The role of tropopause polar vortices in the intensification of summer Arctic cyclones

Gray, Suzanne L.; Hodges, Kevin I.; Vautrey, Jonathan L.; Methven, John

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1303-2021

Articles | Volume 2, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1303-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1303-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 2, issue 4

Research article

|

23 Dec 2021

Research article |

| 23 Dec 2021

The role of tropopause polar vortices in the intensification of summer Arctic cyclones

Suzanne L. Gray, Kevin I. Hodges, Jonathan L. Vautrey, and John Methven

Data sets

ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1979 to present H. Hersbach, B. Bell, P. Berrisford, G. Biavati, A. Horányi, J. Muñoz Sabater, J. Nicolas, C. Peubey, R. Radu, I. Rozum, D. Schepers, A. Simmons, C. Soci, D. Dee, and J.-N. Thépaut https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.adbb2d47

ERA5 hourly data on pressure levels from 1979 to present H. Hersbach, B. Bell, P. Berrisford, G. Biavati, A. Horányi, J. Muñoz Sabater, J. Nicolas, C. Peubey, R. Radu, I. Rozum, D. Schepers, A. Simmons, C. Soci, D. Dee, and J.-N. Thépaut https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.bd0915c6

Short summary

This research demonstrates, using feature identification and tracking, that anticlockwise rotating vortices at about 7 km altitude called tropopause polar vortices frequently interact with storms developing in the Arctic region, affecting their structure and where they occur. This interaction has implications for the predictability of Arctic weather, given the long lifetime but a relatively small spatial scale of these vortices compared with the density of the polar observation network.