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Analysis of the Warmest Arctic Winter, 2015-2016December through February 2015-2016 defines the warmest winter season over the Arctic in the observational record. Positive 2m temperature anomalies were focused over regions of reduced sea ice cover in the Kara and Barents Seas and southwestern Alaska. A third region is found over the ice-covered central Arctic Ocean. The period is marked by a strong synoptic pattern which produced melting temperatures in close proximity to the North Pole in late December and anomalous high pressure near the Taymyr Peninsula. Atmospheric teleconnections from the Atlantic contributed to warming over Eurasian high-latitude land surfaces, and El Niño-related teleconnections explain warming over southwestern Alaska and British Columbia, while warm anomalies over the central Arctic are associated with physical processes including the presence of enhanced atmospheric water vapor and an increased downwelling longwave radiative flux. Preconditioning of sea ice conditions by warm temperatures affected the ensuing spring extent.
Document ID
20170000976
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Cullather, Richard I.
(Maryland Univ. College Park, MD, United States)
Lim, Young-Kwon
(Universities Space Research Association Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Boisvert, Linette N.
(Maryland Univ. College Park, MD, United States)
Brucker, Ludovic
(Universities Space Research Association Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Lee, Jae N.
(Maryland Univ. Baltimore County Baltimore, MD, United States)
Nowicki, Sophie M. J.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Date Acquired
January 31, 2017
Publication Date
October 27, 2016
Publication Information
Publication: Geophysical Research Letters
Publisher: AGU online/Wiley
Volume: 43
Issue: 20
ISSN: 0094-8276
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN38552
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX12AD03A
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG11HP16A
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX15AT34A
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
Barents and Kara Seas
El Nino
Southwestern Alaska

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