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Detailed Reference Information |
Manney, G.L., Livesey, N.J., Jimenez, C.J., Pumphrey, H.C., Santee, M.L., MacKenzie, I.A. and Waters, J.W. (2006). EOS Microwave Limb Sounder observations of “frozen-in” anticyclonic air in Arctic summer. Geophysical Research Letters 33: doi: 10.1029/2005GL025418. issn: 0094-8276. |
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A previously unreported phenomenon, a "frozen-in" anticyclone (FrIAC) after the 2005 Arctic spring vortex breakup, was discovered in Earth Observing System (EOS) Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) long-lived trace gas data. A tongue of low-latitude (high-N2O, low-H2O) air was drawn into high latitudes and confined in a tight anticyclone, then advected intact in the summer easterlies through late August. A similar feature in O3 disappeared by early April as a result of chemical processes. The FrIAC was initially advected upright at nearly the same speed at all levels from ~660 to 1300 K (~25--45 km); increasing vertical wind shear after early June tilted the FrIAC and weakened it at higher levels. The associated feature in PV disappeared by early June; transport calculations fail to reproduce the remarkable persistence of the FrIAC, suggesting deficiencies in summer high-latitude winds. The historical PV record suggests that this phenomenon may have occurred several times before. The lack of a persistent signature in O3 or PV, along with its small size and rapid motion, make it unlikely that a FrIAC could have been reliably identified without hemispheric daily long-lived trace gas profiles such as those from EOS MLS. |
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Abstract |
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Keywords
Atmospheric Composition and Structure, Middle atmosphere, composition and chemistry, Atmospheric Composition and Structure, Middle atmosphere, constituent transport and chemistry, Atmospheric Processes, Middle atmosphere dynamics (0341, 0342) |
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Publisher
American Geophysical Union 2000 Florida Avenue N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009-1277 USA 1-202-462-6900 1-202-328-0566 service@agu.org |
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