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Warm-Air Advection Over Melting Sea-Ice: A Lagrangian Case Study
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Meteorology .
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Meteorology .
2021 (English)In: Boundary-layer Meteorology, ISSN 0006-8314, E-ISSN 1573-1472, Vol. 179, p. 99-116Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Observations from the 2014 Arctic Clouds in Summer Experiment indicate that, in summer, warm-air advection over melting sea-ice results in a strong surface melting feedback forced by a very strong surface-based temperature inversion and fog formation exerting additional heat flux on the surface. Here, we analyze this case further using a combination of reanalysis dataset and satellite products in a Lagrangian framework, thereby extending the view spatially from the local icebreaker observations into a Langrangian perspective. The results confirm that warm-air advection induces a positive net surface-energy-budget anomaly, exerting positive longwave radiation and turbulent heat flux on the surface. Additionally, as warm and moist air penetrates farther into the Arctic, cloud-top cooling and surface mixing eventually erode the surface inversion downstream. The initial surface inversion splits into two elevated inversions while the air columns below the elevated inversions transform into well-mixed layers.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2021. Vol. 179, p. 99-116
Keywords [en]
Arctic, Entrainment, Inversion, Lagrangian, Moist and warm air intrusion
National Category
Earth and Related Environmental Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-188990DOI: 10.1007/s10546-020-00590-1ISI: 000599789500001OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-188990DiVA, id: diva2:1518819
Available from: 2021-01-17 Created: 2021-01-17 Last updated: 2025-02-07Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Arctic Atmospheric Rivers: Eulerian and Lagrangian features, and trends over the last 40 years
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Arctic Atmospheric Rivers: Eulerian and Lagrangian features, and trends over the last 40 years
2021 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Arctic Atmospheric rivers, termed ‘warm-and-moist intrusion’ (WaMAI) in this thesis, transporting heat and moisture into the Arctic from lower latitudes, is a key contributor to the amplified warming in the Arctic under global change (Arctic Amplification). However, the warming effect of WaMAIs and its transformation along the trajectories into high Arctic still remain unclear, as well as their relation with the large-scale atmospheric circulation.

A positive trend of poleward moisture and heat transport during 1979-2018 has been identified over the Barents Sea in winter and East Siberian Sea in summer. These positive trends are attributed to an increased blocking occurrence, as quantified by a blocking track algorithm. Given the increase in poleward energy transport and its impacts on the atmospheric energy budgets, it is necessary to focus on the Arctic atmospheric rivers in more detail. 

Therefore, a method is developed to detect WaMAIs during December~Febrary, June~August from 1979 to 2018, and to identify the Lagrangian transformation of warm-and-moist air mass in temperature, humidity, cloud water path, surface and boundary-layer energy-budget, along the trajectories of WaMAIs. The analysis shows that WaMAIs, driven by blocking high-pressure systems over the respective ocean sectors, induce an air mass transformation in the atmospheric boundary layer, resulting in surface warming and presumably additional sea ice melt, from positive anomalies of surface net longwave irradiance and turbulent flux. 

In summer, from a Lagrangian perspective, the surface energy-budget anomaly decreases linearly with the downstream distance from the sea-ice edge, while total column cloud liquid water (TCLW) increases linearly. An initially stably stratified boundary layer at the ice edge transforms into a deepening well-mixed boundary layer along the trajectories, from the continuous turbulent mixing. The boundary-layer energy-budget structures are categorized into two categories: one dominated by surface turbulent mixing (TBL) and one dominated by cloud-top radiative cooling (RAD). The magnitude of the large-scale atmospheric vertical motion, the subsidence, is critical in determining if the boundary layer develops into TBL or RAD.

In winter, over the completely ice-covered ocean sectors where the sea ice reaches all the way to the coast, the Lagrangian transformation of the boundary-layer energy-budget is similar to summer WaMAIs, while the surface energy-budget is dominated by longwave irradiance. On the other hand, over the Barents Sea, with an open ocean to the south, the net surface energy budget is dominated by the surface turbulent fluxes. The boundary-layer energy-budget over the Barents Sea can also be categorized into RAD and TBL, but are different from their summer counterparts.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: Department of Meteorology, Stockholm University, 2021. p. 30
Keywords
Arctic, Atmospheric river, Stratocumulus, Blocking, Turbulence, Longwave irradiance
National Category
Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences
Research subject
Atmospheric Sciences and Oceanography
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:su:diva-198079 (URN)978-91-7911-672-9 (ISBN)978-91-7911-673-6 (ISBN)
Public defence
2021-12-10, Vivi Täckholmsalen, (Q-salen), NPQ-huset, Svante Arrhenius väg 20, Stockholm, 10:00 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2021-11-17 Created: 2021-10-26 Last updated: 2025-02-07Bibliographically approved

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Tjernström, Michael

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