Articles | Volume 1, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-1-715-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-1-715-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
20 Nov 2020
Research article |
| 20 Nov 2020
| 20 Nov 2020
The role of Barents–Kara sea ice loss in projected polar vortex changes
Marlene Kretschmer
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, UK
Giuseppe Zappa
Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, UK
Istituto di Scienze dell'Atmosfera e del Clima, Consiglio Nazionale
delle Ricerche, Bologna, Italy
Theodore G. Shepherd
Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, UK
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Short summary
The winds in the polar stratosphere affect the weather in the mid-latitudes, making it important to understand potential changes in response to global warming. However, climate model projections disagree on how this so-called polar vortex will change in the future. Here we show that sea ice loss in the Barents and Kara (BK) seas plays a central role in this. The time when the BK seas become ice-free differs between models, which explains some of the disagreement regarding vortex projections.
The winds in the polar stratosphere affect the weather in the mid-latitudes, making it important...
