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Abstract

The atmospheric general circulation diagnosed by the mass-weighted isentropic zonal mean exhibits extratropical direct (ETD) circulation driven by eddy momentum transport. Using a reanalysis dataset, we investigated regional atmospheric modulations associated with the year-to-year variability of ETD circulation in boreal winter. Composite analyses showed that the interannual variability of ETD circulation accompanies a seesaw-like variation between the Aleutian (AL) and Icelandic lows (IL), which coincides with the Pacific–North American teleconnection pattern and North Atlantic dipole anomaly. A diagnosis using isentropic airmass fluxes representing the geographical Lagrangian mean motion indicated that the significant intensification of upper-tropospheric poleward warm airflow over the eastern North Pacific is responsible for the enhanced ETD circulation, together with the intensified equatorward lower cold airflow over East Asia and eastern North America. The resultant enhanced upward propagation of the stationary planetary waves corresponds to the intensification of the divergence of the Eliassen-Palm flux, which explains the modulated ETD circulation in view of the balance between the Coriolis force and convergence of eddy momentum. These results suggest that the AL-IL seesaw is influential in the global general circulation variability in the Northern Hemisphere winter, and the anomalous ETD circulation interacts with several teleconnection patterns involving the modulation of planetary waves through anomalous meridional heat transport by the basin-wide scale eddies.