Reacción a "The frequency of planetary wave resonances has tripled in the last 70 years, according to a study"

There is a general agreement that episodes with extreme weather have become more frequent due to anthropogenic climate change. At the same time, there is still considerable uncertainty regarding the role of atmospheric dynamics in this context (Shepherd, 2014). The current paper investigates one specific dynamical phenomenon, namely the occurrence of Rossby wave resonance, and how it has changed over the past few decades. This is a fundamental topic in dynamical meteorology; it has garnered considerable attention in recent years, because the resonance mechanism may be responsible for the occurrence of extreme weather in specific episodes. Therefore, it is highly relevant to detect such resonance events in observations and assess potential trends. 

The diagnostic method employed by the authors makes two strong assumptions: 

• that the spatial scale of the waves is much smaller than the spatial scale of the background atmosphere, and 
• that midlatitude jets can function as perfect waveguides.  

Regrettably, both assumptions are highly questionable (Wirth, 2020; Harnik and Wirth, 2025).  

Consequently, it does not come as a surprise that the method yields results that are inconsistent with a more careful investigation that is not based on these assumptions (Wirth, 2020). Furthermore, Wirth and Polster (2021) point out that the application of the contested diagnostic method may conflate cause and effect, potentially leading to erroneous conclusions. To the best of my knowledge, my critiques, as outlined above, remain unopposed. Notably, the recent work by White and Admasu (2025) largely corroborates the concerns raised by Wirth and Polster (2021), further underscoring the need for a reevaluation of the methodology. Given the inappropriate nature of the diagnostic method, it is prudent to consider the possibility that the current paper’s findings might be spurious or incorrect.  

Despite the aforementioned critical issues, the contested diagnostic method remains widely used in parts of the scientific community (Petoukhov et al., 2013, 2016; Coumou et al., 2014; Stadtherr et al., 2016; Kornhuber et al., 2017 & 2017; Mann et al., 2017; Kornhuber et al., 2019; He et al., 2023; Li et al., 2024).