环状模”（Annular Mode）是大气遥相关领域一个新兴的气候学概念，目前已被广泛接受并应用。它表征热带外地区中纬度和高纬度间大气质量的“跷跷板”现象，为热带外地区最主要的大气变率，影响包括我国在内的中高纬度地区、甚至部分热带地区的近地层气候。它对整个北半球气候的影响之大，从根本上改变了气候学家对北极气候模型的理解，也被称为“北极厄尔尼诺”。可见，“环状模”概念的提出具有重要的科学意义。然而，“环状模”这一气候学概念的提出和推广过程并不平顺。多派学者曾围绕这一新兴概念，展开过近年来气候学领域内少有、激烈和精彩的辩论。而这场辩论是“环状模”概念提出和发展过程中的重要一环，它最终促使更多的学者了解并接受了“环状模”这一新兴的气候学概念。这场辩论的焦点主要围绕“‘环状模’是否真实存在”、“‘环状模’信号是否源自于平流层” 和“‘北半球环状模’与‘北大西洋涛动’究竟谁更适合于代表北半球热带外行星尺度扰动最主要的模态”等3个问题。辩论的具体过程，不仅展示了相关的学者们高超的研究水平和技巧，还折射出他们对真理不懈追求的科学精神；而辩论的最终结果，不但增强了人们对“环状模”概念的理解，还催生了人们对大气环流基本活动规律认识的突破。厘清这场辩论的主要思路和观点，不仅可以增强我们对“环状模”概念以及基本大气环流过程的理解，而且对分析和解决其他类似的科学问题同样具有重要的启示性作用。因此，力图通过综述的方式，围绕“环状模”概念的由来和争论，与读者一起回顾 “环状模”这一重要气候学概念的提出和推广过程。

Annular Mode is a newly-developed concept in atmospheric teleconnection, which is accepted and implemented widely by the climate community. Annular Mode is a “mass seesaw” between the middle and high latitudes, representing the primary atmospheric variability in extratropics, impacting the climate of near surface on both the tropics and the extratropics, including the East Asia and China. It is also called as the “The North’s ‘El Niño’”. Therefore, the Annular Mode is a very important concept in atmospheric science. However, the introduction of the Annular Mode has elicited different reactions in different parts of the community. The arguments among them are not only exiting but also splendid, which are rarely happened in previous modern climate researches. These arguments or debates make the concept of Annular Mode well-known, which is an important step in popularizing the concept of Annular Mode. Three questions become the core topics of these debates, including “whether the Annular Mode is real or not?”, “Whether the signals of Annular Mode originate in stratospheric or not?”, “Whether the NAM paradigm or NAO paradigm is a better representation of the preferred mode of planetary-scale fluctuations in extra-tropics of Northern Hemisphere?” The processes of the debates on the Annular Mode are not only a resemblance of high levels and skills of research of relevant scientists, but also a resemblance of their spirits of seeking the truth. Review and clarification of the primary ideas and points of these debates are important, which would not only augment the existing knowledge for better understanding the general circulation, but also gave us some important enlightenment in the handling of similar questions. Thus, this review summarizes the introduction to the proceses of Annular Mode, paying specially attention to the primary ideas and points about the debates on the Annular Modes.