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Titel |
Quantifying the clear-sky temperature inversion frequency and strength over the Arctic Ocean during summer and winter seasons from AIRS profiles |
VerfasserIn |
A. Devasthale, U. Willén, K.-G. Karlsson, C. G. Jones |
Medientyp |
Artikel
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Sprache |
Englisch
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ISSN |
1680-7316
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Digitales Dokument |
URL |
Erschienen |
In: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ; 10, no. 12 ; Nr. 10, no. 12 (2010-06-22), S.5565-5572 |
Datensatznummer |
250008570
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Publikation (Nr.) |
copernicus.org/acp-10-5565-2010.pdf |
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Zusammenfassung |
Temperature inversions are one of the dominant features of the Arctic
atmosphere and play a crucial role in various processes by controlling
the transfer of mass and moisture fluxes through the lower
troposphere. It is therefore essential that they are accurately
quantified, monitored and simulated as realistically as possible over
the Arctic regions. In the present study, the characteristics of
inversions in terms of frequency and strength are quantified for the
entire Arctic Ocean for summer and winter seasons of 2003 to 2008
using the AIRS data for the clear-sky conditions. The probability
density functions (PDFs) of the inversion strength are also presented
for every summer and winter month.
Our analysis shows that although the inversion frequency along the
coastal regions of Arctic decreases from June to August, inversions
are still seen in almost each profile retrieved over the inner Arctic
region. In winter, inversions are ubiquitous and are also present in
every profile analysed over the inner Arctic region. When averaged
over the entire study area (70° N–90° N), the
inversion frequency in summer ranges from 69 to 86% for the
ascending passes and 72–86% for the descending passes. For
winter, the frequency values are 88–91% for the ascending passes
and 89–92% for the descending passes of AIRS/AQUA. The PDFs of
inversion strength for the summer months are narrow and right-skewed
(or positively skewed), while in winter, they are much broader. In
summer months, the mean values of inversion strength for the entire
study area range from 2.5 to 3.9 K, while in winter, they range from
7.8 to 8.9 K. The standard deviation of the inversion strength is
double in winter compared to summer. The inversions in the summer
months of 2007 were very strong compared to other years. The warming
in the troposphere of about 1.5–3.0 K vertically extending up to
400 hPa was observed in the summer months of 2007. |
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