smaller variance over Eurasia is largely due to the tapering of its northwest coast, which weakens temperature gradients in the continental interior. Our simulations also suggest that in isolation a narrow continent, like North America, should have weak temperature variance, implying that stationary waves are responsible for the high variance over North America. Understanding the controls on regional temperature variance is important for interpreting present-day winter climates and how these will change in the future.