Open AccessEastern Antarctic Peninsula precipitation delivery mechanisms: process studies and back trajectory evaluation
Author(s) -
Russell Andrew,
McGregor Glenn R.,
Marshall Gareth J.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
atmospheric science letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.951
H-Index - 45
ISSN - 1530-261X
DOI - 10.1002/asl.190
Subject(s) - peninsula , advanced very high resolution radiometer , trajectory , climatology , precipitation , satellite , environmental science , meteorology , oceanography , geology , geography , physics , archaeology , astronomy , engineering , aerospace engineering
Abstract The atmospheric circulation patterns that result in precipitation events at a site on the eastern Antarctic Peninsula (AP) are investigated using back trajectories (BTs) driven by ERA‐40 data. Moisture delivery occurs from the east and west depending on the location of blocking events in the South Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Observations are sparse in this region, so our process studies compare the trajectories (and the ERA‐40 fields from which they were derived) with advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) satellite images. It is found that the trajectories represent these transport mechanisms very well and that they are relatively insensitive to the initial trajectory elevation. Copyright © 2008 Royal Meteorological Society