Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
unifying theme is that, to varying degrees, the high latitude 500 hPa ridge associated
with the Beaufort Sea High represents a center of action in each pattern.
Focus Questions and Exercises
1) Imagine a world in which the island of Greenland was removed. Describe
how patterns of cyclone activity in the northern North Atlantic would differ
compared to the real-world situation.
2) Although one can establish a general spatial pattern of anomalies in surface
air temperature in the Arctic corresponding to the positive (or negative) phase
on the NAO (see
Figure 4.19
), if we compared the pattern of January temper-
ature anomalies for two different years, but each corresponding to the same
index value of the NAO, they might look quite different. Explain why this
is so.
3) What changes in the seasonality and strength of the Arctic frontal zone might
we expect to see through the twenty-first century?
