The annual cycle and interannual variability of atmospheric pressure in the vicinity of the North Pole

• Published in: International Journal of Climatology
• Main Authors: Cullather, Richard I., Lynch, Amanda H.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2003
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Laptev Sea; Canada; Greenland; Pacific; North Pole; Arctic Basin; canada basin; Canadian Archipelago; Central Arctic; laptev; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.942; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjoc.942; https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/joc.942

Abstract A comparison of National Centers for Environmental Prediction–National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis six‐hourly sea‐level pressure data with former Soviet drifting station observations over the central Arctic Basin reveals high monthly correlations throughout the period 1950–91, but also a preferred winter season negative bias of about 1.4 hPa. Using the reanalysis, supplemented by Arctic Ocean Buoy Program fields and in situ observations, a generalized depiction of the annual cycle of pressure fields over the Arctic may be constructed. Above the Canada Basin–Laptev Sea side of the Arctic, the annual cycle of surface pressure is dominated by the first harmonic, which has an amplitude of about 5 hPa and maximum pressure occurring in March. Along the periphery of northern Greenland and extending to the North Pole, a weak semiannual cycle is found in surface pressure with maxima in May and November. The presence of the semiannual variation over time is highly variable. Dynamically, this progression of the annual cycle may be attributed to the transfer of atmospheric mass from Eurasia and into the Canadian Archipelago in spring and the reverse condition in autumn. Over the central Arctic Basin, springtime pressure increases result from an enhanced poleward mass transport from Eurasia. An increase of equatorward transport over the Canadian Archipelago in May and June results in central Arctic pressure decreases into summer. A less distinct temporal separation between the poleward Canadian transport and the equatorward Eurasian transport results in the weaker second pressure maximum in autumn. On interannual time‐scales, atmospheric mass over the central Arctic is exchanged with the storm track centres of action in the North Atlantic and North Pacific. In particular, the large decrease in central Arctic Basin sea‐level pressure during the late 1980s is due to a large transfer of atmospheric mass into the North Pacific. Copyright © 2003 Royal Meteorological Society