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Observations of vertically thick polar stratospheric clouds and record low temperature in the Arctic Vortex
Author(s) -
Kivi Rigel,
Kyrö Esko,
Dörnbrack Andreas,
Birner Thomas
Publication year - 2001
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 - 10.1029/2001gl013187
Subject(s) - radiosonde , polar vortex , stratosphere , arctic , atmospheric sciences , sudden stratospheric warming , polar , environmental science , climatology , geology , vortex , polar night , the arctic , meteorology , geography , oceanography , physics , astronomy
On 12 and 13 January 2001 backscatter sondes launched at Sodankylä, Finland (67°N, 27°E) detected an extraordinarily thick polar stratospheric cloud layer of more than 8 km vertical extent. On these days the polar vortex passed over northern Scandinavia. This provided synoptic‐scale low stratospheric temperatures leading to the formation of both liquid and solid phase particles. Two days later, on 15 January 2001, a regular radiosonde measured record low temperature of 176.7 K at an altitude of 25.2 km at the vortex edge. High vertical resolution radiosonde profiles and meteorological analyses indicate strong mountain wave activity on this day. This provides further evidence that the coldest temperatures in the Arctic lower stratosphere occur as a consequence of mountain wave cooling under cold synoptic‐scale background conditions.