Polar Lows Over the Eastern Part of the Eurasian Arctic: The Sea-Ice Retreat Consequence

• Published in: IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters
• Main Authors: Zabolotskikh, Elizaveta V., Gurvich, Irina A., Chapron, Bertrand
• Other Authors: Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Arctic; Laptev Sea; Kara Sea; Chukchi Sea; East Siberian Sea; Chukchi; laptev; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04201764; https://hal.science/hal-04201764/document; https://hal.science/hal-04201764/file/48388.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1109/LGRS.2016.2593487

International audience With the sea-ice decline over the eastern part of the Eurasian Arctic (EEA), polar mesocyclones (MCs) and their most intensive representatives-polar lows (PLs)-can occur over more open-water areas. Visible and infrared MODIS images, active and passive microwave spaceborne instruments, and ERA Interim reanalysis data are combined and used to analyze the synoptic situations and to infer the factors influencingMC appearance and evolution over the Kara Sea, the Laptev Sea, the East Siberian Sea, and the Chukchi Sea. In recent years, the Arctic more often loses its summer sea-ice cover, and PLs may more commonly emerge within open-water Eastern Arctic regions during fall and summer months. This conclusion is derived basing on the analysis of more than 150 MCs for August, September, October, and November months over the EEA for the period of 2003-2015. PL and MC distribution and characteristics necessitate to be studied with a multisensor approach since neither reanalysis data nor data from a single instrument can provide sufficient means for their confident detection and analysis.