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Analysis of the warmest Arctic winter, 2015–2016
Author(s) -
Cullather Richard I.,
Lim YoungKwon,
Boisvert Linette N.,
Brucker Ludovic,
Lee Jae N.,
Nowicki Sophie M. J.
Publication year - 2016
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 - 10.1002/2016gl071228
Subject(s) - climatology , teleconnection , arctic , arctic sea ice decline , arctic ice pack , downwelling , arctic dipole anomaly , sea ice , arctic geoengineering , environmental science , geology , antarctic sea ice , oceanography , atmospheric sciences , upwelling , el niño southern oscillation
December through February 2015–2016 defines the warmest winter season over the Arctic in the observational record. Positive 2 m temperature anomalies were focused over regions of reduced sea ice cover in the Kara and Barents Seas and southwestern Alaska. A third region is found over the ice‐covered central Arctic Ocean. The period is marked by a strong synoptic pattern which produced melting temperatures in close proximity to the North Pole in late December and anomalous high pressure near the Taymyr Peninsula. Atmospheric teleconnections from the Atlantic contributed to warming over Eurasian high‐latitude land surfaces, and El Niño‐related teleconnections explain warming over southwestern Alaska and British Columbia, while warm anomalies over the central Arctic are associated with physical processes including the presence of enhanced atmospheric water vapor and an increased downwelling longwave radiative flux. Preconditioning of sea ice conditions by warm temperatures affected the ensuing spring extent.