Generation of the Amundsen Sea Low by Antarctic Orography
The Amundsen Sea Low (ASL) is a distinctive feature of the Southern Hemisphere high latitude atmospheric circulation, regulating regional Antarctic climate, meridional heat transport, ocean circulation, and sea-ice in the Amundsen-Bellingshausen Seas. Most previous research on the ASL has focused on...
Published in: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
2021
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_79037 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/70fc4247-b978-46ba-96bf-689053436b3b/download https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL091487 |
Summary: | The Amundsen Sea Low (ASL) is a distinctive feature of the Southern Hemisphere high latitude atmospheric circulation, regulating regional Antarctic climate, meridional heat transport, ocean circulation, and sea-ice in the Amundsen-Bellingshausen Seas. Most previous research on the ASL has focused on its variability with only a few studies attempting to understand why the climatological ASL exists. These studies have proposed different hypotheses to explain the presence of the ASL, however, a clear understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the generation of the ASL remains uncertain. Here we use an atmospheric general circulation model to show that the ASL is a consequence of the interaction between Antarctic topography and the westerly wind jet, with negligible influence from low-latitude teleconnections. A nonrotating fluid flow simulation further suggests that the ASL can be explained by flow separation resulting from the interaction of westerly winds with the topography of Antarctica. |
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