Arctic climate characteristics and recent trends from space

Xuanji Wang; Jeffrey R. Key

doi:10.1117/12.578803

5 January 2005 Arctic climate characteristics and recent trends from space

Xuanji Wang, Jeffrey R. Key

Proceedings Volume 5658, Applications with Weather Satellites II; (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.578803
Event: Fourth International Asia-Pacific Environmental Remote Sensing Symposium 2004: Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere, Ocean, Environment, and Space, 2004, Honolulu, Hawai'i, United States

Abstract

The newly available Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Polar Pathfinder (APP) data has been extended to create a comprehensive data set, called APP-x, containing cloud microphysical properties, surface temperature and broadband albedo, radiative fluxes and cloud forcing for the Arctic and Antarctic over the 19-year period 1982-2000. The APP-x data show that the annual mean cloud coverage in the Arctic is about 70%, with a maximum in September and a minimum in April. Arctic cloud optical depth averages about 5 ~ 6. The largest downwelling shortwave radiative flux at the surface occurs in June; the largest upwelling shortwave flux occurs in May. The largest downwelling and upwelling longwave and net radiative fluxes occur in July, with the largest loss of longwave radiation from the surface in April. Over the past 19 years, the Arctic has warmed and become cloudier in spring and summer, but has cooled and become less cloudy in winter. The decadal rate of annual surface temperature change is 0.57C for the Arctic region north of 60N. The surface broadband albedo has decreased at a decadal rate of -1.5% (absolute). Cloud fraction has decreased at a decadal rate of 6% (absolute) in winter, and increased at decadal rates of 3.2% and 1.6% in spring and summer, respectively. On an annual time scale, net cloud forcing at the surface has decreased at a decadal rate of -3.35 W/m², indicating an increased cooling by clouds. There are large correlations between surface temperature anomalies and climate indices such as the Arctic Oscillation (AO) index for some areas, implying linkages between global climate change and Arctic climate change.

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Xuanji Wang and Jeffrey R. Key "Arctic climate characteristics and recent trends from space", Proc. SPIE 5658, Applications with Weather Satellites II, (5 January 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.578803

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KEYWORDS

Clouds

Climatology

Climate change

Shortwaves

Temperature metrology

Ocean optics

Satellites

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