Vertical Structure of the Arctic Spring Transition in the Middle Atmosphere
In the middle atmosphere, spring transition is the time period where the zonal circulation reverses from winter westerly to summer easterly which has a strong impact on the vertical wave propagation influencing the ionospheric variability. The spring transition can be rapid in form of a final sudden...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |
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ftsubggeo:oai:e-docs.geo-leo.de:11858/9567 2023-05-15T15:01:56+02:00 Vertical Structure of the Arctic Spring Transition in the Middle Atmosphere Matthias, Vivien Stober, Gunter Kozlovsky, Alexander Lester, Mark Belova, Evgenia Kero, Johan Stober, Gunter; 2 Institute of Applied Physics & Oeschger Center for Climate Change Research Microwave Physics University of Bern Bern Switzerland Kozlovsky, Alexander; 3 Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory of the University of Oulu Sodankylä Finland Lester, Mark; 4 University of Leicester Leicester UK Belova, Evgenia; 5 Swedish Institute of Space Physics Kiruna Sweden Kero, Johan; 5 Swedish Institute of Space Physics Kiruna Sweden 2021-05-13 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD034353 http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gldocs-11858/9567 eng eng doi:10.1029/2020JD034353 http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gldocs-11858/9567 This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial‐NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non‐commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. CC-BY-NC-ND ddc:551.5 middle atmosphere new classification spring transition doc-type:article 2021 ftsubggeo https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD034353 2022-11-09T06:51:40Z In the middle atmosphere, spring transition is the time period where the zonal circulation reverses from winter westerly to summer easterly which has a strong impact on the vertical wave propagation influencing the ionospheric variability. The spring transition can be rapid in form of a final sudden stratospheric warming (SSW, mainly dynamically driven) or slow (mainly radiatively driven) but also intermediate stages can occur. In most studies spring transitions are classified either by their timing of occurrence or by their vertical structure. However, all these studies focus exclusively on the stratosphere and it is not clear if and how pre‐winter conditions have an impact on when and how spring transitions take place. Here we classify the spring transitions regarding their vertical‐temporal development beginning in January and spanning the whole middle atmosphere in the core region of the polar vortex. This leads to five classes where the timing of the SSW in the preceding winter and a downward propagating Northern Annular Mode plays a crucial role. First, we use Microwave Limb Sounder satellite data to describe the five classes for recent single years, and then we use Modern‐Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications Version 2 reanalysis data for a composite analysis. The results show distinctive differences between the five classes in the months before the spring transition especially in the mesosphere. We hypothesize that this will help to improve the prediction of the spring transition. Additionally, meteor radar winds are used to link spring transition effects in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere with the stratospheric final warming. Plain Language Summary: Springtime is characterized by a dramatic change in circulation from winter westerly to summer easterly in the Arctic middle atmosphere (20–100 km). The timing and structure of this change process largely varies from year to year. In most studies spring transitions are classified either by their timing of occurrence or, ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic GEO-LEOe-docs (FID GEO) Arctic Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 126 10 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
GEO-LEOe-docs (FID GEO) |
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ftsubggeo |
language |
English |
topic |
ddc:551.5 middle atmosphere new classification spring transition |
spellingShingle |
ddc:551.5 middle atmosphere new classification spring transition Matthias, Vivien Stober, Gunter Kozlovsky, Alexander Lester, Mark Belova, Evgenia Kero, Johan Stober, Gunter; 2 Institute of Applied Physics & Oeschger Center for Climate Change Research Microwave Physics University of Bern Bern Switzerland Kozlovsky, Alexander; 3 Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory of the University of Oulu Sodankylä Finland Lester, Mark; 4 University of Leicester Leicester UK Belova, Evgenia; 5 Swedish Institute of Space Physics Kiruna Sweden Kero, Johan; 5 Swedish Institute of Space Physics Kiruna Sweden Vertical Structure of the Arctic Spring Transition in the Middle Atmosphere |
topic_facet |
ddc:551.5 middle atmosphere new classification spring transition |
description |
In the middle atmosphere, spring transition is the time period where the zonal circulation reverses from winter westerly to summer easterly which has a strong impact on the vertical wave propagation influencing the ionospheric variability. The spring transition can be rapid in form of a final sudden stratospheric warming (SSW, mainly dynamically driven) or slow (mainly radiatively driven) but also intermediate stages can occur. In most studies spring transitions are classified either by their timing of occurrence or by their vertical structure. However, all these studies focus exclusively on the stratosphere and it is not clear if and how pre‐winter conditions have an impact on when and how spring transitions take place. Here we classify the spring transitions regarding their vertical‐temporal development beginning in January and spanning the whole middle atmosphere in the core region of the polar vortex. This leads to five classes where the timing of the SSW in the preceding winter and a downward propagating Northern Annular Mode plays a crucial role. First, we use Microwave Limb Sounder satellite data to describe the five classes for recent single years, and then we use Modern‐Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications Version 2 reanalysis data for a composite analysis. The results show distinctive differences between the five classes in the months before the spring transition especially in the mesosphere. We hypothesize that this will help to improve the prediction of the spring transition. Additionally, meteor radar winds are used to link spring transition effects in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere with the stratospheric final warming. Plain Language Summary: Springtime is characterized by a dramatic change in circulation from winter westerly to summer easterly in the Arctic middle atmosphere (20–100 km). The timing and structure of this change process largely varies from year to year. In most studies spring transitions are classified either by their timing of occurrence or, ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Matthias, Vivien Stober, Gunter Kozlovsky, Alexander Lester, Mark Belova, Evgenia Kero, Johan Stober, Gunter; 2 Institute of Applied Physics & Oeschger Center for Climate Change Research Microwave Physics University of Bern Bern Switzerland Kozlovsky, Alexander; 3 Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory of the University of Oulu Sodankylä Finland Lester, Mark; 4 University of Leicester Leicester UK Belova, Evgenia; 5 Swedish Institute of Space Physics Kiruna Sweden Kero, Johan; 5 Swedish Institute of Space Physics Kiruna Sweden |
author_facet |
Matthias, Vivien Stober, Gunter Kozlovsky, Alexander Lester, Mark Belova, Evgenia Kero, Johan Stober, Gunter; 2 Institute of Applied Physics & Oeschger Center for Climate Change Research Microwave Physics University of Bern Bern Switzerland Kozlovsky, Alexander; 3 Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory of the University of Oulu Sodankylä Finland Lester, Mark; 4 University of Leicester Leicester UK Belova, Evgenia; 5 Swedish Institute of Space Physics Kiruna Sweden Kero, Johan; 5 Swedish Institute of Space Physics Kiruna Sweden |
author_sort |
Matthias, Vivien |
title |
Vertical Structure of the Arctic Spring Transition in the Middle Atmosphere |
title_short |
Vertical Structure of the Arctic Spring Transition in the Middle Atmosphere |
title_full |
Vertical Structure of the Arctic Spring Transition in the Middle Atmosphere |
title_fullStr |
Vertical Structure of the Arctic Spring Transition in the Middle Atmosphere |
title_full_unstemmed |
Vertical Structure of the Arctic Spring Transition in the Middle Atmosphere |
title_sort |
vertical structure of the arctic spring transition in the middle atmosphere |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD034353 http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gldocs-11858/9567 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_relation |
doi:10.1029/2020JD034353 http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gldocs-11858/9567 |
op_rights |
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial‐NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non‐commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC-ND |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD034353 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |
container_volume |
126 |
container_issue |
10 |
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1766333937844486144 |