Atmospheric circulation and storm events in the Baltic Sea

• Published in: Open Geosciences
• Main Authors: Surkova G. V., Arkhipkin Victor S., Kislov Alexander V.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: De Gruyter 2015
• Subjects: atmospheric circulation; storm events; classification; Geology; QE1-996.5; Arctic; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1515/geo-2015-0030; https://doaj.org/article/e4c8cc5633af4953b121572e128d38ae

The storm events in the Baltic Sea are examined in connection with the main weather patterns grouped into the circulation types (CTs), and their changes in present climate. A calendar of storms was derived from results of wave model SWAN (Simulating WAves Nearshore) experiments for 1948-2011. Based on this calendar, a catalogue of atmospheric sea level pressure (SLP) fields was prepared for CTs from the NCEP/NCAR dataset. SLP fields were then analyzed using a pattern recognition algorithm which employed empirical orthogonal decomposition and cluster analysis. For every CT we conducted an analysis of their seasonal and interannual changes, along with their role in storm event formation. An increase of the storm CTs’ frequency in the second part of the 20th century was shown to be in a close agreement with teleconnection circulation patterns such as the Arctic Oscillation, North Atlantic Oscillation and the Scandinavian blocking.