Premium
Spatiotemporal analysis of the January Northern Hemisphere circumpolar vortex over the contiguous United States
Author(s) -
Ballinger Thomas J.,
Allen Michael J.,
Rohli Robert V.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2014gl060285
Subject(s) - circumpolar star , polar vortex , northern hemisphere , climatology , arctic oscillation , latitude , southern hemisphere , arctic , longitude , trough (economics) , the arctic , vortex , geology , pacific decadal oscillation , geography , oceanography , meteorology , geodesy , troposphere , el niño southern oscillation , economics , macroeconomics
January 2014 will be remembered for the sensationalized media usage of the term “polar vortex” which coincided with several polar air outbreaks. A United States polar vortex (USPV) perspective is presented to better understand the January spatial and temporal variability of this regional component of the Northern Hemisphere circumpolar vortex. Use of the monthly mean 5460 m isohypse to represent the location of the USPV extent and area revealed that the spatial features of the January 2014 USPV were not extreme relative to certain 1948–2013 Januaries. Furthermore, the Arctic Oscillation (AO), Pacific‐North American (PNA) Pattern, and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) are all linked to southernmost latitude of the USPV trough, but the PDO and PNA are most closely associated with the longitude at which this latitude occurs. The AO is closely related to the area of the United States enclosed within the USPV.