THE INVERSION OVER THE POLAR OCEAN.

• Main Author: Vowinckel,E.
• Other Authors: MCGILL UNIV MONTREAL (QUEBEC)
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1965
• Subjects: (*ARCTIC REGIONS; TEMPERATURE INVERSION); (*TEMPERATURE INVERSION; ARCTIC REGIONS); (*MARINE METEOROLOGY; ARCTIC OCEAN); CLIMATE; METEOROLOGY; POLAR REGIONS; ATMOSPHERIC SOUNDING; RADIOSONDES; METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENA; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Barents Sea; North Pole; Beaufort Sea; Canadian Archipelago
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD0610669; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0610669

Radiosonde ascent data were used in the investigation, from Stations 'North Pole 4, 6 and 7, and for 30 coastal stations around the Polar Ocean. The data available from the Polar Ocean proper were insufficient to permit a regional investigation. The results refer to the Polar Ocean as a whole, with special weight on the central parts. No month shows less than 59% of the time with an inversion present, and in late winter there is an inversion over the Polar Ocean all the time. The surface inversion has a long mean duration in winter - spring, and a normal duration in summer. A slightly stable stratification is found over the Polar Ocean in summer. Conditions change drastically towards winter. Very unstable gradients predominate over the warm waters of the Norwegian - Barents Sea, and a sharp gradient is seen on the maps towards the Polar Ocean, where very strong inversions predominate. The strongest positive vertical temperature gradient (the most intense inversion) is found over the Beaufort Sea and N. W. of the Canadian Archipelago. The most frequent occurence of inversion is found towards the Siberian side of the Polar Ocean. (Author)