A climatology of summer-time Arctic cyclones using a modified phase space

Croad, H. L., Methven, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7636-6872, Harvey, B. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6510-8181, Keeley, S. P. E., Volonté, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0278-952X and Hodges, K. I. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0894-229X (2023) A climatology of summer-time Arctic cyclones using a modified phase space. Geophysical Research Letters, 50 (22). e2023GL105993. ISSN 1944-8007 doi: 10.1029/2023GL105993

Abstract/Summary

We perform a climatological analysis of summer-time Arctic cyclone structure in reanalysis data using a phase space approach. A classification scheme for Arctic cyclones is proposed, dependent on whether vorticity structure during development is low-level-dominant (LLD) or upper-level-dominant (ULD). During growth, LLD cyclones (65.5%) exhibit warm-core asymmetric structures, whereas ULD cyclones (34.5%) have cold-core asymmetric structures. LLD cyclones typically have greater thermal asymmetry during growth. However, a transition to a persistent cold-core axisymmetric structure after maturity is characteristic of summer-time Arctic cyclones, regardless of structure during growth. LLD cyclones are typically stronger and preferentially track on the Russian coastline where there is high baroclinicity, whereas ULD cyclones tend to be longer-lived and preferentially track in the Pacific sector, where they can interact with tropopause polar vortices. This study provides a platform for further research into different classes of Arctic cyclones and associated hazardous weather, and ultimately for developing conceptual models.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/114160
Identification Number/DOI	10.1029/2023GL105993
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > NCAS Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Publisher	American Geophysical Union
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