Large‐scale circulation associated with moisture intrusions into the Arctic during winter

Woods, Cian; Caballero, Rodrigo; Svensson, Gunilla

doi:10.1002/grl.50912

Cited by 244 publications

(350 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Surface atmospheric humidity observations in Ny-Ålesund indicate a slight increase in annual mean water vapor mixing ratio since 1993 (Maturilli et al 2013) that may be related to more intense local evaporation due to changes in snow cover as well as to episodic augmentation of humidity related to cyclonic systems. Intense filamentary moisture intrusion events are a common feature in the Arctic and can induce large episodic increases of downward longwave radiation along the pole-ward moving branch of cyclones (Doyle et al 2011;Woods et al 2013). As one of the main sectors for humidity intrusions towards the Arctic is the Atlantic sector (Woods et al 2013), the long-term observations at Svalbard may substantially differ from other regions in the Arctic due to the location relative to the Atlantic cyclone tracks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Intense filamentary moisture intrusion events are a common feature in the Arctic and can induce large episodic increases of downward longwave radiation along the pole-ward moving branch of cyclones (Doyle et al 2011;Woods et al 2013). As one of the main sectors for humidity intrusions towards the Arctic is the Atlantic sector (Woods et al 2013), the long-term observations at Svalbard may substantially differ from other regions in the Arctic due to the location relative to the Atlantic cyclone tracks. In general, the number of cyclones entering the Arctic has increased, especially for the winter season (Sepp and Jaagus 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Surface radiation climatology for Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard (78.9° N), basic observations for trend detection

Maturilli

Herber

König-Langlo

2014

Theor Appl Climatol

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At Ny-Ålesund (78.9°N), Svalbard, surface radiation measurements of up-and downward short-and longwave radiation are operated since August 1992 in the frame of the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN), complemented with surface and upper air meteorology since August 1993. The long-term observations are the base for a climatological presentation of the surface radiation data. Over the 21-year observation period, ongoing changes in the Arctic climate system are reflected. Particularly, the observations indicate a strong seasonality of surface warming and related changes in different radiation parameters. The annual mean temperature at Ny-Ålesund has risen by +1.3±0.7 K per decade, with a maximum seasonal increase during the winter months of +3.1± 2.6 K per decade. At the same time, winter is also the season with the largest long-term changes in radiation, featuring an increase of +15.6±11.6 Wm −2 per decade in the downward longwave radiation. Furthermore, changes in the reflected solar radiation during the months of snow melt indicate an earlier onset of the warm season by about 1 week compared to the beginning of the observations. The supplementary dataset of Ny-Ålesund surface radiation measurements (available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.150000) provides a valuable data source for the validation of satellite instruments and climate models.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface radiation climatology for Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard (78.9° N), basic observations for trend detection

Maturilli

Herber

König-Langlo

2014

Theor Appl Climatol

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“…changes in heat and moisture fluxes in the Arctic; Tjernström et al, 2015;Ding et al, 2017) factors. Among these effects, change in moisture transport has emerged as one of the most important with respect to the greenhouse effect (Koenigk et al, 2013;Graversen and Burtu, 2016;Vihma et al, 2016), and is related to SIE decline through hydrological mechanisms such as changes in Arctic river discharges (Zhang et al, 2012), radiative mechanisms such as anomalous downward longwave radiation at the surface (Woods et al, 2013;Park et al, 2015a;Mortin et al, 2016;Woods and Caballero, 2016;Lee et al, 2017), or meteorological mechanisms such as changes in the frequency and L. Gimeno-Sotelo et al: A new pattern of the moisture transport for precipitation intensity of cyclones crossing the Arctic (Rinke et al, 2017). Because the effects of enhanced moisture transport on Arctic ice are diverse, there is no direct relationship between enhanced transport and SIE decline.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new pattern of the moisture transport for precipitation related to the drastic decline in Arctic sea ice extent

2018

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Abstract. In this study we use the term moisture transport for precipitation for a target region as the moisture coming to this region from its major moisture sources resulting in precipitation over the target region (MTP). We have identified changes in the pattern of moisture transport for precipitation over the Arctic region, the Arctic Ocean, and its 13 main subdomains concurrent with the major sea ice decline that occurred in 2003. The pattern consists of a general decrease in moisture transport in summer and enhanced moisture transport in autumn and early winter, with different contributions depending on the moisture source and ocean subregion. The pattern is statistically significant and consistent with changes in the vertically integrated moisture fluxes and frequency of circulation types. The results of this paper also reveal that the assumed and partially documented enhanced poleward moisture transport from lower latitudes as a consequence of increased moisture from climate change seems to be less simple and constant than typically recognised in relation to enhanced Arctic precipitation throughout the year in the present climate.

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“…Of the transient part, they demonstrate that the synoptic transport with periods less than 10 days is important in the middle-to-high latitudes over the two Northern Hemisphere ocean basins. Woods et al [2013] evaluated the importance of the synoptic transport by identifying extreme moisture intrusions across 70…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extreme moisture transport into the Arctic linked to Rossby wave breaking

2015

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The transport of moisture into the Arctic is tightly connected to midlatitude dynamics. We show that the bulk of the transient poleward moisture transport across 60°N is driven by extreme transport (fluxes greater than the 90th percentile) events. We demonstrate that these events are closely related to the two types of Rossby wave breaking (RWB)—anticyclonic wave breaking (AWB) and cyclonic wave breaking (CWB). Using a RWB tracking algorithm, we determine that RWB can account for approximately 68% of the extreme poleward moisture transport by transients across 60°N in winter and 56% in summer. Additional analysis suggests that the seasonality of such RWB‐related moisture transport is determined approximately equally by (1) the magnitude of transport (which is largely a function of the background moisture gradient) and (2) the frequency of RWB occurrence. The seasonality of RWB occurrence is, in turn, tied to the seasonal variation of the latitude of the jet streams—AWB‐related (CWB‐related) transport occurs more frequently when the jet is shifted poleward (equatorward). The interannual variability of RWB‐related transport across 60°N in winter is shown to be strongly influenced by climate variability captured by the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). In the positive (negative) phase of ENSO, AWB transports less (more) moisture through the Bering Strait and CWB transports more (less) through western Canada. In the positive (negative) phase of the NAO, AWB transports more (less) moisture through the Norwegian Sea and CWB transports less (more) along the west coast of Greenland. These results highlight that low‐frequency climate variability outside of the polar regions can influence the Arctic water vapor by modulating extreme synoptic transport events.

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Large‐scale circulation associated with moisture intrusions into the Arctic during winter

Cited by 244 publications

References 21 publications

Surface radiation climatology for Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard (78.9° N), basic observations for trend detection

Surface radiation climatology for Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard (78.9° N), basic observations for trend detection

A new pattern of the moisture transport for precipitation related to the drastic decline in Arctic sea ice extent

Extreme moisture transport into the Arctic linked to Rossby wave breaking

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