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Takahashi, N., 2023: A trial of climate classification based on dynamic climatology using distribution of frontal zone in mid- and high latitudes. J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 101.
https://doi.org/10.2151/jmsj.2023-024
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Plain Language Summary: This study classified the climate from temperate to polar regions based on dynamic climatology using objective frontal data at mid- and high latitudes created by a thermal-based method with θe. The unique features of our method for frontal data creation included adding conditions for the geopotential height at 500-hPa and incorporating latitude-dependent parameters. Moreover, the behavior of the frontal zone was also shown, including interannual variations due to various phenomena affecting global climate and long-term trends for 42 years from 1979 to 2020.

Highlights:

• Climate classification was possible in areas with distinct north-south migration in a clear frontal zone corresponding to areas east of the great mountains at the mid-latitudes.
• The interannual variations in the frontal zone associated with ENSO, PDO, and AO were consistent with and explainable to the regional climate variability as reported by previous studies.
• Several distinctive trends were revealed, e.g., the partial northward shifts in the polar frontal zones over the North Pacific and the North Atlantic in boreal winter.