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The climate observations at Orcadas represent the only southern high-latitude site where data span more than a century, and its daily measurements are presented for the first time in this paper. Although limited to a single station, the observed warming trends are among the largest found anywhere on the earth, facilitating the study of changes in extreme temperatures as well as averages. Factors that may influence Antarctic climate include natural variability; changes in greenhouse gases; and, since about the mid-1970s, the development of the ozone hole. The seasonality of observed warming and its temporal evolution during the century are both key for interpretations of Antarctic climate change. No statistically significant climate trends are observed at Orcadas from 1903 to 1950. However, statistically significant warming is evident at Orcadas throughout all four seasons of the year since 1950. Particularly in austral fall and winter, the warming of the cold extremes (coldest 5% and 10% of days) substantially exceeds the warming of the mean or of the warmest days, providing a key indicator for cold season Antarctic climate change studies. Trends in the summer season means and extremes since 1970 are approximately twice as large as those observed earlier, supporting suggestions of additional regional warming in that season because of the effects of ozone depletion on the circulation. Further, in the spring and summer seasons, significant mean warming also occurred prior to the development of the Antarctic ozone hole (i.e., 1950–70), supporting an important role for processes other than ozone depletion, such as greenhouse gas increases, for the climate changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropopause polar vortices (TPVs) are coherent circulations that occur over polar regions and can be identified by a local minimum in potential temperature and local maximum in potential vorticity. Numerous studies have focused on TPVs in the Arctic region; however, no previous studies have focused on the Antarctic. Given the role of TPVs in the Northern Hemisphere with surface cyclones and other extreme weather, and the role that surface cyclones can play on moisture transport and sea ice breakup, it is important to understand whether similar associations exist in the Southern Hemisphere. Here, characteristics of TPVs in the Antarctic are evaluated for the first time under the hypothesis that their characteristics do not significantly differ from those of the Northern Hemisphere. To improve understanding of Antarctic TPV characteristics, this study examines TPVs of the Southern Hemisphere and compares them to their Northern Hemisphere counterparts from 1979 to 2018 using ERA-Interim data. Common characteristics of TPVs including frequency, locations, lifetimes, strength, and seasonality are evaluated. Results indicate that topography correlates to the geographic distribution of TPVs and the locations of local maxima TPV occurrence, as observed in the Northern Hemisphere. Additionally, TPVs in the Southern Hemisphere exhibit seasonal variations for amplitude, lifetime, and minimum potential temperature. Southern Hemisphere TPVs share many similar characteristics to those observed in the Northern Hemisphere, including longer summer lifetimes. The association of Southern Hemisphere TPVs and surface cyclone frequency is explored, and it appears that TPVs have a precursory role to surface cyclones, as seen in the Northern Hemisphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 5 July to 11 September 2012, the Amundsen–Scott South Pole station experienced an unprecedented 78 days in a row with a maximum temperature at or below −50°C. Aircraft and ground-based activity cannot function without risk below this temperature. Lengthy periods of extreme cold temperatures are characterized by a drop in pressure of around 15 hPa over 4 days, accompanied by winds from grid east. Periodic influxes of warm air from the Weddell Sea raise the temperature as the wind shifts to grid north. The end of the event occurs when the temperature increase is enough to move past the −50°C threshold. This study also examines the length of extreme cold periods. The number of days below −50°C in early winter has been decreasing since 1999, and this trend is statistically significant at the 5% level. Late winter shows an increase in the number of days below −50°C for the same period, but this trend is not statistically significant. Changes in the southern annular mode, El Niño–Southern Oscillation, and the interdecadal Pacific oscillation/tripole index are investigated in relation to the initiation of extreme cold events. None of the correlations are statistically significant. A positive southern annular mode and a La Niña event or a central Pacific El Niño–Southern Oscillation pattern would position the upper-level circulation to favor a strong, symmetrical polar vortex with strong westerlies over the Southern Ocean, leading to a cold pattern over the South Pole. Significance Statement: The Amundsen–Scott South Pole station is the coldest Antarctic station staffed year-round by U.S. personnel. Access to the station is primarily by airplane, especially during the winter months. Ambient temperature limits air access as planes cannot operate at minimum temperatures below −50°C. The station gets supplies during the winter months if needed, and medical emergencies can happen requiring evacuations. Knowing when planes would be able to fly is crucial, especially for life-saving efforts. During 2012, a record 78 continuous days of temperatures below −50°C occurred. A positive southern annular mode denoting strong westerly winds over the Pacific Ocean and a strong polar vortex over the South Pole contribute to the maintenance of long periods of extremely cold temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric moisture is a key component in the water cycle and radiative transfer. In this study, a comprehensive picture of air moisture climatology and related physical processes is presented for the first time for the circumpolar area south of 50°S. The results are based on the most modern global reanalysis, ERA5, which manages reasonably well to close the Antarctic water budget. We show that over the ocean transient cyclones have the dominant role in determining moisture conditions, whereas over the continent the moisture conditions are largely affected by the mean circulation. Over the open sea, moisture transport from lower latitudes is an equally important source of moisture compared to the local evaporation, but practically all precipitating moisture over the plateau is provided by the horizontal transport. Over the ocean and continental slopes, southward moisture transport brings warm and moist air masses from lower latitudes, notably increasing atmospheric water vapor and cloud water, and simultaneously decreasing local evaporation over the open sea. On the Antarctic plateau, radiative cooling leads to high relative humidity and causes condensation of moisture especially near the surface, causing a nearly permanent specific humidity inversion layer. As a consequence, dry air masses with extremely low specific humidity are formed. These dry air masses are transported downward from the plateau by katabatic winds, experiencing adiabatic warming. This leads to a decrease in relative humidity and to a downward-directed sensible heat flux, which enable efficient surface evaporation on the coastal slopes and farther over coastal polynyas and leads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Antarctic Slope Front (ASF) is a fundamental feature of the subpolar Southern Ocean that is still poorly observed. In this study we build a statistical climatology of the temperature and salinity fields of the upper 380m of the Antarctic margin. We use a comprehensive compilation of observational datasets including the profiles gathered by instrumented marine mammals. The mapping method consists first of a decomposition in vertical modes of the combined temperature and salinity profiles. Then the resulting principal components are optimally interpolated on a regular grid and the monthly climatological profiles are reconstructed, providing a physically plausible representation of the ocean. The ASF is located with a contour method and a gradient method applied on the temperature field, two complementary approaches that provide a complete view of the ASF structure. The front extends from the Amundsen Sea to the eastern Weddell Sea and closely tracks the continental shelf break. It is associated with a sharp temperature gradient that is stronger in winter and weaker in summer. The emergence of the front in the Amundsen and Bellingshausen sectors appears to be seasonally variable (slightly more westward in winter than in summer). Investigation of the density gradients across the shelf break indicates a winter slowdown of the baroclinic component of the Antarctic Slope Current at the near surface, in contrast with the seasonal variability of the temperature gradient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Present-day Arctic and Antarctic climate of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Community Climate Model version 3 (CCM3) is presented. The CCM3 simulation is from a prescribed and interannually varying sea surface temperature integration from January 1979 through August 1993. Observations from a variety of sources, including the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts analyses, rawinsonde, and surface station data, are used for validation of CCM3's polar climate during this period. Overall, CCM3 can simulate many important polar climatic features and in general is an incremental improvement over CCM2. The 500-hPa polar vortex minima are too deep by 50--100 m and too zonally symmetric. The Arctic sea level pressure maximum is displaced poleward, while the Icelandic region minimum is extended toward Europe, and the Aleutian region minimum is extended toward Asia. The Antarctic circumpolar trough of low sea level pressure is slightly north of the observed position and is 2--3 hPa too low. Antarctic katabatic winds are similar to observations in magnitude and regional variation. The Antarctic surface wind stress is estimated to be 30%--50% too strong in some regions. Polar tropospheric temperatures are 2&deg--4&degC colder than observations, mostly in the summer season. Low-level winter inversions over the Arctic Ocean are only 3&deg--4&degC, rather than the observed 10&degC. In the Antarctic midcontinent they are around 25&deg--30&degC (about 5&deg stronger than observed) and continue to be stronger than observed along the coast. Although water vapor column is uniformly low by 10%--20% compared to analyses in both polar regions, the regional patterns of minima over Greenland and the East Antarctic plateau are well represented. Annual 70&deg to pole CCM3 values are 5.8 kg m[sup-2] for the Arctic and 1.7 kg m[sup-2] for the Antarctic. The regional distribution of precipitation minus evaporation compares reasonably with analyses. (...). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Polar Radiant Energy in the Far Infrared Experiment (PREFIRE) mission will, for the first time, systematically document the far-infrared (15–54 µm) spectral region from space. The environmental sampling characteristics of the PREFIRE CubeSats, defined in terms of surface temperature (Tsfc) and column water vapor (CWV) are evaluated for a range of possible orbit scenarios for both clear-sky and all-sky conditions over a variety of surface types (land, ocean, sea ice, snow, glacier ice) at both poles. Using NASA Aqua's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) retrievals to define the climatological ranges of Tsfc and CWV, the fraction of environmental regimes observed by distinct PREFIRE configurations are evaluated. The sampling rates within any single year for two-orbit CubeSat launches spanning both polar regions are ~75% for clear-sky and ~85% for all-sky compared to the AIRS/AMSU climatology. Decreasing mission duration from 12 to 3 months decreases sampling much more (10%–20%) than decreasing the swath width from 15 to 8 footprints (6%–9%). For a single CubeSat launch, a 98° orbital inclination provides slightly better sampling than either 93° or 103°. For a two-orbit CubeSat launch, a combination of 93° + 98° is somewhat preferable to 103° + 98°. Finally, a 50% data loss rate simulated by dropping out every other orbit leads to only a modest 7%–8% reduction in sampling from full data coverage. This statistical analysis demonstrates that low-cost platforms could offer similar coverage as present-day flagship missions for sampling wide-ranging Tsfc and CWV states over polar regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Near-surface wind speed observations from 30 manned meteorological stations and 26 automatic weather stations over the Antarctic Ice Sheet are used to examine the robustness of wind speed climatology in six recent global reanalysis products: the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2), the Japan Meteorological Agency 55-Year Reanalysis (JRA-55), the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR), the National Centers for Environmental Prediction–U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Reanalysis 2 (NCEP2), and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) interim reanalysis (ERA-Interim) and fifth-generation reanalysis (ERA5). Their skills for representing near-surface wind speeds vary by season, with better performance in summer than in winter. At the regional scale, all reanalysis datasets perform more poorly for the magnitude, but better for their year-to-year changes in wind regimes in the escarpment than the coastal and plateau regions. By comparison, ERA5 has the best performance for the monthly averaged wind speed magnitude and the interannual variability of the near-surface wind speed from 1979 onward. Intercomparison exhibits high and significant correlations for annual and seasonal wind speed Antarctic-wide averages from different datasets during their overlapping timespans (1980–2018), despite some regional disagreements between the different reanalyses. Furthermore, all of the reanalyses show positive trends of the annual and summer wind speeds for the 1980–2018 period, which are linked with positive polarity of the southern annular mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves is expected to increase during the twenty-first century as the ocean warms, which will have consequences for ice sheet stability and global sea level rise. Here we present future projections of Antarctic ice shelf melting using the Finite Element Sea Ice/Ice-Shelf Ocean Model (FESOM) forced with atmospheric output from models from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). CMIP5 models are chosen based on their agreement with historical atmospheric reanalyses over the Southern Ocean; the best-performing models are ACCESS 1.0 and the CMIP5 multimodel mean. Their output is bias-corrected for the representative concentration pathway (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios. During the twenty-first-century simulations, total ice shelf basal mass loss increases by between 41% and 129%. Every sector of Antarctica shows increased basal melting in every scenario, with the largest increases occurring in the Amundsen Sea. The main mechanism driving this melting is an increase in warm Circumpolar Deep Water on the Antarctic continental shelf. A reduction in wintertime sea ice formation simulated during the twenty-first century stratifies the water column, allowing a warm bottom layer to develop and intrude into ice shelf cavities. This effect may be overestimated in the Amundsen Sea because of a cold bias in the present-day simulation. Other consequences of weakened sea ice formation include freshening of High Salinity Shelf Water and warming of Antarctic Bottom Water. Furthermore, freshening around the Antarctic coast in our simulations causes the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to weaken and the Antarctic Coastal Current to strengthen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humidity inversions are nearly permanently present in the coastal Antarctic atmosphere. This is shown based on an investigation of statistical characteristics of humidity inversions at 11 Antarctic coastal stations using radiosonde data from the Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA) from 2000 to 2009. The humidity inversion occurrence was highest in winter and spring, and high atmospheric pressure and cloud-free conditions generally increased the occurrence. A typical humidity inversion was less than 200 m deep and 0.2 g kg−1 strong, and a typical humidity profile contained several separate inversion layers. The inversion base height had notable seasonal variations, but generally the humidity inversions were located at higher altitudes than temperature inversions. Roughly half of the humidity inversions were associated with temperature inversions, especially near the surface, and humidity and temperature inversion strengths as well as depths correlated at several stations. On the other hand, approximately 60% of the humidity inversions were accompanied by horizontal advection of water vapor increasing with height, which is also a probable factor supporting humidity inversions. The spatial variability of humidity inversions was linked to the topography and the water vapor content of the air. Compared to previous results for the Arctic, the most striking differences in humidity inversions in the Antarctic were a much higher frequency of occurrence in summer, at least under clear skies, and a reverse seasonal cycle of the inversion height. The results can be used as a baseline for validation of weather prediction and climate models and for studies addressing changes in atmospheric moisture budget in the Antarctic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A model simulation forced by prescribed ozone depletion shows strong dynamical modulation of the springtime cooling of the polar stratosphere associated with the Antarctic ozone hole. The authors find that in late spring the anomalous radiative cooling in response to ozone depletion is almost canceled above ~100 hPa by an increase in dynamical heating. Between ~300 and ~100 hPa, however, it is enhanced by a reduction in dynamical heating, resulting in the descent of the cold anomaly down to the tropopause. In early summer increased dynamical heating dominates as the radiative cooling diminishes so that the cold anomaly associated with the delayed breakup of the stratospheric vortex is reduced. The anomalous dynamical heating is driven by changes in the Brewer-Dobson circulation arising primarily from the dissipation of resolved-scale waves. The model changes are broadly consistent with trends from reanalysis and offline diagnoses of heating rates using a radiation scheme. These results help one to understand dynamically induced change in the evolution and timing of the stratospheric vortex in recent decades and will help to enable improved simulation of the Southern Hemisphere climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, surface and radiosonde data from staffed Antarctic observation stations are compared to output from five reanalyses [Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR), 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40), ECMWF Interim Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim), Japanese 25-year Reanalysis (JRA-25), and Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA)] over three decades spanning 1979-2008. Bias and year-to-year correlation between the reanalyses and observations are assessed for four variables: mean sea level pressure (MSLP), near-surface air temperature ( Ts), 500-hPa geopotential height ( H500), and 500-hPa temperature ( T500). It was found that CFSR and MERRA are of a sufficiently high resolution for the height of the orography to be accurately reproduced at coastal observation stations. Progressively larger negative Ts biases at these coastal stations are apparent for reanalyses in order of decreasing resolution. However, orography height bias cannot explain large winter warm biases in CFSR, JRA-25, and MERRA (11.1°, 10.2°, and 7.9°C, respectively) at Amundsen-Scott and Vostok, which have been linked to problems with representing the surface energy balance. Linear trends in the annual-mean T500 and H500 averaged over Antarctica as a whole were found to be most reliable in CFSR, ERA-Interim, and MERRA, none of which show significant trends over the period 1979-2008. In contrast JRA-25 shows significant negative trends over 1979-2008 and ERA-40 gives significant positive trends during the 1980s (evident in both T500 and H500). Comparison to observations indicates that the positive trend in ERA-40 is spurious. At the smaller spatial scale of individual stations all five reanalyses have some spurious trends. However, ERA-Interim was found to be the most reliable for MSLP and H500 trends at station locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A preindustrial control run and an ensemble of twentieth-century integrations of the Community Climate System Model, version 4 (CCSM4), are evaluated for Antarctic sea ice climatology, modes of variability, trends, and covariance with related physical variables such as surface temperature and sea level pressure. Compared to observations, the mean ice cover is too extensive in all months. This is in part related to excessively strong westerly winds over ~50°-60°S, which drive a large equatorward meridional ice transport and enhanced ice growth near the continent and also connected with a cold bias in the Southern Ocean. In spite of these biases in the climatology, the model's sea ice variability compares well to observations. The leading mode of austral winter sea ice concentration exhibits a dipole structure with anomalies of opposite sign in the Atlantic and Pacific sectors. Both the El Niño-Southern Oscillation and the southern annular mode (SAM) project onto this mode. In twentieth-century integrations, Antarctic sea ice area exhibits significant decreasing annual trends in all six ensemble members from 1950 to 2005, in apparent contrast to observations that suggest a modest ice area increase since 1979. Two ensemble members show insignificant changes when restricted to 1979-2005. The ensemble mean shows a significant increase in the austral summer SAM index over 1960-2005 and 1979-2005 that compares well with the observed SAM trend. However, Antarctic warming and sea ice loss in the model are closely connected to each other and not to the trend in the SAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents the first continuous, high spatiotemporal resolution time series of landfast sea ice extent along the East Antarctic coast for the period March 2000-December 2008. The time series was derived from consecutive 20-day cloud-free Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) composite images. Fast ice extent across the East Antarctic coast shows a statistically significant (1.43%% ±0.30%% yr−1) increase. Regionally, there is a strong increase in the Indian Ocean sector (20°-90°E, 4.07%% ±0.42%% yr−1), and a nonsignificant decrease in the western Pacific Ocean sector (90°-160°E, −0.40%% ±0.37%% yr−1). An apparent shift from a negative to a positive extent trend is observed in the Indian Ocean sector from 2004. This shift also coincides with a greater amount of interannual variability. No such shift in apparent trend is observed in the western Pacific Ocean sector, where fast ice extent is typically higher and variability lower than the Indian Ocean sector. The limit to the maximum fast ice areal extent imposed by the location of grounded icebergs modulates the shape of the mean annual fast ice extent cycle to give a broad maximum and an abrupt, relatively transient minimum. Ten distinct fast ice regimes are identified, related to variations in bathymetry and coastal configuration. Fast ice is observed to form in bays, on the windward side of large grounded icebergs, between groups of smaller grounded icebergs, between promontories, and upwind of coastal features (e.g., glacier tongues). Analysis of the timing of fast ice maxima and minima is also presented and compared with overall sea ice maxima/minima timing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface-based inversions (SBIs) are frequent features of the Arctic and Antarctic atmospheric boundary layer. They influence vertical mixing of energy, moisture and pollutants, cloud formation, and surface ozone destruction. Their climatic variability is related to that of sea ice and planetary albedo, important factors in climate feedback mechanisms. However, climatological polar SBI properties have not been fully characterized nor have climate model simulations of SBIs been compared comprehensively to observations. Using 20 years of twice-daily observations from 39 Arctic and 6 Antarctic radiosonde stations, this study examines the spatial and temporal variability of three SBI characteristic-frequency of occurrence, depth (from the surface to the inversion top), and intensity (temperature difference over the SBI depth)-and relationships among them. In both polar regions, SBIs are more frequent, deeper, and stronger in winter and autumn than in summer and spring. In the Arctic, these tendencies increase from the Norwegian Sea eastward toward the East Siberian Sea, associated both with (seasonal and diurnal) variations in solar elevation angle at the standard radiosonde observation times and with differences between continental and maritime climates. Two state-of-the-art climate models and one reanalysis dataset show similar seasonal patterns and spatial distributions of SBI properties as the radiosonde observations, but with biases in their magnitudes that differ among the models and that are smaller in winter and autumn than in spring and summer. SBI frequency, depth, and intensity are positively correlated, both spatially and temporally, and all three are anticorrelated with surface temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the long-range dependency, climate noise characteristics, and nonlinear temperature trends of eight Antarctic stations from the Reference Antarctic Data for Environmental Research (READER) dataset. Evidence is shown that Antarctic temperatures are long-range dependent. To identify possible nonlinear trends, the ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) method is used, and then the question of whether the observed trends can arise from internal atmospheric fluctuations is examined. To answer this question, surrogate data are generated from two paradigmatic null models: a standard first-order autoregressive process representing a short-range dependent process and a fractional integrated process representing a long-range dependent process. It is found that three of the eight stations show statistically significant trends when tested against the short-range dependent process while only the Faraday--Vernadsky station temperature time series shows a significant trend when tested against the long-range dependent null model. All other considered stations show no trends that are statistically significant against the two null models, and thus they can be explained by internal atmospheric variability. These results imply that more attention should be given to assessing the correlation structure of climate time series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analysis of the surface wind field across the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica, is conducted for austral autumn 2005. The airflow is divided into dominant wind regimes identifying similar wind patterns and the associated typical atmospheric forcing. The results of previous research and a seasonal analysis of the recently expanded network of automatic weather stations in the Ross Ice Shelf region are used to define the dominant wind regimes. Events composing each wind regime are identified by matching wind speed and wind direction observations at several automatic weather station sites for durations of at least 10 h. The four different dominant wind regimes are barrier wind, strong katabatic, weak katabatic, and light wind. Each wind regime is studied through the use of wind rose plots and sea level pressure fields from the Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System. The sea level pressure fields are used to characterize the forcing of the surface wind field by synoptic pressure gradients. The four dominant wind regimes result in classifying less than 50% of the total hours for austral autumn 2005. The results indicate that previous studies of the Ross Ice Shelf surface wind field, focusing on katabatic winds and barrier winds, represent less than one-half of the observed winds. This study provides a better understanding of the composition of the surface wind field in Antarctica and more insight into the characteristics of the Ross Ice Shelf airstream. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the need for improved weather prediction capabilities in support of the U.S. Antarctic Program’s Antarctic field operations, the Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System (AMPS) was implemented in October 2000. AMPS employs a limited-area model, the Polar fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU–NCAR) Mesoscale Model (MM5), optimized for use over ice sheets. Twice-daily forecasts from the 3.3-km resolution domain of AMPS are joined together to study the climate of the McMurdo region from June 2002 to May 2003. Annual and seasonal distributions of wind direction and speed, 2-m temperature, mean sea level pressure, precipitation, and cloud fraction are presented. This is the first time a model adapted for polar use and with relatively high resolution is used to study the climate of the rugged McMurdo region, allowing several important climatological features to be investigated with unprecedented detail. Orographic effects exert an important influence on the near-surface winds. Time-mean vortices occur in the lee of Ross Island, perhaps a factor in the high incidence of mesoscale cyclogenesis noted in this area. The near-surface temperature gradient is oriented northwest to southeast with the warmest temperatures in the northwest near McMurdo and the gradient being steepest in winter. The first-ever detailed precipitation maps of the region are presented. Orographic precipitation maxima occur on the southerly slopes of Ross Island and in the mountains to the southwest. The source of the moisture is primarily from the large synoptic systems passing to the northeast and east of Ross Island. A precipitation-shadow effect appears to be an important influence on the low precipitation amounts observed in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Total cloud fraction primarily depends on the amount of open water in the Ross Sea; the cloudiest region is to the northeast of Ross Island in the vicinity of the Ross Sea polynya. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the temporal evolution of the tropospheric circulation following large-amplitude variations in the strength of the Southern Hemisphere (SH) stratospheric polar vortex in data from 1979 to 2001 and following the SH sudden stratospheric warming of 2002. In both cases, anomalies in the strength of the SH stratospheric polar vortex precede similarly signed anomalies in the tropospheric circulation that persist for more than 2 months. The SH tropospheric circulation anomalies reflect a bias in the polarity of the SH annular mode (SAM), a large-scale pattern of climate variability characterized by fluctuations in the strength of the SH circumpolar flow. Consistent with the climate impacts of the SAM, variations in the stratospheric polar vortex are also followed by coherent changes in surface temperatures throughout much of Antarctica. The results add to a growing body of evidence that suggests that stratospheric variability plays an important role in driving climate variability at Earth’s surface on a range of time scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new dataset of monthly and annual mean near-surface climate data (temperature, surface and mean sea level pressure, and wind speed) for the Antarctic region has been created using historical observations [Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Reference Antarctic Data for Environmental Research (READER)]. Where possible, 6-hourly surface synoptic and automatic weather station observations were used to compute the means. The ability to quality control the data at the level of individual observations has produced a more accurate series of monthly means than was available previously. At the time of writing, the mean data are available on the Internet (). Data for 43 surface-staffed stations and 61 automatic weather stations are included in the database. Here, mean temperature, pressure, and wind speed data for 19 occupied stations with long records are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent Antarctic climate variability on month-to-month to interannual time scales is assessed through joint analysis of surface temperatures from satellite thermal infrared observations (TIR) and passive microwave brightness temperatures (TB). Although TIR data are limited to clear-sky conditions and TB data are a product of the temperature and emissivity of the upper ∼1 m of snow, the two datasets share significant covariance. This covariance is largely explained by three empirical modes, which illustrate the spatial and temporal variability of Antarctic surface temperatures. The TB variations are damped compared to TIR variations, as determined by the period of the temperature forcing and the microwave emission depth; however, microwave emissivity does not vary significantly in time. Comparison of the temperature modes with Southern Hemisphere (SH) 500-hPa geopotential height anomalies demonstrates that Antarctic temperature anomalies are predominantly controlled by the principal patterns of SH atmospheric circulation. The leading surface temperature mode strongly correlates with the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) in geopotential height. The second temperature mode reflects the combined influences of the zonal wavenumber-3 and Pacific–South American (PSA) patterns in 500-hPa height on month-to-month time scales. ENSO variability projects onto this mode on interannual time scales, but is not by itself a good predictor of Antarctic temperature anomalies. The third temperature mode explains winter warming trends, which may be caused by blocking events, over a large region of the East Antarctic plateau. These results help to place recent climate changes in the context of Antarctica's background climate variability and will aid in the interpretation of ice core paleoclimate records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impacts of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on the Antarctic region are of special importance in evaluating the variability and change of the climate system in high southern latitudes. In this study, the ENSO signal in modeled precipitation over West Antarctica since 1979 is evaluated using forecast precipitation from several meteorological analyses and reanalyses. Additionally, a dynamical retrieval method (DRM) for precipitation is applied. Over the last two decades, the Southern Oscillation index (SOI) has an overall anticorrelation with precipitation over the West Antarctic sector bounded by 75°–90°S, 120°W–180° while it is positively correlated with precipitation over the South Atlantic sector bounded by 65°–75°S, 30°–60°W. Decadal variations are found as the relationship between the SOI and West Antarctic precipitation is stronger in the 1990s than that in the 1980s. The polar front jet stream, West Antarctic precipitation, and the SOI show a well-ordered correspondence during the 1990s as the jet zonal speed is negatively correlated to the SOI and positively correlated to West Antarctic precipitation. These relationships are weaker during the 1980s, consistent with the change in sign of the correlation between the SOI and West Antarctic precipitation. The decadal variations are apparently related to changes in the quasi-stationary eddies that determine the local onshore and offshore flow over West Antarctica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The density and range of observations made by meteorological stations is insufficient to fully characterize decadal climate variability in Antarctica. Satellite-borne instruments, which offer a high spatial and temporal density of information, can contribute complementary data for characterizing Antarctic climate change. Here, partial melting of Antarctic snow, which significantly affects the microwave emissivity of the surface, is identified and counted over 18 yr in the 20-yr period 1980–99. The cumulated product of the surface area affected by melting and the duration of the melting event, called cumulative melting surface (CMS), is one of the three melt indices defined and discussed here. On average over the last 20 yr, the Antarctic CMS has decreased by 1.8% ± 1% yr[sup -1] , a result that is consistent with a mean January cooling of the continent recently identified from infrared satellite data. In addition, the interannual signatures of the Antarctic Oscillation, and possibly of the Southern Oscillation, are found in the melt indices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sensitivity of the surface mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet to a change in temperature and a change in the sea ice extent is studied with a regional atmospheric climate model (RACMO) using a horizontal grid spacing of 55 km. The model is driven at its lateral boundaries by the reanalyses from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. Sea ice extent and sea surface temperature are prescribed from observations. A control integration is performed for the 5-yr period 1980-84. In a 5-yr sensitivity run, the model is forced by a 2-K increase in temperature at the sea surface and at the lateral boundaries of the model domain, and a reduction in the sea ice extent. The relative humidity at the lateral boundaries is kept constant. The calculated surface mass balance of the grounded Antarctic ice is found to increase by 30% due to the 2K warming and the retreat of the sea ice. This value is two to three times as large as previous estimates, which were based on simplified atmospheric models and on statistical relations between the surface temperature and the surface mass balance. Additional sensitivity runs show that applying the forcing throughout the atmosphere in the lateral boundary zone has a more significant effect than applying the forcing at the sea surface, especially for the interior of the ice sheet. If only an increase in the sea surface temperature or a retreat of the sea ice is prescribed, the increase in temperature and specific humidity is restricted to the lowest 2 km of the atmosphere above the ocean. Sensitivity runs with forcings in the range of -5 to +10 K indicate that the commonly used assumption stating that the surface mass balance responds in proportion to the change in continental saturation specific humidity at the inversion height is an oversimplification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because many of the synoptic cyclones south of the 60°S parallel originate from 60°S and lower latitudes, nudging an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) with meteorological analyses at the periphery of the Antarctic region may be expected to exert a strong control on the atmospheric circulation inside the region. Here, the ECMWF reanalyses are used to nudge the atmospheric circulation of the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique Zoom (LMDZ) stretched-grid AGCM in a 15-yr simulation spanning the 1979–93 period. The horizontal resolution (grid spacing) in the model reaches ∼100 km south of 60°S. Nudging is exerted along the 60°S parallel, and this is called lateral nudging for the Antarctic region. Nudging is also performed farther north, near 50° and 40°S, but this is not essential for the results discussed here. Surface pressure and winds in the atmospheric column are nudged without relaxation to maximize control by the meteorological analyses, at the expense of some “noise” confined to the latitudes where nudging is exerted. The performances of lateral nudging are evaluated with respect to station observations, the free (unnudged) model, the ECMWF reanalyses, and in limited instances with respect to nudging the surface pressure only. It is shown that the free model has limited but persistent surface pressure and geopotential defects in the Antarctic region, which are efficiently corrected by lateral nudging. Also, the laterally nudged simulations confirm, and to some extent correct, a geopotential deficiency of the ECMWF reanalyses over the east Antarctic continent previously identified by others. The monthly mean variability of surface climate at several stations along a coast-to-pole transect is analyzed. A significant fraction of the observed variability of surface pressure and temperature is reproduced. The fraction is often less than in the reanalyses. However, the differences... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study that observed summer observations of surface meteorological variables, high-resolution boundary layer profiles, and upper-air profiles in the intermediate region between the high plateau and the coast in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. Location and experimental setup; General meteorological description; Influence of katabatic forcing.

An interactive atmosphere-ocean instability mechanism that reproduces some salient properties of the observed Antarctic Circumpolar Wave and also its manifestation in the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Mark 2 coupled model is analyzed with a more complete treatment than that studied by others. It is suggested that this interaction mechanism is important in maintaining this phenomenon in both the model and the real atmosphere-ocean but is not strong enough to initiate it. Through use of a simple model consisting of a zonally periodic midlatitude beta plane with a uniform mean north-south temperature gradient, a barotropic atmosphere, and a two-layer ocean with an inactive lower layer, the stability of uniform zonal flow to small perturbations was analyzed. The perturbation equations describe the velocity and temperature fields in both the atmospheric and oceanic layers and include the exchange in momentum and heat between them by surface fluxes. The interaction occurs between long (most notably wavenumbers 2 and 3) barotropic Rossby waves in the atmosphere forced by surface heat flux from the ocean and similarly long waves in the upper layer of the ocean forced by the wind stress curl. Growth times are long--on the order of several decades--indicating that modes can be sustained by the interaction process but that they may need to be energized by other mechanisms to reach realistic amplitudes in a reasonable time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study statistically evaluates the relationship between Antarctic sea ice extent and global climate variability. Temporal cross correlations between detrended Antarctic sea ice edge (SIE) anomaly and various climate indices are calculated. For the sea surface temperature (SST) in the eastern equatorial Pacific and tropical Indian Ocean, as well as the tropical Pacific precipitation, a coherent propagating pattern is clearly evident in all correlations with the spatially averaged (over 12° longitude) detrended SIE anomalies ({SIE*}). Correlations with ENSO indices imply that up to 34% of the variance in {SIE*} is linearly related to ENSO. The {SIE*} has even higher correlations with the tropical Pacific precipitation and SST in the tropical Indian Ocean. In addition, correlation of {SIE*} with global surface temperature produces four characteristic correlation patterns: 1) an ENSO-like pattern in the Tropics with strong correlations in the Indian Ocean and North America (r > 0.6); 2) a teleconnection pattern between the eastern Pacific region of the Antarctic and western-central tropical Pacific; 3) an Antarctic dipole across the Drake Passage; and 4) meridional banding structures in the central Pacific and Atlantic expending from polar regions to the Tropics, even to the Northern Hemisphere. The SIE anomalies in the Amundsen Sea, Bellingshausen Sea, and Weddell Gyre of the Antarctic polar ocean sectors show the strongest polar links to extrapolar climate. Linear correlations between {SIE*} in those regions and global climate parameters pass a local significance test at the 95% confidence level. The field significance, designed to account for spatial coherence in the surface temperature, is evaluated using quasiperiodic colored noise that is more appropriate than white noise. The fraction of the globe displaying locally significant correlations (at the 95% confidence level) between... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A regional atmospheric climate model with a horizontal grid spacing of 55 km has been used to simulate the Antarctic atmosphere during an austral summer period. ECMWF reanalyses were used to force the atmospheric prognostic variables from the lateral boundaries. Sea surface temperatures and the sea ice mask in the model were prescribed from observations. Parameterizations of the physical processes were taken from the ECHAM4 general circulation model. Before applying the model to Antarctic conditions, several adjustments had been made to the original code. In particular, a better correspondence between model output and measurements was accomplished by 1) the use of a fixed value of 0.8 for the surface albedo rather than applying an albedo that linearly rises with surface temperature and 2) the use of the volumetric heat capacity and the thermal diffusivity of snow rather than employing the values for ice. The model is evaluated for the period 14-19 January 1993 (P1) on the basis of an extensive dataset compiled from measurements made at a site (Svea) in Dronning Maud Land. This dataset contains boundary layer temperature and specific humidity profiles, snow temperatures, and surface heat fluxes. The surface fluxes were obtained from direct measurements combined with an energy balance model. The atmospheric temperature profiles simulated at the grid points corresponding most closely to Svea are in good agreement with the measured profiles, although the model slightly overestimates the vertical temperature gradient. The model probably underestimates the turbulent transport of heat and moisture to atmospheric layers above roughly 200 m. At Svea a cloud cover of less than 0.5 octas was observed during P1. The model overestimates the cloud cover, which results in an underestimation of shortwave and an overestimation of longwave radiative fluxes at the surface. The simulated values for the net radiative fluxes, the heat flux into the snow, and the turbulent.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sensitivity study to evaluate the impact upon regional and hemispheric climate caused by changing the optical properties of clouds over the Antarctic continent is conducted with the NCAR Community Model version 2 (CCM2). Sensitivity runs are performed in which radiation interacts with ice clouds with particle sizes of 10 and 40 mm rather than with the standard 10- mm water clouds. The experiments are carried out for perpetual January conditions with the diurnal cycle considered. The effects of these cloud changes on the Antarctic radiation budget are examined by considering cloud forcing at the top of the atmosphere and net radiation at the surface. Changes of the cloud radiative properties to those of 10- mm ice clouds over Antarctica have significant impacts on regional climate: temperature increases throughout the Antarctic troposphere by 18--28C and total cloud fraction over Antarctica is smaller than that of the control at low levels but is larger than that of the control in the mid-to upper troposphere. As a result of Antarctic warming and changes in the north--south temperature gradient, the drainage flows at the surface as well as the meridional mass circulation are weakened. Similarly, the circumpolar trough weakens significantly by 4--8 hPa and moves northward by about 48--58 latitude. This regional mass field adjustment halves the strength of the simulated surface westerly winds. As a result of indirect thermodynamic and dynamic effects, significant changes are observed in the zonal mean circulation and eddies in the middle latitudes. In fact, the simulated impacts of the Antarctic cloud radiative alteration are not confined to the Southern Hemisphere. The meridional mean mass flux, zonal wind, and latent heat release exhibit statis-tically significant changes in the Tropics and even extratropics of the Northern Hemisphere. The simulation with radiative properties of 40- mm ice clouds produces colder surface temperatures over... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface pressure decreases of up to 20 hPa occurred over much of the Antarctic continent during a 4-day midwinter period of 1988. The widespread change in the pressure field accompanied intense cyclonic activity to the north of the ice sheet. The equatorward mass transport across the Antarctic coastline resulted in a redistribution of atmospheric pressure that extended to the subtropics of the Southern Hemisphere. Most of the mass flux from Antarctica was the result of low-level processes and appears tied to the katabatic wind circulation. The observed surface pressure decrease over the continent reflects a perturbation of the mean meridional cir-culation between Antarctica and the subpolar latitudes by synoptic-scale processes. Zonally averaged circulations over Antarctica were examined using output from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts model. Results suggest that only a poorly defined return branch of the meridional circulation exists in the middle and upper troposphere. This southward-directed flow does not compensate for the northward mass transport provided by the katabatic wind outflow in the lower atmosphere. Isallobaric contours over the Antarctic ice sheet roughly match the area of the large-scale drainage catchment associated with katabatic wind transport through the Ross Sea sector. An intense extratropical cyclone was present in the circumpolar oceanic belt to the north of the continent. The horizontal pressure gradient associated with the cyclone prompted enhanced drainage off the high interior plateau. The resulting katabatic flow issued from the continent through a narrow corridor across the Ross Ice Shelf and out over the Southern Ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]