A global climatology of polar lows investigated for local differences and wind-shear environments
Polar lows are intense mesoscale cyclones developing in marine polar air masses. This study presents a new global climatology of polar lows based on the ERA5 reanalysis for the years 1979–2020. Criteria for the detection of polar lows are derived based on a comparison of five polar-low archives with...
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Copernicus Publications
2022
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ftnonlinearchiv:oai:noa.gwlb.de:cop_mods_00060602 2023-05-15T17:24:23+02:00 A global climatology of polar lows investigated for local differences and wind-shear environments Stoll, Patrick Johannes 2022-04 electronic https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-483-2022 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00060602 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00060218/wcd-3-483-2022.pdf https://wcd.copernicus.org/articles/3/483/2022/wcd-3-483-2022.pdf eng eng Copernicus Publications Weather and Climate Dynamics -- https://www.weather-climate-dynamics.net/ -- 2698-4016 https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-483-2022 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00060602 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00060218/wcd-3-483-2022.pdf https://wcd.copernicus.org/articles/3/483/2022/wcd-3-483-2022.pdf https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess CC-BY article Verlagsveröffentlichung article Text doc-type:article 2022 ftnonlinearchiv https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-483-2022 2022-04-17T23:09:31Z Polar lows are intense mesoscale cyclones developing in marine polar air masses. This study presents a new global climatology of polar lows based on the ERA5 reanalysis for the years 1979–2020. Criteria for the detection of polar lows are derived based on a comparison of five polar-low archives with cyclones derived by a mesoscale tracking algorithm. The characteristics associated with polar lows are considered by the following criteria: (i) intense cyclone (large relative vorticity), (ii) mesoscale (small vortex diameter), and (iii) development in the marine polar air masses (a combination of low potential static stability and low potential temperature at the tropopause). Polar lows develop in all marine areas adjacent to sea ice or cold landmasses, mainly in the winter half year. The length and intensity of the season are regionally dependent. The highest density appears in the Nordic Seas. For all ocean sub-basins, forward-shear polar lows are the most common, whereas weak-shear polar lows and those propagating towards warmer environments are second and third most frequent, depending on the area. Reverse-shear polar lows and those propagating towards colder environments are rather seldom, especially in the Southern Ocean. Generally, polar lows share many characteristics across ocean basins and wind-shear categories. The most remarkable difference is that forward-shear polar lows often occur in a stronger vertical wind shear, whereas reverse-shear polar lows feature lower static stability. Hence, the contribution to a fast baroclinic growth rate is slightly different for the shear categories. Article in Journal/Newspaper Nordic Seas Sea ice Southern Ocean Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA Southern Ocean Weather and Climate Dynamics 3 2 483 504 |
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Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA |
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English |
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article Verlagsveröffentlichung |
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article Verlagsveröffentlichung Stoll, Patrick Johannes A global climatology of polar lows investigated for local differences and wind-shear environments |
topic_facet |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung |
description |
Polar lows are intense mesoscale cyclones developing in marine polar air masses. This study presents a new global climatology of polar lows based on the ERA5 reanalysis for the years 1979–2020. Criteria for the detection of polar lows are derived based on a comparison of five polar-low archives with cyclones derived by a mesoscale tracking algorithm. The characteristics associated with polar lows are considered by the following criteria: (i) intense cyclone (large relative vorticity), (ii) mesoscale (small vortex diameter), and (iii) development in the marine polar air masses (a combination of low potential static stability and low potential temperature at the tropopause). Polar lows develop in all marine areas adjacent to sea ice or cold landmasses, mainly in the winter half year. The length and intensity of the season are regionally dependent. The highest density appears in the Nordic Seas. For all ocean sub-basins, forward-shear polar lows are the most common, whereas weak-shear polar lows and those propagating towards warmer environments are second and third most frequent, depending on the area. Reverse-shear polar lows and those propagating towards colder environments are rather seldom, especially in the Southern Ocean. Generally, polar lows share many characteristics across ocean basins and wind-shear categories. The most remarkable difference is that forward-shear polar lows often occur in a stronger vertical wind shear, whereas reverse-shear polar lows feature lower static stability. Hence, the contribution to a fast baroclinic growth rate is slightly different for the shear categories. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stoll, Patrick Johannes |
author_facet |
Stoll, Patrick Johannes |
author_sort |
Stoll, Patrick Johannes |
title |
A global climatology of polar lows investigated for local differences and wind-shear environments |
title_short |
A global climatology of polar lows investigated for local differences and wind-shear environments |
title_full |
A global climatology of polar lows investigated for local differences and wind-shear environments |
title_fullStr |
A global climatology of polar lows investigated for local differences and wind-shear environments |
title_full_unstemmed |
A global climatology of polar lows investigated for local differences and wind-shear environments |
title_sort |
global climatology of polar lows investigated for local differences and wind-shear environments |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-483-2022 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00060602 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00060218/wcd-3-483-2022.pdf https://wcd.copernicus.org/articles/3/483/2022/wcd-3-483-2022.pdf |
geographic |
Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean |
genre |
Nordic Seas Sea ice Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Nordic Seas Sea ice Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
Weather and Climate Dynamics -- https://www.weather-climate-dynamics.net/ -- 2698-4016 https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-483-2022 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00060602 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00060218/wcd-3-483-2022.pdf https://wcd.copernicus.org/articles/3/483/2022/wcd-3-483-2022.pdf |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-483-2022 |
container_title |
Weather and Climate Dynamics |
container_volume |
3 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
483 |
op_container_end_page |
504 |
_version_ |
1766115358042750976 |