Analysis of the Warmest Arctic Winter, 2015-2016

December 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 c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical research letters 2016-10, Vol.43 (20), p.10,808-10,816
Main Authors: Cullather, Richard I., Lim, Young-Kwon, Boisvert, Linette N., Brucker, Ludovic, Lee, Jae N., Nowicki, Sophie M. J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anomalies
Arctic Ocean
Arctic warming
Atmospheric water
Atmospheric water vapor
Atmospherics
Climate change
Clouds
Downwelling
El Nino
Flux
Global warming
High pressure
Ice conditions
Ice cover
Latitude
Melting
Meteorology
Meteorology And Climatology
North Pole
Ocean temperature
Ocean-atmosphere interaction
polar amplification
Preconditioning
Proximity
Sea ice
Sea ice conditions
Sea surface temperature
Spring
Spring (season)
Teleconnections
Temperature
Temperature anomalies
Temperature effects
Water vapor
Water vapour
Winter
winter 2015‐2016
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Summary:December 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.
ISSN:0094-8276
1944-8007
DOI:10.1002/2016gl071228