THE CIRCULATION OF THE ARCTIC*

• Published in: The Canadian Geographer/Le Géographe canadien
• Main Author: LEE, ROY
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1960
• Subjects: Arctic; Novaya Zemlya
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-0064.1960.tb01835.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1541-0064.1960.tb01835.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1541-0064.1960.tb01835.x

SUMMARY To sum up, it is apparent that the January surface wind circulation in the Arctic is in no sense characterized by a general easterly current over the polar cap, but rather that the sea‐level circulation exhibits a cellular structure. The cells of high and low are consistently located with respect to the heat sources and sinks. The surface wind field is surmounted by a circumpolar vortex within which there are on the average three long waves or Rossby waves in the winter, with two of the troughs located east of the Tibetan Plateau and the Rockies and the third near Novaya Zemlya. On the basis of the dishpan experiments, it may be inferred that differential heating of a fluid on a rotating earth is sufficient to demonstrate the development of a cellular structure in the surface circulation and the intensification of the existing temperature gradient into an upper narrow jet stream in middle latitudes. A Rossby wave pattern arises as a natural consequence of the motion. Similar features occur in the stratosphere. The temperature gradient which arises from differential solar heating of the ozone layer along the edge of the earth's shadow cone is intensified by the earth's rotation resulting in a strong westerly current in which a basic 3‐wave Rossby pattern also develops. The ridges and troughs in this wave pattern are consistently located with respect to the main mountain barriers. Finally, the Gulf Stream structure manifests a narrow jet core within which the maximum vertical rate of increase in water speed is associated with the thermocline. The experimental and observational phenomena considered here appear to be quite dissimilar, nevertheless, viewed in the light of four physical factors, namely, differential solar heating, the rotation of the earth, the presence of mountain barriers and the geostrophic thermal wind equation, one observes a sense of physical unity. RÉSUMÉ Le but premier de l'auteur est de dtcrire et d'expliquer les phtnomknes d'ensemble (dans le temps et l'espace) de la circulation ...