Identification, characteristics and dynamics of Arctic extreme seasons ...

The Arctic atmosphere is strongly affected by anthropogenic warming leading to long-term trends in surface temperature and sea ice extent. In addition, it exhibits strong variability on timescales from days to seasons. While recent research elucidated processes leading to short-term extreme conditio...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hartmuth, Katharina, Boettcher, Maxi, Wernli, Heini, Papritz, Lukas
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: ETH Zurich 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000583027
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/583027
Description
Summary:The Arctic atmosphere is strongly affected by anthropogenic warming leading to long-term trends in surface temperature and sea ice extent. In addition, it exhibits strong variability on timescales from days to seasons. While recent research elucidated processes leading to short-term extreme conditions in the Arctic, this study investigates unusual atmospheric conditions on the seasonal timescale. Based on a principal component analysis in the phase space spanned by the seasonal-mean values of surface temperature, precipitation and the atmospheric components of the surface energy balance, individual seasons are objectively identified that deviate strongly from a running-mean climatology and that we define as extreme seasons. Given the strongly varying surface conditions in the Arctic, this analysis is done separately in Arctic sub-regions that are climatologically characterized by either sea ice, open ocean or mixed conditions. Using ERA5 reanalyses for the years 1979–2018, our approach identifies two to ... : Weather and Climate Dynamics, 3 (1) ...