A Survey of Mesoscale Cyclonic Activity Near Mcmurdo Station, Antarctica JORGE F
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that a weak maximum wind speed appears at 600-700 m. Tra- Coast and the Ross Ice Shelf, Monthly Weather Review, 122(7), jectory analyses (not shown) reveal that air parcels travel much faster in run 2 than in run 1, especially over the Siple Coast area. The cyclones over the southern Amundsen Sea have a great impact on the surface winds within the Siple Coast confluence zone. With the assistance of the cyclone, the wind speeds are nearly double those in run 1. Studies (Bromwich et al. 1992, for example) have shown a close rela- tionship between the strong winds over Siple Coast and the cyclonic activity over the Amundsen Sea. Figure 3 shows the 0500 LST temperature structures along the same transect as in figure 1 for the first run (A) and the second run A. Because of the differing initial conditions, we here concentrate on the overall patterns within the lowest few hundreds meters above the ground instead of looking at the specific temperature values. In figure 3A the inversion depth is 400-500 m in the north and 500-600 m in the south. The greater depth in the south suggests the impacts of vertical mixing and blocking. For run 2 in figure 3B, the depth is quite uniform along the transect but resides 100-200 m higher. The fairly well-mixed layer in lowest 200-300 m in the south is associated with the strong surface winds as shown in figure 2. This research was supported by National Science Foun- dation grants OPP 89-16921 and OPP 92-18949 to D.H. Bromwich. References Figure 3. Temperature field along the transect as in figure 1. A. For run 1.B. For run 2. Anthes, R.A., and T.T. Warner. 1978. Development of hydrodynamic models suitable for air pollution and other mesometeorological 1417-1435. studies. Monthly Weather Review, 106(8), 1045-1078. Du, Y., and D.H. Bromwich. 1993. Summer surface winds in the Siple Bromwich, D.H. 1986. Surface winds in West Antarctica. Antarctic Coast confluence zone, West Antarctica. Antarctic Journal of the Journal of the U.S., 21(5), 235-237. U.S., 28(5), 280-282. Bromwich, D.H., J.F. Carrasco, Z. Liu, and R.-Y. Tzeng. 1993. Hemi- Parish, T.R., and D.H. Bromwich. 1986. The inversion wind pattern spheric atmospheric variations and oceanographic impacts asso- over West Antarctica. Monthly Weather Review, 114(5), 849-860. ciated with katabatic surges across the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica. Parish, T.R., and D.H. Bromwich. 1987. The surface windfield over the Journal of Geophysical Research, 98(D7), 13045-13062. antarctic ice sheets. Nature, 328(6125), 51-54. Bromwich, D.H., J.F. Carrasco, and C.R. Stearns. 1992. Satellite obser- Parish, T.R., and K.T. Waight. 1987. The forcing of antarctic katabatic vations of katabatic wind propagation for great distances across winds, Monthly Weather Review, 115(10), 2214-2226. the Ross Ice Shelf. Monthly Weather Review, 120(9), 1940-1949. Schwerdtfeger, W. 1984. Weather and climate of the Antarctic. Amster- Bromwich, D.H., Y. Du, and T.R. Parish. 1994. Numerical simulation dam: Elsevier Science Publishers. of winter katabatic winds from West Antarctica crossing Siple A survey of mesoscale cyclonic activity near McMurdo Station, Antarctica JORGE F. CARRASCO and DAVID H. BR0MWICH, Polar Meteorology Group, Byrd Polar Research Center and Atmospheric Sciences Program, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210. he synoptic-scale climatology shows that a surface quasistationary low-pressure center near the Amundsen Sea. Tcyclonic circulation prevails over the Ross Ice Shelf/Ross With the deployment of automatic weather stations (AWSs) Sea region throughout the year (e.g., Schwerdtfeger 1984). over the Ross Ice Shelf and Victoria Land (Stearns and This is associated with synoptic-scale storms which often Wendler 1988; Stearns et al. 1993, pp. 1-22), the annual aver- decay near and over Marie Byrd Land (e.g., Taljaard 1972, pp. age sea-level pressure field over this region has been 139-213; Carleton 1992) and which, on average, result in the described in greater detail [see figure 1A adapted from ANTARCTIC JOURNAL - REVIEW 1994 298 A 4AWokMurdo Ross Is. Sound Williams Field McMurdo 86 St. Hut Point Peninsula To rra Bay David GI. I- Ross Sea 84 82 80 H4)I+- Skelton DI. Mulock DI. Roost Minna Bluff: \\28o GI. -25 Byrd Ross Ice Sheff + 160E 12 17OE 80 170W 160W C + Type + 74S * -11 22 David \o + 94 92 90 Skelton GL Mulock 05 1 24 1 25 C 92 21 Byrd DI. 1 27 0 88 + 82S L0000 UTC 7 Aug. 85 N + L 1E 180170W Figure 1. A. Annual average sea-level pressure and isentropic (°C) field for 1985 (adapted from Bromwich 1991). Some main geographical locations are indicated. B-D. Examples of mesoscale cyclonic circulation type 1, type 2, and type 3, respectively (see text). Solid lines are isobars (hectopascals) and dashed lines are surface isotherms (°C). Numbers identify AWS sites. Also plotted are the AWS wind directions and wind speeds. x indicates no wind data available. Bromwich (1991), also see Bromwich et al. (1993, PP . 47-68)]. The streamline analysis of the prevailing surface winds Thus, the annual average AWS pressure analysis distinguishes around Ross Island (Sinclair 1982; Steams and Weidner 1990) two mesoscale troughs over the southwestern corner of the indicates that the area is often affected by relatively cold Ross Sea: one extending southward to the Ross Island and southerly winds. This regime is caused by the following: Minna Bluff area and the other extending westward (inland) • the katabatic airstreams coming from Skelton, Mulock, and over the Terra Nova Bay/Nansen Ice Sheet region (Bromwich Byrd Glaciers (Liu and Bromwich 1993a), sometimes et al. 1993, Pp. 47-68). on the other hand, a mesoscale anticy- accompanied by katabatic airflow from southern Marie clonic circulation (ridge) prevails to the south and northeast Byrd Land (e.g., Bromwich, Carrasco, and Stearns 1992), of Minna Bluff and another weaker one just to the north of • the damming effect of the Transantarctic Mountains McMurdo Sound, in between the above-mentioned (along the west coast of the Ross Ice Shelf) upon cold sta- mesoscale troughs. ble boundary layer air initially moving westward that ANTARCTIC JOURNAL - REVIEW 1994 299 results in barrier wind formation (Schwerdtfeger 1984; OConnor, Bromwich, and Carrasco 1994); Survey of mesoscale cyclonic circulation affecting the area between based on twice and Ross Island and Minna Bluff during 1984 and 1985, • the presence of a synoptic- or subsynoptic- scale a day AWS regional sea-level pressure analyses (Bromwich 1991). cyclone over the central part of the Ross Ice Shelf (Dash denotes no data.) (Schwerdtfeger 1984). More specifically, the prevailing northeasterly wind blowing along the east side of the Hut Point Peninsu- la is primarily due to the damming effect of Ross Island upon the cold southerly boundary layer air- o 4 flow (Schwerdtfeger 1984; Liu and Bromwich 1993a). Janu3try - February 6 9 1 This prevailing wind regime can, sometimes, break 1 5 3 3 down due to the development of a mesoscale 6 0 1 6 1 0 cyclonic circulation associated with synoptic- or sub- 1 2 1 4 3 2 synoptic-scale cyclonic activity that either takes place June 3 0 0 6 3 0 over the southwestern Ross Sea or near Byrd Glacier. July 4 0 0 5 8 1 During a 1-month field campaign in 1991, it was August 5 4 1 7 6 0 noted that most of the northwest wind events were September 3 3 0 6 3 0 associated with adverse weather conditions (Liu and October 2 2 1 4 1 Bromwich 1993a,b) at Williams Field (figure 1A), sug- November 2 0 0 6 5 gesting that the development of a mesoscale trough December 0 4 0 1 0 near McMurdo Station can set up conditions for Total 37 17 5 57 44 advection of moister and warmer air from the south- western Ross Sea into McMurdo Sound and then aTrough over the area extended southward from the western Ross Sea region. onto the northwestern corner of the Ross Ice Shelf. bTrough over the area extended northward from south of Minna Bluff. Here, we present the results of a survey of the CMesoscale cyclone. mesoscale cyclonic circulation affecting the north- western side of Ross Ice Shelf, specifically the area between Ross Island and Minna Bluff. It is based on the 2- about 11 percent and 25 percent of the time in 1984 and 1985, year (February 1984 to December 1985), twice-a-day (0000 respectively, the area was affected by either type, and about 79 and 1200 universal time coordinated) mesoscale sea-level percent and 59 percent of all these events (including all types) pressure analyses constructed by Bromwich (1991). During had a duration of 12 hours in 1984 and 1985, respectively. this period, a good array of AWS was deployed over the north- Comparison between both years shows that a higher frequen- western side of the Ross Ice Shelf (Savage et al. 1985; Sievers, cy of mesoscale cyclonic circulations (all types) affected the Weidner, and Stearns 1986), providing data for a detailed area during 1985 than 1984. Also, a higher fraction of the analysis of the pressure field for both years. To investigate the events lasted 24 or more hours in 1985 than in 1984 (figure 2). mesoscale cyclonic circulations that affect the area, three The large-scale annual-average circulation for each year types of mesoscale cyclonic features were identified accord- reveals a deeper circumpolar trough (especially to the north- ing to the pressure field analyses.