Using ERA-40 and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data, the characteristics of major teleconnection patterns were examined, particularly the West Asia-Japan (WJ) and Pacific-Japan (PJ) patterns, with a high-frequency (HF) component (from half a week to two or three weeks), and a low-frequency (LF) component (greater than about one month), and discussed the combined effects of the teleconnection patterns on the anomalous summer weather in Japan and the surrounding regions.
Both patterns of the HF-WJ and LF-WJ, which propagate eastward along the upper-level Asian jet, induce an anomalous barotropic anticyclone centered on the Japan Sea. The HF-WJ pattern has no close link with the Asian summer monsoon activity, but, in contrast, the LF-WJ pattern is significantly correlated with anomalous monsoonal heating over the summer monsoon region. The HF-PJ and LF-PJ patterns, which can be identified with stationary waves stimulated by intense convection around the Philippine Sea, generate a nearly barotropic anticyclone anomaly to the east of Japan. A combination of the HF-WJ and HF-PJ patterns establishes a zonally elongated anticyclonic anomaly over northern Japan, resulting in anomalous high surface temperatures in northern Japan. Such a coupling was found to lead to a larger temperature increase in that region than a single teleconnection pattern alone.
A typical case of the LF-WJ and LF-PJ combination also indicates a zonally elongated anticyclonic anomaly over northern Japan, which is similar to the combined pattern of HF-WJ and HF-PJ. The dynamic impact of LF-WJ on the surface temperature field around Japan differs significantly from that of LF-PJ. The dominance of the LF-WJ causes enhanced subsidence over Japan, which can bring about adiabatic heating and increased incoming solar radiation. On the other hand, PJ-induced anomalous anticyclone in the lower troposphere facilitates northward warm advection to the east of northern Japan, where the north-south temperature gradient is large. As for the extreme hot summer of 2004, no combined patterns of the LF-WJ and LF-PJ were found during the summer. Alternatively, a tripole structure appeared in the lower geopotential height field in mid-June. Such a tripole pattern may be established by a combination of the LF-PJ and a barotropic Rossby wave train propagating southeastward from high latitudes.