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Schweiger 2004
Schweiger, A.J. (2004). Changes in seasonal cloud cover over the Arctic seas from satellite and surface observations. Geophysical Research Letters 31: doi: 10.1029/2004GL020067. issn: 0094-8276.

Winter and spring changes in cloudiness are compared over the arctic seas (ocean areas north of 60¿N) from the TOVS (TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder) Polar Pathfinder retrievals and two separate datasets derived from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR). All satellite products exhibit significant decreases in cloud fraction over the arctic seas during winter (December, January, February) on the order of 5 %/decade. An equally striking increase in spring (March, April, May) cloudiness is evident from the TOVS Pathfinder (TPP) and the extended AVHRR Polar Pathfinder (APP-x) projects. In the Central Arctic these positive trends can be as large as 15 %/decade. Surface observations from the Russian drifting meteorological stations are consistent with satellite- observed changes during the 1980s. Negative trends in spring cloudiness reported by Comiso <2003> are in conflict with these findings. Spring changes in cloudiness are associated with changes in the atmospheric circulation. These dramatic, large-scale changes may have substantial impacts on the surface energy balance.

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Atmospheric Composition and Structure, Cloud physics and chemistry, Global Change, Remote sensing, Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics, Climatology, Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics, Polar meteorology, Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics, Radiative processes
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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