Warm Waves in North-Western Spitsbergen

Abstract In this study, weather conditions causing warm waves in north-western Spitsbergen, exemplified by Ny-Ålesund station, were analyzed. Between 1981 and 2010, 536 days with the maximum temperature exceeding 8.3°C (the value of 95 percentile) were selected. 37 warm waves, which altogether laste...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polish Polar Research
Main Authors: Tomczyk, Arkadiusz Marek, Bednorz, Ewa
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: Walter de Gruyter GmbH 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/popore-2014-0023
https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/popore.2014.35.issue-3/popore-2014-0023/popore-2014-0023.pdf
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Summary:Abstract In this study, weather conditions causing warm waves in north-western Spitsbergen, exemplified by Ny-Ålesund station, were analyzed. Between 1981 and 2010, 536 days with the maximum temperature exceeding 8.3°C (the value of 95 percentile) were selected. 37 warm waves, which altogether lasted 268 days, were identified. A typical feature of pressure pattern causing warm waves was the appearance of positive anomalies of both the sea level pressure and the height of isobaric surface 500 hPa in the Euro-Atlantic sector of the Arctic. This indicates a presence of high-pressure systems in this region. Extremely warm days appeared more often with the circulation from the eastern than the western sector. Longer and warmer heat waves occurring in the last decade of the analyzed period may be considered as a sign of climate warming, which has a significant impact on environment,