Characteristics of the low-level temperature inversion along the Alaskan Arctic coast

✍ Scribed by Jonathan D. Kahl

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 638 KB
• Volume: 10
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0899-8418
• DOI: 10.1002/joc.3370100509

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The climatological characteristics of low‐level tropospheric temperature inversion along the Alaskan Arctic coast are examined from a 10‐year record of surface and upper‐air meteorological data at Barrow and Barter Island, Alaska. The meteorology at the two stations is found to be remarkably similar; surface‐based inversions occur nearly half of the time, but even in the winter months inversions are frequently based up to 200 m above the surface. Median inversion depths range from 250m to 850m, with median temperature differences across the inversion ranging from 2°C to 11°C. In March and April when the inversion is strongest, the lowest levels frequently erode. This indicates that the transient character of the inversion reduces its effectiveness as a barrier to vertical mixing. The inversion depth closely follows the annual cloud‐cover cycle, demonstrating that the development and maintenance of the inversion is a result of complex interactions between radiative forcing, synoptic activity, and sea‐ice dynamics.