About the project
In the Arctic region of the North Atlantic, an array of adverse weather phenomena takes place exposing the expanding human activities - such as oil and gas exploration and marine transport - and the region’s vulnerable environment to high risks. There is a need for improving the understanding and forecasting of adverse weather in the region. During winter, advection of extremely cold and stable air from the seaice/ land over the open ocean can lead to intense weather features such as Arctic fronts, polar lows and terrain-induced disturbances.
Objectives
- To realistically model the latent heat cycle, from evaporation at the surface, through moist convection and latent heat release, to precipitation processes.
- To improve the treatment of cloud-radiation-sea-ice interactions in numerical model simulations for the Arctic.
- To investigate relations between synoptic and climatic conditions and the onset, evolution, and frequency of small-scale extreme weather events.
- To significantly improve the characterization of initial conditions for Arctic weather forecasts by assimilation of new satellite and radar data.
- To introduce probabilistic forecasts of Arctic weather extremes by implementing a high-resolution limited area ensemble prediction system.
IPY-Thorpex started in Januar 2007 and ends 2011.
See also the Norwegian project-site.