![]() ![]() It’s affected by waves created at the surface of the Earth, which get excited by things like flow moving over mountains or flow moving over land and sea, which heat up to different extents. But at the same time, the polar vortex is this living creature. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech AIRS Project) What drives the behavior of the polar vortex?ĪS: It's strongest in the middle of winter when the temperature difference is at the maximum. 29, 2019, bringing storms and cold Arctic air with it. NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument captured the tropospheric jet stream moving from Central Canada into the Midwestern United States from Jan. It flows in a complete circle around the pole, 10 kilometers or a little over six miles above the Earth’s surface. This jet is what we call the polar vortex or the polar night jet. ![]() In the polar stratosphere, sunlight basically gets cut off during the late fall and early winter – and that makes it really cold, while the equator remains quite warm.Ī jet forms to balance this temperature difference. What is the polar vortex?ĪDITI SHESHADRI: The polar vortex forms every winter because of the temperature difference between the equator and the poles. Sheshadri explains the science behind the polar vortex and its dangerous effects on weather experienced at Earth’s surface, how the phenomenon is related to carbon dioxide emissions, and why the vortex can be expected to bring more winter storms and Arctic air to parts of the United States and Western Europe in the years ahead. “We have no idea during a given event exactly when the storms might strike, but on average you see impacts for a month or two after the vortex splits.” “When the polar vortex splits into two, the jet stream moves south over the Atlantic basin, and it takes all of the storms with it,” said Sheshadri, an assistant professor of Earth system science in Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences(Stanford Earth). It all started after the polar vortex that normally hovers over the North Pole split in two on Jan. 2, the result of planetary waves breaking in the stratosphere, said Stanford atmospheric scientist Aditi Sheshadri. Officials warned residents to stay inside, even as meteorologists began to forecast spring-like weather and the likelihood of an 80-degree temperature swing within a few days. At least 21 people died and dozens were injured in weather-related incidents. 1, the vortex and the Arctic air it funneled into cities from Fargo to Pittsburgh to Detroit had prompted days of school and business closures, thousands of flight cancellations, a halt to mail deliveries, and a smattering of power outages and pleas for reduced heating. The polar vortex, a swirl of low-pressure air six miles up in the atmosphere, blasted much of the American Midwest and Northeast in late January 2019 with temperatures cold enough to bring on frostbite within minutes.īy Friday, Feb. (Image credit: Joshua Stevens / NASA Earth Observatory) 29 – significantly warmer than usual for the middle of winter – while masses of cooler air plunged toward North America's interior. Temperatures in some parts of the Arctic were close to freezing on Jan. ![]()
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