Statistical characteristics of polar lows over the Nordic Seas based on satellite passive microwave data

• Published in: Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
• Main Authors: Smirnova, J. E., Zabolotskikh, E. V., Bobylev, L. P., Chapron, Bertrand
• Other Authors: Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Nordic Seas
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04201835; https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001433816090255

In this study polar lows over the Nordic Seas for the period of 1995–2008 have been detected and studied using the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) data. A new methodology for polar low detection and monitoring based on the analysis of the total atmospheric water vapor content (WVC) fields retrieved from SSM/I was used. Lifetimes, diameters, translation speeds, distances traveled, and intensities were estimated for the detected polar lows using SSM/I WVC, sea surface wind speed fields and infrared imagery. Over the Norwegian and Barents Seas, the polar low activity was found to be almost equal. A positive tendency in the total number of polar lows for the time period of 1995–2008 was detected.