Cold air outbreaks in fram strait: climatology, trends, and observations during an extreme season in 2020
Fram Strait in the northern North Atlantic is a key region for marine cold air outbreaks (MCAOs), southward discharges of polar air under northerly air flow, which have a strong impact on air-sea heat fluxes, boundary layer processes and severe weather. This study investigates climatologies and deca...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |
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ftubpotsdam:oai:kobv.de-opus4-uni-potsdam:61855 2024-01-14T10:05:45+01:00 Cold air outbreaks in fram strait: climatology, trends, and observations during an extreme season in 2020 Dahlke, Sandro Solbès, Amélie Maturilli, Marion 2022-01-25 https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/61855 https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JD035741 eng eng https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/61855 https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JD035741 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess ddc:550 Institut für Physik und Astronomie article doc-type:article 2022 ftubpotsdam https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JD035741 2023-12-17T23:35:16Z Fram Strait in the northern North Atlantic is a key region for marine cold air outbreaks (MCAOs), southward discharges of polar air under northerly air flow, which have a strong impact on air-sea heat fluxes, boundary layer processes and severe weather. This study investigates climatologies and decadal trends of Fram Strait MCAOs of different intensity classes based on the ERA5 reanalysis product for 1979-2020. Among striking interannual variability, it is shown that the main MCAO season is December through March, when MCAOs occur around 2/3 of the time. We report on significant decadal MCAO decreases in December and January, and a significant increase in March. While the mid-winter decrease is mainly related to the different paces of warming between the surface and the lower atmosphere, the increase in March can be related to changes in synoptic circulation patterns. As an explanation for the latter, a possible feedback between retreating Barents Sea sea ice, enhanced cyclonic activity and Fram Strait MCAOs is postulated. Exemplifying the trend toward stronger MCAOs during March, the study details the recordbreaking MCAO season in early 2020, and an observational case study of an extreme MCAO event in March 2020 is conducted. Thereby, radiosonde observations are combined with kinematic air back-trajectories to provide rare observational evidence for the diabatic cooling and drying during the MCAO preconditioning phase. Article in Journal/Newspaper Barents Sea Fram Strait North Atlantic Sea ice University of Potsdam: publish.UP Barents Sea Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 127 3 |
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University of Potsdam: publish.UP |
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ftubpotsdam |
language |
English |
topic |
ddc:550 Institut für Physik und Astronomie |
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ddc:550 Institut für Physik und Astronomie Dahlke, Sandro Solbès, Amélie Maturilli, Marion Cold air outbreaks in fram strait: climatology, trends, and observations during an extreme season in 2020 |
topic_facet |
ddc:550 Institut für Physik und Astronomie |
description |
Fram Strait in the northern North Atlantic is a key region for marine cold air outbreaks (MCAOs), southward discharges of polar air under northerly air flow, which have a strong impact on air-sea heat fluxes, boundary layer processes and severe weather. This study investigates climatologies and decadal trends of Fram Strait MCAOs of different intensity classes based on the ERA5 reanalysis product for 1979-2020. Among striking interannual variability, it is shown that the main MCAO season is December through March, when MCAOs occur around 2/3 of the time. We report on significant decadal MCAO decreases in December and January, and a significant increase in March. While the mid-winter decrease is mainly related to the different paces of warming between the surface and the lower atmosphere, the increase in March can be related to changes in synoptic circulation patterns. As an explanation for the latter, a possible feedback between retreating Barents Sea sea ice, enhanced cyclonic activity and Fram Strait MCAOs is postulated. Exemplifying the trend toward stronger MCAOs during March, the study details the recordbreaking MCAO season in early 2020, and an observational case study of an extreme MCAO event in March 2020 is conducted. Thereby, radiosonde observations are combined with kinematic air back-trajectories to provide rare observational evidence for the diabatic cooling and drying during the MCAO preconditioning phase. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dahlke, Sandro Solbès, Amélie Maturilli, Marion |
author_facet |
Dahlke, Sandro Solbès, Amélie Maturilli, Marion |
author_sort |
Dahlke, Sandro |
title |
Cold air outbreaks in fram strait: climatology, trends, and observations during an extreme season in 2020 |
title_short |
Cold air outbreaks in fram strait: climatology, trends, and observations during an extreme season in 2020 |
title_full |
Cold air outbreaks in fram strait: climatology, trends, and observations during an extreme season in 2020 |
title_fullStr |
Cold air outbreaks in fram strait: climatology, trends, and observations during an extreme season in 2020 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Cold air outbreaks in fram strait: climatology, trends, and observations during an extreme season in 2020 |
title_sort |
cold air outbreaks in fram strait: climatology, trends, and observations during an extreme season in 2020 |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/61855 https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JD035741 |
geographic |
Barents Sea |
geographic_facet |
Barents Sea |
genre |
Barents Sea Fram Strait North Atlantic Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Barents Sea Fram Strait North Atlantic Sea ice |
op_relation |
https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/61855 https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JD035741 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JD035741 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |
container_volume |
127 |
container_issue |
3 |
_version_ |
1788060087665819648 |