Atmospheric circuit influences on ground‐level pressure in the Antarctic and Arctic

Abstract

[1] Pressure variations at 11 Antarctic sites and 7 Arctic sites have been examined and show significant correlations with a daily proxy for the output of the meteorological generators of the global atmospheric circuit. This proxy is derived from vertical electric field measurements made at Vostok on the Antarctic ice plateau. Taken with the finding of proportionate pressure variations correlated with atmospheric circuit changes owing to coupling with the interplanetary electric field, particularly for the Antarctic plateau (magnetic latitude > 83°) region, this provides experimental evidence that a small portion of the surface pressure variations are due to the influence of the global atmospheric circuit. The response to the interplanetary electric field is an example of Sun-weather coupling. To evaluate it, the daily average interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) east-west component (B y ) is used as a proxy for the north-south interplanetary electric field, which produces opposite ionospheric potential changes in the northern and southern polar caps. The correlation with IMF B y for the pressure variations for the Antarctic sites for a solar cycle (1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005) is small (0.9% average covariance for the magnetic latitude > 83°sites) but significant (99.7% confidence level). The Arctic stations show a negative regression between pressure variations and IMF B y , a relationship expected if the linkage process operates by the atmospheric circuit, but it is only found when the interval is restricted to the peak of the sunspot cycle (1999)(2000)(2001)(2002).

Solar wind-atmospheric electricity-cloud microphysics connections to weather and climate

“…3, has confirmed and extended the spatial scope of the Mansurov effect previously shown in polar station data (Burns et al, 2007(Burns et al, , 2008. A mid-latitude surface pressure influence of IMF B y is also revealed.…”

“…Variations in V x B y due to V x are relatively small compared to those due to B y because the latter reverses on timescales of 5 to 15 days as the solar wind sector structure, related to the location of coronal holes, passes over the Earth. The Mansurov effect has been demonstrated in data since the 1964 International Quiet Sun Year (IQSY) (Mansurov et al, 1974;Page, 1989;Tinsley and Heelis, 1993;Burns et al, 2007Burns et al, , 2008Lam et al, 2013Lam et al, , 2014. This effect is the clearest and most direct example of a meteorological response to changes in J z , with very high levels of statistical significance observed (e.g., Table 1 in Burns et al, 2008; Table 1 in Lam et al, 2013).…”

“…Modifications to the vertical current density of the GEC can also occur due to variations in the internal atmospheric thunderstorm generators. These generate day-to-day changes in J z , to which there is an identical response of polar cap surface pressure (Forcing Path B), which provides strong corroboration for the solar wind influence via J z (Burns et al, 2008). The Burns effect will be discussed in more detail in the next section (2.2).…”

“…The Mansurov effect has been demonstrated in data since the 1964 International Quiet Sun Year (IQSY) (Mansurov et al, 1974;Page, 1989;Tinsley and Heelis, 1993;Burns et al, 2007Burns et al, , 2008Lam et al, 2013Lam et al, , 2014. This effect is the clearest and most direct example of a meteorological response to changes in J z , with very high levels of statistical significance observed (e.g., Table 1 in Burns et al, 2008; Table 1 in Lam et al, 2013). These analyses have been made as a function of B y alone, and even higher levels of statistical significance are to be expected for correlations made with the product V x B y .…”

Parameterization of aerosol scavenging due to atmospheric ionization

“…Consequences of the microphysical changes for macroscopic changes in precipitation, atmospheric dynamics related to latent heat partitioning, and cloud cover have been explored. Such consequences provide an explanation for many observations of atmospheric dynamical changes related to changes in atmospheric ionization, both those induced externally [Tinsley, 2000;Lam et al, 2013] and those induced internally [Burns et al, 2008;Harrison and Ambaum, 2013]. It should be noted that the small atmospheric responses are observed for changes in J z , of only tens of percent, implying that the mean level of J z causes continual effects in basic aerosol-cloud physics that are 5 or more times larger.…”