Historical trends in the trade wind inversion in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean
The trade wind inversion (TWI) serves as an important stabilizing mechanism in the tropical North Atlantic (TNA) region, including the Caribbean basin. Previous studies have diagnosed the TWI using in situ observations and radiosondes, typically over tropical islands. However, studies relying on the...
Published in: | International Journal of Climatology |
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ftvirginiatec:oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/104587 2023-12-24T10:23:04+01:00 Historical trends in the trade wind inversion in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean International Journal of Climatology Ramseyer, Craig A. Miller, Paul W. Geography 2021-05-03 14 page(s) application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10919/104587 https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7151 en eng Wiley http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000646351600001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=930d57c9ac61a043676db62af60056c1 joc.7151 (Article number) 0899-8418 http://hdl.handle.net/10919/104587 https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7151 Ramseyer, Craig [0000-0003-0290-4639] 1097-0088 In Copyright http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Physical Sciences Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences decadal variability ERA5 reanalysis trade wind inversion tropical climatology 0401 Atmospheric Sciences 0905 Civil Engineering 0907 Environmental Engineering Article - Refereed Article Early Access Journal Text 2021 ftvirginiatec https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7151 2023-11-30T19:05:37Z The trade wind inversion (TWI) serves as an important stabilizing mechanism in the tropical North Atlantic (TNA) region, including the Caribbean basin. Previous studies have diagnosed the TWI using in situ observations and radiosondes, typically over tropical islands. However, studies relying on these point measurements are unable to discern the climatology and evolution of the TWI over the rest of the TNA. This study addresses this gap in the literature through the use of high-resolution ERA5 reanalysis model level data. Due to the advances in the ERA line of reanalysis products, ERA5 now provides vertical level resolution as fine as ~4 mb in the lower troposphere, enabling the identification of shallow inversions, such as the TWI, consistently on a climatological time scale in remote regions of the world. While still coarser than observed soundings, this reanalysis-based approach provides a first attempt in understanding TNA TWI variability and its strength and frequency trends from 1979 to 2019. The TWI climatology constructed here finds consilience with previous modelling and observational studies in terms of the spatial variability of the TWI base and strength across this domain. Stronger and more frequent TWIs are noted across the central TNA across all seasons. Results from a MannKendall analysis reveals increasing trends in TWI frequency and strength that vary spatially across the domain based on season. The most widespread and strongest increasing TWI frequency and strength signal is over the central TNA from December to July. Due to the regionalization of trends noted, potential regional forcing mechanisms responsible for these changes are discussed. Accepted version Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic VTechWorks (VirginiaTech) International Journal of Climatology 41 12 5752 5765 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
VTechWorks (VirginiaTech) |
op_collection_id |
ftvirginiatec |
language |
English |
topic |
Physical Sciences Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences decadal variability ERA5 reanalysis trade wind inversion tropical climatology 0401 Atmospheric Sciences 0905 Civil Engineering 0907 Environmental Engineering |
spellingShingle |
Physical Sciences Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences decadal variability ERA5 reanalysis trade wind inversion tropical climatology 0401 Atmospheric Sciences 0905 Civil Engineering 0907 Environmental Engineering Ramseyer, Craig A. Miller, Paul W. Historical trends in the trade wind inversion in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean |
topic_facet |
Physical Sciences Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences decadal variability ERA5 reanalysis trade wind inversion tropical climatology 0401 Atmospheric Sciences 0905 Civil Engineering 0907 Environmental Engineering |
description |
The trade wind inversion (TWI) serves as an important stabilizing mechanism in the tropical North Atlantic (TNA) region, including the Caribbean basin. Previous studies have diagnosed the TWI using in situ observations and radiosondes, typically over tropical islands. However, studies relying on these point measurements are unable to discern the climatology and evolution of the TWI over the rest of the TNA. This study addresses this gap in the literature through the use of high-resolution ERA5 reanalysis model level data. Due to the advances in the ERA line of reanalysis products, ERA5 now provides vertical level resolution as fine as ~4 mb in the lower troposphere, enabling the identification of shallow inversions, such as the TWI, consistently on a climatological time scale in remote regions of the world. While still coarser than observed soundings, this reanalysis-based approach provides a first attempt in understanding TNA TWI variability and its strength and frequency trends from 1979 to 2019. The TWI climatology constructed here finds consilience with previous modelling and observational studies in terms of the spatial variability of the TWI base and strength across this domain. Stronger and more frequent TWIs are noted across the central TNA across all seasons. Results from a MannKendall analysis reveals increasing trends in TWI frequency and strength that vary spatially across the domain based on season. The most widespread and strongest increasing TWI frequency and strength signal is over the central TNA from December to July. Due to the regionalization of trends noted, potential regional forcing mechanisms responsible for these changes are discussed. Accepted version |
author2 |
Geography |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ramseyer, Craig A. Miller, Paul W. |
author_facet |
Ramseyer, Craig A. Miller, Paul W. |
author_sort |
Ramseyer, Craig A. |
title |
Historical trends in the trade wind inversion in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean |
title_short |
Historical trends in the trade wind inversion in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean |
title_full |
Historical trends in the trade wind inversion in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean |
title_fullStr |
Historical trends in the trade wind inversion in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Historical trends in the trade wind inversion in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean |
title_sort |
historical trends in the trade wind inversion in the tropical north atlantic ocean and caribbean |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10919/104587 https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7151 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000646351600001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=930d57c9ac61a043676db62af60056c1 joc.7151 (Article number) 0899-8418 http://hdl.handle.net/10919/104587 https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7151 Ramseyer, Craig [0000-0003-0290-4639] 1097-0088 |
op_rights |
In Copyright http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7151 |
container_title |
International Journal of Climatology |
container_volume |
41 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
5752 |
op_container_end_page |
5765 |
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1786196782128037888 |