An examination of the precipitation delivery mechanisms for Dolleman Island, eastern Antarctic Peninsula
Copyright @ 2004 Wiley-Blackwell The variability of size and source of significant precipitation events were studied at an Antarctic ice core drilling site: Dolleman Island (DI), located on the eastern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Significant precipitation events that occur at DI were temporall...
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ftbruneluniv:oai:bura.brunel.ac.uk:2438/6032 2023-05-15T13:30:25+02:00 An examination of the precipitation delivery mechanisms for Dolleman Island, eastern Antarctic Peninsula Russell, A Mcgregor, GR Marshall, GJ 2004 http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/6032 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0870.2004.00081.x en eng Wiley-Blackwell Tellus. Series A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography, 56(5): 501 - 513, Oct 2004 0280-6495 http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/6032 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0870.2004.00081.x Antarctic peninsula ECMWF re-analysis Backwards air trajectories Precipitation Research Paper 2004 ftbruneluniv https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0870.2004.00081.x 2021-08-08T08:34:34Z Copyright @ 2004 Wiley-Blackwell The variability of size and source of significant precipitation events were studied at an Antarctic ice core drilling site: Dolleman Island (DI), located on the eastern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Significant precipitation events that occur at DI were temporally located in the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) reanalysis data set, ERA-40. The annual and summer precipitation totals from ERA-40 at DI both show significant increases over the reanalysis period. Three-dimensional backwards air parcel trajectories were then run for 5 d using the ECMWF ERA-15 wind fields. Cluster analyses were performed on two sets of these backwards trajectories: all days in the range 1979–1992 (the climatological time-scale) and a subset of days when a significant precipitation event occurred. The principal air mass sources and delivery mechanisms were found to be the Weddell Sea via lee cyclogenesis, the South Atlantic when there was a weak circumpolar trough (CPT) and the South Pacific when the CPT was deep. The occurrence of precipitation bearing air masses arriving via a strong CPT was found to have a significant correlation with the southern annular mode (SAM); however, the arrival of air masses from the same region over the climatological time-scale showed no such correlation. Despite the dominance in both groups of back trajectories of the westerly circulation around Antarctica, some other key patterns were identified. Most notably there was a higher frequency of lee cyclogenesis events in the significant precipitation trajectories compared to the climatological time-scale. There was also a tendency for precipitation trajectories to come from more northerly latitudes, mostly from 50–70°S. The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) was found to have a strong influence on the mechanism by which the precipitation was delivered; the frequency of occurrence of precipitation from the east (west) of DI increased during El Niño (La Niña) events. Report Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Dolleman Island ice core Weddell Sea Brunel University London: Brunel University Research Archive (BURA) Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Dolleman ENVELOPE(-60.733,-60.733,-70.616,-70.616) Dolleman Island ENVELOPE(-60.750,-60.750,-70.667,-70.667) Pacific The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea Tellus A 56 5 501 513 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Brunel University London: Brunel University Research Archive (BURA) |
op_collection_id |
ftbruneluniv |
language |
English |
topic |
Antarctic peninsula ECMWF re-analysis Backwards air trajectories Precipitation |
spellingShingle |
Antarctic peninsula ECMWF re-analysis Backwards air trajectories Precipitation Russell, A Mcgregor, GR Marshall, GJ An examination of the precipitation delivery mechanisms for Dolleman Island, eastern Antarctic Peninsula |
topic_facet |
Antarctic peninsula ECMWF re-analysis Backwards air trajectories Precipitation |
description |
Copyright @ 2004 Wiley-Blackwell The variability of size and source of significant precipitation events were studied at an Antarctic ice core drilling site: Dolleman Island (DI), located on the eastern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Significant precipitation events that occur at DI were temporally located in the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) reanalysis data set, ERA-40. The annual and summer precipitation totals from ERA-40 at DI both show significant increases over the reanalysis period. Three-dimensional backwards air parcel trajectories were then run for 5 d using the ECMWF ERA-15 wind fields. Cluster analyses were performed on two sets of these backwards trajectories: all days in the range 1979–1992 (the climatological time-scale) and a subset of days when a significant precipitation event occurred. The principal air mass sources and delivery mechanisms were found to be the Weddell Sea via lee cyclogenesis, the South Atlantic when there was a weak circumpolar trough (CPT) and the South Pacific when the CPT was deep. The occurrence of precipitation bearing air masses arriving via a strong CPT was found to have a significant correlation with the southern annular mode (SAM); however, the arrival of air masses from the same region over the climatological time-scale showed no such correlation. Despite the dominance in both groups of back trajectories of the westerly circulation around Antarctica, some other key patterns were identified. Most notably there was a higher frequency of lee cyclogenesis events in the significant precipitation trajectories compared to the climatological time-scale. There was also a tendency for precipitation trajectories to come from more northerly latitudes, mostly from 50–70°S. The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) was found to have a strong influence on the mechanism by which the precipitation was delivered; the frequency of occurrence of precipitation from the east (west) of DI increased during El Niño (La Niña) events. |
format |
Report |
author |
Russell, A Mcgregor, GR Marshall, GJ |
author_facet |
Russell, A Mcgregor, GR Marshall, GJ |
author_sort |
Russell, A |
title |
An examination of the precipitation delivery mechanisms for Dolleman Island, eastern Antarctic Peninsula |
title_short |
An examination of the precipitation delivery mechanisms for Dolleman Island, eastern Antarctic Peninsula |
title_full |
An examination of the precipitation delivery mechanisms for Dolleman Island, eastern Antarctic Peninsula |
title_fullStr |
An examination of the precipitation delivery mechanisms for Dolleman Island, eastern Antarctic Peninsula |
title_full_unstemmed |
An examination of the precipitation delivery mechanisms for Dolleman Island, eastern Antarctic Peninsula |
title_sort |
examination of the precipitation delivery mechanisms for dolleman island, eastern antarctic peninsula |
publisher |
Wiley-Blackwell |
publishDate |
2004 |
url |
http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/6032 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0870.2004.00081.x |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-60.733,-60.733,-70.616,-70.616) ENVELOPE(-60.750,-60.750,-70.667,-70.667) |
geographic |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Dolleman Dolleman Island Pacific The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Dolleman Dolleman Island Pacific The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Dolleman Island ice core Weddell Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Dolleman Island ice core Weddell Sea |
op_relation |
Tellus. Series A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography, 56(5): 501 - 513, Oct 2004 0280-6495 http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/6032 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0870.2004.00081.x |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0870.2004.00081.x |
container_title |
Tellus A |
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56 |
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5 |
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501 |
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513 |
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1766008154730004480 |