ENVR Polar vortex is 'spinning backwards' above Arctic after major reversal event

happyretiree

happyretiree

Veteran Member

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www.livescience.com

Polar vortex is 'spinning backwards' above Arctic after major reversal event

Earlier this month, a sudden atmospheric warming event caused the Arctic's polar vortex to reverse its trajectory. The swirling ring of cold air is now spinning in the wrong direction, which has triggered a record-breaking "ozone spike" and could impact global weather patterns.
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Polar vortex is 'spinning backwards' above Arctic after major reversal event​

By Harry Baker​

published 2 days ago
Earlier this month, a sudden atmospheric warming event caused the Arctic's polar vortex to reverse its trajectory. The swirling ring of cold air is now spinning in the wrong direction, which has triggered a record-breaking "ozone spike" and could impact global weather patterns.
The polar vortex is a key driver of the polar jet stream (seen here).(Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center)

The polar vortex circling the Arctic is swirling in the wrong direction after surprise warming in the upper atmosphere triggered a major reversal event earlier this month. It is one of the most extreme atmospheric U-turns seen in recent memory.
In the past, disruptions to the polar vortex — a rotating mass of cold air that circles the Arctic — have triggered extremely cold weather and storms across large parts of the U.S..
The current change in the vortex's direction probably won't lead to a similar "big freeze." But the sudden switch-up has caused a record-breaking "ozone spike" above the North Pole.

The polar vortex is most prominent during winter months and extends into the stratosphere — the second layer of the atmosphere up to around 30 miles (50 kilometers) above the surface. The vortex spins counterclockwise with wind speeds of around 155 mph (250 km/h), which is around the same speed as a Category 5 hurricane, according to the U.K. Met Office. A similar vortex also encircles Antarctica during the southern winter.
Polar vortices occasionally reverse temporarily. These events can last for days, weeks or months and are caused by sudden stratospheric warming (SSW), when the temperatures in the stratosphere climb by as much as 90 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius) in the space of a couple of days, according to the Met Office.
The sudden warming is caused by "planetary waves" in the atmosphere — compression waves formed when air rises into a region of different density and is pushed back downward by the force of Earth's spin. This process disrupts or reverses the vortex flow.

The current reversal event in the Arctic began on March 4. However, the winds are starting to slow down, hinting that the vortex will return to its normal trajectory soon, Spaceweather.com reported.
"It was a substantial reversal," Amy Butler, a climate scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and author of NOAA's new polar vortex blog, told Spaceweather.com. The speed of the reversed winds puts the event in the top six on record, she added.
Disruptions to the polar vortex can impact weather in the U.S., such as in 2019 when a massive cold front descended across the Midwest. These extreme weather events occur when the polar vortex deforms the jet stream — an air current that surrounds the polar vortex — exposing lower latitudes to large blobs of icy Arctic air.
This month's disruption did not change the shape of the jet stream, so weather patterns are expected to remain largely unaffected, according to Spaceweather.com.
However, the change in air temperature around the Arctic has sucked up large amounts of ozone from lower latitudes, creating a temporary ozone spike — the opposite of an ozone hole. Currently, there is more ozone surrounding the Arctic than at this time during any other year on record, according to Spaceweather.com. However, this ozone spike will disappear after the polar vortex returns to normal
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The current reversal is the second of its kind this year, following a smaller event in January that did cause a brief cold snap in some states, Butler wrote in NOAA's polar vortex blog.
Historical records show that SSW events are more likely to occur during El Niño or La Niña, the two contrasting phases of a natural cycle of planet-wide warming and cooling. During these phases, global weather systems become more unstable, which sets the stage for more frequent reversal events, Butler wrote in the NOAA blog.
We are currently in the midst of a major El Niño, which could make further reversals or disruptions more likely over the next year or so.

(From Ragnarock's thread)
 
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TheSearcher

TheSearcher

Are you sure about that?
Red Baron said:

@happyretiree​


Why is there a huge picture of some guy in a red sweatshirt here that does not appear on the original website?
Click to expand...
anBn
 
Melodi

Melodi

Disaster Cat
That explains the weird "backward" storm system we have right now. It moved from Northern Europe to the United Kingdom (as in snow in London predicted for this weekend). Lower down, the rest of Europe is in a heat wave.

In Ireland, we are right on the edge of storm "Nelson," and the effects are strange. The house was frozen this morning, and it was about 34 degrees last night. We went shopping at 10 am, and it was still cold enough for long-wool underwear, a long-sleeved shirt, and a heavy wool sweater with the hood up over a wool hat. The sun was shining but with fluffy and wind-swept white clouds.

By Noon, we were taking off our sweaters and jackets, and someone said, "You almost don't need a jumper [sweater] now." Things started to warm quickly, and the clouds started to darken and move faster. We had a few sprinkles coming home; now the sun is coming and going, with dark clouds starting to show up. The weather service predicts possibly thunder storms (pretty rare here) and things continue to get warmer.

None of this is normal, but then neither is the continuous rain that has gone on pretty much since December. It did it last year, too, and destroyed something like 80 percent of the potato crop. Farmers are worried this year will be a repeat and that many will go out of business without some government assistance. It is usual for a lot of rain in Ireland but not like this.

So yeah, the backward Jet Stream makes perfect sense.
 
Dobbin

Dobbin

Faithful Steed
So let me get this straight. The polar vortex is reversed, which will have significant effects on the climate. Which in turn will affect voter turn-out during the Primaries, and later in November.

So this is good reason to "cancel" the November Election so Joe can complete Barry's work on "transforming America?"

I mean ANYTHING is a good reason to cancel the election. And the trouble with a war to this effect is one might lose the war.

Dobbin
 
energy_wave

energy_wave

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Melodi said:
That explains the weird "backward" storm system we have right now. It moved from Northern Europe to the United Kingdom (as in snow in London predicted for this weekend). Lower down, the rest of Europe is in a heat wave.

In Ireland, we are right on the edge of storm "Nelson," and the effects are strange. The house was frozen this morning, and it was about 34 degrees last night. We went shopping at 10 am, and it was still cold enough for long-wool underwear, a long-sleeved shirt, and a heavy wool sweater with the hood up over a wool hat. The sun was shining but with fluffy and wind-swept white clouds.

By Noon, we were taking off our sweaters and jackets, and someone said, "You almost don't need a jumper [sweater] now." Things started to warm quickly, and the clouds started to darken and move faster. We had a few sprinkles coming home; now the sun is coming and going, with dark clouds starting to show up. The weather service predicts possibly thunder storms (pretty rare here) and things continue to get warmer.

None of this is normal, but then neither is the continuous rain that has gone on pretty much since December. It did it last year, too, and destroyed something like 80 percent of the potato crop. Farmers are worried this year will be a repeat and that many will go out of business without some government assistance. It is usual for a lot of rain in Ireland but not like this.

So yeah, the backward Jet Stream makes perfect sense.
Click to expand...
Maybe caused by the Tonga underwater volcanic eruption in 2022. The effects of 40 trillion gallons of water being ejected into the upper atmosphere is still expanding. That massive increase in water vapor is moving around the earth, expanding and absorbing heat. It's gotta have some effect.
 
#1 oldskool

#1 oldskool

"You finally really did it. You maniacs!
Only if the earth started spinning backwards ! Weather is created by the earths spin...thats why weather travels west to east. Also why when you flush a toilet in the northern hemisphere, water spins clock wise. A flush in southern hemisphere....not so much! :eye:
 
sy32478

sy32478

Veteran Member
energy_wave said:
Maybe caused by the Tonga underwater volcanic eruption in 2022. The effects of 40 trillion gallons of water being ejected into the upper atmosphere is still expanding. That massive increase in water vapor is moving around the earth, expanding and absorbing heat. It's gotta have some effect.
Click to expand...
Water vapor is a very powerful greenhouse gas, so ....
 
Melodi

Melodi

Disaster Cat
The Jet Stream has reversed. It does this once in a while. It has caused some weird and freaky weather on this side of the water, but "backward" weather happens sometimes. In the summer (in Ireland), we get heat waves because they drag the warm air from Spain. Winter brings down weather from Scandinavia and Russia, so we get severe snow storms or freezing weather. This time, it had a warm (heatwave) in Southern Europe and a severe cold snap further North, including the United Kingdom. It didn't quite reach Ireland exactly, but it had a push-pull with the North Atlantic current and possibly some warmer Southern Air. So we had cold, severe weather (for us, for this time of year) yesterday morning, with warmish air by noon. Today, it is in the 50s, with the sun shining, but clouds and wind are starting to race around so that we may get more storms.

I gather what is strange is that we have had two of these in three months this year, whereas usually, it is more like a couple of times a year. Some theories suggest that slowing the North Atlantic Current (and/or warm water from Greenland's melting glaciers sending it further South) may make such reversals of the Jet Stream more likely. However, none of that has been proven yet, though so far, it looks like it might be a factor.

So this isn't just a "climate change hoax," but like many things, the media is likely to spin it that way. They omit the part that a slipping downward of the North Atlantic Current tends to bring about severely cold weather. Both the Ice Ages and the Little Ice Ages show this pattern.
 
packyderms_wife

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
energy_wave said:
Maybe caused by the Tonga underwater volcanic eruption in 2022. The effects of 40 trillion gallons of water being ejected into the upper atmosphere is still expanding. That massive increase in water vapor is moving around the earth, expanding and absorbing heat. It's gotta have some effect.
Click to expand...
This^^^
 
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