Stratosphere and the North Hemisphere's Winter Weather

M.A. Vukcevic (1)

1 STAR

Sudden Stratospheric Warming of up to 500C is a regular feature of the Arctic's winter, but much less frequent in the Antarctica rarely exceeding 10-150C. Recent paper ‘Tropospheric forcing' by Peters et al 2010 analysing Jan 2003's event, is considered for formulating a possible alternative but not exclusive cause. The author of this study postulates that the North Hemisphere's winter weather is affected by volcanic eruptions at high latitudes via the SSW occurrences. This appear to be result of volcanic hot gas plumes, as they rise through the troposphere, push upwards a dome of the warm tropospheric air into the stratosphere. Result of this air movement causes deformation and in more pronounced cases splitting of the polar vortex. Graphic analysis of the SSWs, with possible link to concurrent volcanic eruptions, is presented for the most recent winters. Coincidence of number of the SSW cases with the volcanic eruptions appears to confirm the hypothesis.

Mots clés: Arctic; Sudden Stratospheric Warming

Domaines: Sciences de l'environnement

M.A. Vukcevic. Stratosphere and the North Hemisphere's Winter Weather. 2011, pp.13. ⟨hal-00563477⟩