Predictability of North Pacific blocking events: Analogue‐based analysis of historical MIROC6 simulations

Anupama K. Xavier*, Oisín Hamilton, Davide Faranda, Stéphane Vannitsem

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

Abstract

Atmospheric blocking exerts a profound influence on midlatitude circulation, yet its predictability remains elusive, due to intrinsic nonlinearities and sensitivity to initial conditions. While blocking dynamics have been extensively studied, the impact of geographical positioning on predictability remains largely unexplored. This study provides a comparative assessment of the predictability of western and eastern North Pacific blocking events, leveraging analogue-based diagnostics applied to Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate, version 6 (MIROC6) simulations. Blocking structures are identified using geopotential height gradient reversal, with their temporal evolution analyzed through trajectory tracking and error growth metrics. Results reveal that eastern blocks exhibit lower predictability, characterized by rapid error divergence and increased mean logarithmic growth rates compared with western blocks. Persistence analysis gives no significant difference between eastern and western North Pacific blocking events. Sensitivity analyses across varying detection thresholds validate the robustness of these findings.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere70104
Number of pages16
JournalQuarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society
Early online date21 Jan 2026
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 21 Jan 2026

Bibliographical note

© 2026 The Author(s).

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