On the 31st of August 2022, Irina Gorodetskaya presented “Atmospheric Rivers Bringing Heat and Rain to the Antarctic Peninsula: From YOPP-SH Enhanced Observations” – the work resulting from collaboration with many YOPP-SH international initiative participants.
Full author list:
Irina Gorodetskaya1, Claudio Durán-Alarcón1, Xun Zou2, Penny Rowe3, Sergi González-Herrero4, Paola Imazio6, Jonathan Wille7, Sangjong Park8, Diego Campos9, Raul Cordero10, Jorge Carrasco11, Steve Colwell12, Adriana Gulisano13, Anastasiia
Chyhareva14, Svitlana Krakovska14, Heike Kalesse15, Patric Seifert16, F. Martin Ralph2.
Authors affiliations: 1Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Aveiro, Portugal; 2Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, USA; 3NorthWest Research Associates, USA; 4Antarctic Group, Spanish Meteorological Agency (AEMET), Spain; 5Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay, Université Paris-Saclay, France; 6Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina; ServicioMeteorológico Nacional, Argentina; 7Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement, CNRS/UGA, France; 8Korea Polar Research Institute, Korea; 9Dirección Meteorológica de Chile, Chile; 10University of Santiago, Chile; 11University of Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile; 12British AntarcticSurvey, UK; 13Instituto Antártico Argentino; 14Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Institute and National Antarctic Scientific Center of Ukraine.
Abstract:
The ice sheet mass loss contribution to sea level rise has drastically increased during the last two decades with an important contribution from West Antarctica and particularly the Antarctic Peninsula (AP). The western and northern regions of the AP have been a hotspot of climate change characterized by a strong increase in precipitation and a significant near- surface air warming with occasional temperature records and major surface melt events. Among the most important controlling factors of both precipitation and surface melt are warm/moist air intrusions, particularly those associated with atmospheric rivers (ARs).
We use observations during the Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP) in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) summer special observing period to explore the double role of ARs, as carriers of both heat and moisture, in their impacts on cloud radiative forcing and precipitation at the AP. We show that atmospheric rivers play an important role in precipitation phase transitions (frequently causing rainfall) as well as increases in cloud liquid water content, both in the
austral summer and winter seasons.
Measurements from several stations are combined using enhanced YOPP and regular observations: at Escudero and King Sejong stations located on King George Island, Akademik Vernadsky station in the western AP, and Punta Arenas in southern South America. YOPP observations are used for evaluation and analyzed together with ERA5 reanalysis and the Polar-WRF model. Summer observations are compared to the winter months during previous years (based on ERA5) in preparation for the winter YOPP-SH special observing period (April-July 2022).
More information on the Final Summit of the YOPP: visit the pages https://yoppfinalsummit.com and https://yoppfinalsummit.com/program
Previous presentations at YOPP can be found here: http://atlace.web.ua.pt/two-presentations-
at-the-year-of-polar-prediction-in-the-southern-hemisphere-yopp-sh-meeting-june-24-25-
2021/
