Atmospheric blocking and storm tracks during SOP-1 of the FROST Project

TL;DRAbstract

Atmospheric blocking is a significant feature of the winter circulation in the southern hemisphere. The frequency of blocking activity was at first found to reach a maximum in the Tasman Sea and New Zealand region during winter, but evidence is emerging of higher frequencies of blocking activity in the eastern Pacific. FROST, the Antarctic First Regional Observing Study of the Troposphere, provided an opportunity to study the effects of all sources of data (including 'late' observations) on meteorological analyses over the Southern Ocean and the Antarctic region, and the probable impacts of these data on the performance of numerical weather prediction models. The first of three special observing periods (SOPs) was held in July 1994. Analyses for this period (SOP-1) have demonstrated that atmospheric blocking was a significant feature in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean (150°E -75°W) and that it had a major influence on the paths followed by cyclones, apparently contributing to

Chat with Paper

AI Agents for this Paper