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North Atlantic weather and Arctic Amplification

Previous studies have suggested that Arctic Amplification has and will continue to cause North Atlantic planetary-scale waves to elongate meridionally and slow-down, resulting in more frequent blocking patterns like the one that steered Superstorm Sandy into the east coast of the United States. Here, observed and model-based trends in North Atlantic jet-stream activity are presented in the context of Arctic amplification. Present-day trends are shown to be less certain than suggested by previous studies, while the future climate model projections exhibit more robust relationships, although not always in the direction one might expect.