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LONG‐TERM VARIABILITY IN THE LOW‐LEVEL INVERSION LAYER OVER THE ARCTIC OCEAN
Author(s) -
KAHL JONATHAN D. W.,
MARTINEZ DEWAYNE A.,
ZAITSEVA NINA A.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
international journal of climatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.58
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-0088
pISSN - 0899-8418
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0088(199611)16:11<1297::aid-joc86>3.0.co;2-t
Subject(s) - radiosonde , depth sounding , climatology , troposphere , inversion (geology) , arctic , environmental science , dropsonde , atmospheric sciences , inversion temperature , meteorology , geology , oceanography , geography , paleontology , structural basin , tropical cyclone
Long‐term changes in the low‐level tropospheric inversion layer are investigated using nearly 30 000 Arctic Ocean temperature profiles for 1950–1990. The profile measurements were made by radiosonde at the former USSR ‘North Pole’ series of drifting ice stations, and by dropsonde from US Air Force ‘Ptarmigan’ weather reconnaissance aircraft. Significant increases in the temperature difference across the inversion layer are found during winter and autumn, indicating a strengthening of the thermal stability of the layer. This strengthening is in agreement with a recent study describing Arctic Ocean temperature trends, but is in contrast to general circulation model predictions of polar amplification of greenhouse‐induced warming. The frequency with which inversion layers occur has increased, with inversions tending to be more elevated above the ice surface. Decreases in inversion layer depth reported by other investigations using similar sounding data sets are not confirmed.