Strong Winds Leave Arctic Regions on Thin Ice
https://eos.org/articles/strong-winds-leave-arctic-regions-on-thin-ice
Source: By Ty Burke, Eos/AGU.
Excerpt: As an Arctic heat wave pushed the mercury as much as 25°C above normal in late February 2018, a large polynya, a patch of open water surrounded by sea ice, opened in the Wandel Sea. No polynyas had previously been observed in this ice-bound area north of Greenland, and it seemed likely that this anomaly would be linked to thinner sea ice. But when researchers Kent Moore and Axel Schweiger ran the numbers, they found that wasn’t the case. In February 2018, a sudden stratospheric warming event occurred over Siberia. The west-to-east flow of the stratospheric polar vortex reversed, and cold air from the stratosphere plunged to Earth. This shift pushed Siberian air to Europe, bringing frigid temperatures in a weather system nicknamed the “Beast from the East.” In turn, Europe’s warmer air was pushed toward Greenland, and winds surged across the island at speeds approaching hurricane force. Winds were so powerful they shifted enough ice to open an area of water roughly the size of Scotland. ...Climate Change and Stratospheric Warming-Could thinner ice make the area more susceptible to future melting and lead to more open water in the Arctic? That pattern could contribute to a climate feedback loop that contributes to sudden stratospheric warmings.“If you lose a bunch of sea ice, you’re basically creating a pattern in the waves in the troposphere that encourages a weaker stratospheric polar vortex,” says Amy Butler, a research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth System Research Laboratory....
Source: By Ty Burke, Eos/AGU.
Excerpt: As an Arctic heat wave pushed the mercury as much as 25°C above normal in late February 2018, a large polynya, a patch of open water surrounded by sea ice, opened in the Wandel Sea. No polynyas had previously been observed in this ice-bound area north of Greenland, and it seemed likely that this anomaly would be linked to thinner sea ice. But when researchers Kent Moore and Axel Schweiger ran the numbers, they found that wasn’t the case. In February 2018, a sudden stratospheric warming event occurred over Siberia. The west-to-east flow of the stratospheric polar vortex reversed, and cold air from the stratosphere plunged to Earth. This shift pushed Siberian air to Europe, bringing frigid temperatures in a weather system nicknamed the “Beast from the East.” In turn, Europe’s warmer air was pushed toward Greenland, and winds surged across the island at speeds approaching hurricane force. Winds were so powerful they shifted enough ice to open an area of water roughly the size of Scotland. ...Climate Change and Stratospheric Warming-Could thinner ice make the area more susceptible to future melting and lead to more open water in the Arctic? That pattern could contribute to a climate feedback loop that contributes to sudden stratospheric warmings.“If you lose a bunch of sea ice, you’re basically creating a pattern in the waves in the troposphere that encourages a weaker stratospheric polar vortex,” says Amy Butler, a research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth System Research Laboratory....