Dominant role of vertical air flows in the unprecedented warming on the Antarctic Peninsula in February 2020
Abstract Near-surface air temperature at the Argentinian research base Esperanza on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula reached 18.3 °C on 6 February 2020, which is the highest temperature ever recorded on the entire Antarctic continent. Here we use weather observations since 1973 together w...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00203-w http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00203-w.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00203-w |
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crspringernat:10.1038/s43247-021-00203-w 2023-05-15T14:12:24+02:00 Dominant role of vertical air flows in the unprecedented warming on the Antarctic Peninsula in February 2020 Xu, Min Yu, Lejiang Liang, Kaixin Vihma, Timo Bozkurt, Deniz Hu, Xiaoming Yang, Qinghua the National Natural Science Foundation of China 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00203-w http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00203-w.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00203-w en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Communications Earth & Environment volume 2, issue 1 ISSN 2662-4435 General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science journal-article 2021 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00203-w 2022-01-04T15:37:52Z Abstract Near-surface air temperature at the Argentinian research base Esperanza on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula reached 18.3 °C on 6 February 2020, which is the highest temperature ever recorded on the entire Antarctic continent. Here we use weather observations since 1973 together with the ERA5 reanalysis to investigate the circulation that shaped the 2020 event, and its context over the past decades. We find that, during the 2020 event, a high-pressure ridge over the 40°-100°W sector and a blocking high on the Drake Passage led to an anticyclonic circulation that brought warm and moist air from the Pacific Ocean to the Antarctic Peninsula. Vertical air flows in a foehn warming event dominated by sensible heat and radiation made the largest contribution to the abrupt warming. A further analysis with 196 extreme warm events in austral summer between 1973 and 2020 suggests that the mechanisms behind the 2020 event form one of the two most common clusters of the events, exhibiting that most of the extreme warm events at Esperanza station are linked to air masses originating over the Pacific Ocean. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Drake Passage Springer Nature (via Crossref) Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Austral Drake Passage Pacific Esperanza ENVELOPE(-56.983,-56.983,-63.400,-63.400) Esperanza Station ENVELOPE(-56.996,-56.996,-63.395,-63.395) Communications Earth & Environment 2 1 |
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Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
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English |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science |
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General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science Xu, Min Yu, Lejiang Liang, Kaixin Vihma, Timo Bozkurt, Deniz Hu, Xiaoming Yang, Qinghua Dominant role of vertical air flows in the unprecedented warming on the Antarctic Peninsula in February 2020 |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science |
description |
Abstract Near-surface air temperature at the Argentinian research base Esperanza on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula reached 18.3 °C on 6 February 2020, which is the highest temperature ever recorded on the entire Antarctic continent. Here we use weather observations since 1973 together with the ERA5 reanalysis to investigate the circulation that shaped the 2020 event, and its context over the past decades. We find that, during the 2020 event, a high-pressure ridge over the 40°-100°W sector and a blocking high on the Drake Passage led to an anticyclonic circulation that brought warm and moist air from the Pacific Ocean to the Antarctic Peninsula. Vertical air flows in a foehn warming event dominated by sensible heat and radiation made the largest contribution to the abrupt warming. A further analysis with 196 extreme warm events in austral summer between 1973 and 2020 suggests that the mechanisms behind the 2020 event form one of the two most common clusters of the events, exhibiting that most of the extreme warm events at Esperanza station are linked to air masses originating over the Pacific Ocean. |
author2 |
the National Natural Science Foundation of China |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Xu, Min Yu, Lejiang Liang, Kaixin Vihma, Timo Bozkurt, Deniz Hu, Xiaoming Yang, Qinghua |
author_facet |
Xu, Min Yu, Lejiang Liang, Kaixin Vihma, Timo Bozkurt, Deniz Hu, Xiaoming Yang, Qinghua |
author_sort |
Xu, Min |
title |
Dominant role of vertical air flows in the unprecedented warming on the Antarctic Peninsula in February 2020 |
title_short |
Dominant role of vertical air flows in the unprecedented warming on the Antarctic Peninsula in February 2020 |
title_full |
Dominant role of vertical air flows in the unprecedented warming on the Antarctic Peninsula in February 2020 |
title_fullStr |
Dominant role of vertical air flows in the unprecedented warming on the Antarctic Peninsula in February 2020 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Dominant role of vertical air flows in the unprecedented warming on the Antarctic Peninsula in February 2020 |
title_sort |
dominant role of vertical air flows in the unprecedented warming on the antarctic peninsula in february 2020 |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00203-w http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00203-w.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00203-w |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-56.983,-56.983,-63.400,-63.400) ENVELOPE(-56.996,-56.996,-63.395,-63.395) |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Austral Drake Passage Pacific Esperanza Esperanza Station |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Austral Drake Passage Pacific Esperanza Esperanza Station |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Drake Passage |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Drake Passage |
op_source |
Communications Earth & Environment volume 2, issue 1 ISSN 2662-4435 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00203-w |
container_title |
Communications Earth & Environment |
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2 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766284702662000640 |