Open AccessMarine cold air outbreaks in the Russian Arctic: climatology, interannual variability, dependence on sea-ice concentration
Author(s) -
Alexandra Narizhnaya,
А. V. Chernokulsky,
Mirseid Akperov,
Dmitry Chechin,
Igor Esau,
A. V. Timazhev
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
iop conference series. earth and environmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.179
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1755-1307
pISSN - 1755-1315
DOI - 10.1088/1755-1315/606/1/012039
Subject(s) - climatology , environmental science , arctic , the arctic , oceanography , sea ice , arctic ice pack , atmospheric sciences , geology
In this study, we evaluated the climatology and interannual variability of marine cold-air outbreaks (MCAOs) in the Russian Arctic marginal seas (from the Barents to Chukchi seas). We used a simple index for identifying MCAOs based on the vertical potential temperature gradient between the sea surface and the 800 hPa level. We calculated the index using 6-hourly Era-Interim data for the 1979–2018 period. Given the index, we evaluated spatial and temporal variability of weak, medium, and strong MCAOs frequency as well as their dependence on sea-ice concentration using non-parametric tests. The most intense MCAOs were found in the Barents and Kara seas. The annual cycle maximum for the western Russian Arctic (WRA) were found in wintertime, while it was revealed in mid-late autumn for the eastern Russian Arctic (ERA). In the WRA, we found a statistically significant decrease in amount of strong MCAOs in winter and late autumn and a general strengthening of MCAOs in spring. Meanwhile, over the ERA region, increase of moderate and weak cold-air intrusions during October and November was revealed.