The Year of Polar Prediction in the Southern Hemisphere (YOPP-SH)

• Published in: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
• Main Authors: Bromwich, David, H, Werner, Kirstin, Casati, Barbara, Powers, Jordan, G, Gorodetskaya, Irina, V, Massonnet, François, Vitale, Vito, Heinrich, Victoria, J, Liggett, Daniela, Arndt, Stefanie, Barja, Boris, Bazile, Eric, Carpentier, Scott, Carrasco, Jorge, F, Choi, Taejin, Choi, Yonghan, Colwell, Steven, R, Cordero, Raul, R, Gervasi, Massimo, Haiden, Thomas, Hirasawa, Naohiko, Inoue, Jun, Jung, Thomas, Kalesse, Heike, Kim, Seong-Joong, Lazzara, Matthew, A, Manning, Kevin, W, Norris, Kimberley, Park, Sang-Jong, Reid, Phillip, Rigor, Ignatius, Rowe, Penny, M, Schmithüsen, Holger, Seifert, Patric, Sun, Qizhen, Uttal, Taneil, Zannoni, Mario, Zou, Xun
• Other Authors: Ohio State University Columbus (OSU), Alfred Wegener Institute Potsdam, Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung = Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research = Institut Alfred-Wegener pour la recherche polaire et marine (AWI), Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft = Helmholtz Association-Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft = Helmholtz Association, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder (NCAR), Universidade de Aveiro, Université Catholique de Louvain = Catholic University of Louvain (UCL), Istituto di Scienze Polari / Institute of Polar Sciences Messina (ISP-CNR), University of Tasmania Hobart, Australia (UTAS), University of Canterbury Christchurch, Universidad de Magallanes (UMAG), Centre national de recherches météorologiques (CNRM), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI), British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Universidad de Santiago de Chile Santiago (USACH), Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca = University of Milano-Bicocca (UNIMIB), European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), National Institute of Polar Research Tokyo (NiPR), Leipzig University / Universität Leipzig
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Sea ice; Southern Ocean
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04431729; https://hal.science/hal-04431729/document; https://hal.science/hal-04431729/file/bams-bamsD190255.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0255.1

International audience The Year of Polar Prediction in the Southern Hemisphere (YOPP-SH) had a special observing period (SOP) that ran from 16 November 2018 to 15 February 2019, a period chosen to span the austral warm season months of greatest operational activity in the Antarctic. Some 2,200 additional radiosondes were launched during the 3-month SOP, roughly doubling the routine program, and the network of drifting buoys in the Southern Ocean was enhanced. An evaluation of global model forecasts during the SOP and using its data has confirmed that extratropical Southern Hemisphere forecast skill lags behind that in the Northern Hemisphere with the contrast being greatest between the southern and northern polar regions. Reflecting the application of the SOP data, early results from observing system experiments show that the additional radiosondes yield the greatest forecast improvement for deep cyclones near the Antarctic coast. The SOP data have been applied to provide insights on an atmospheric river event during the YOPP-SH SOP that presented a challenging forecast and that impacted southern South America and the Antarctic Peninsula. YOPP-SH data have also been applied in determinations that seasonal predictions by coupled atmosphere–ocean–sea ice models struggle to capture the spatial and temporal characteristics of the Antarctic sea ice minimum. Education, outreach, and communication activities have supported the YOPP-SH SOP efforts. Based on the success of this Antarctic summer YOPP-SH SOP, a winter YOPP-SH SOP is being organized to support explorations of Antarctic atmospheric predictability in the austral cold season when the southern sea ice cover is rapidly expanding.