Arctic front
The arctic front ( Greek arktikos = north) describes in meteorology a narrow transition zone ( air mass boundary) between the arctic and polar air in the northern hemisphere of the earth. Such a front occurs more frequently in the summer months from about 65 to 75 ° north latitude and extends over Alaska, Canada, Iceland, Lapland and Siberia. The cause of the formation is a strong temperature difference between the ice-free land areas (10–20 ° C) and the Arctic Ocean , which is largely frozen (temperatures around freezing point ). As a result, there is increased activity in low pressure areas , particularly on the leeward side of the Mackenzie Mountains , the Rocky Mountains and the Verkhoyansk Mountains , which in turn leads to increased rainfall . Overall, these account for 50–60% of summer precipitation.
In the winter months, the arctic front is mostly indistinguishable from the polar front due to the arctic air masses advancing far south . The only exception is Alaska. Here, on the south coast, under the opposite conditions (snow-covered land areas and ice-free sea), similar processes occur.
literature
- Dzerdzeevskii, BL: Tsirkuliatsionnye skhemy v troposfere Tsentral 'noi Arktiki . In: Izdatel 'svo Akad. Nauk . 1945, p. 28pp .
- Reed, RJ, and BA Kunkel: The Arctic circulation in summer . In: Journal of Meteorology . tape 17 , 1960, p. 489-506 .
- Shapiro, MA, Hampel, T., and Fedor, LS: Research aircraft observations of an arctic front over the Barents Seas. Polar and Arctic Lows . Deepak Publishing, 1989.
- Serreze, MC, AH Lynch, and MP Clark: The Arctic Frontal Zone as seen in the NCEP-NCAR Reanalysis . In: Journal of Climate . tape 14 , 2001, p. 1550-1567 .