Arctic front on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
The Arctic front is the semipermanent, semi-continuous
The Arctic front is the semipermanent, semi-continuous weather front
A weather front is a boundary separating air masses for which several characteristics differ, such as air density, wind, temperature, and humidity. Disturbed and unstable weather due to these differences often arises along the boundary. For in ...
between the cold arctic air mass
In meteorology, an air mass is a volume of air defined by its temperature and humidity. Air masses cover many hundreds or thousands of square miles, and adapt to the characteristics of the surface below them. They are classified according to l ...
and the warmer air of the polar cell. It can also be defined as the southern boundary of the Arctic air mass. Mesoscale cyclones known as polar low
A polar low is a mesoscale, short-lived atmospheric low pressure system (depression) that is found over the ocean areas poleward of the main polar front in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, as well as the Sea of Japan. The systems usu ...
s can form along the arctic front in the wake of extratropical cyclone
Extratropical cyclones, sometimes called mid-latitude cyclones or wave cyclones, are low-pressure areas which, along with the anticyclones of high-pressure areas, drive the weather over much of the Earth. Extratropical cyclones are capable ...
s. Arctic air masses in their wake are shallow with a deep layer of stable air above the shallow cold cool.
Appearance in satellite images
Arctic Fronts form in the Arctic region, and move southwards in southerly flows. When they reach Northern Europe, they have usually travelled over an open sea, and convective cloudiness has developed. The appearance of an Arctic Cold Fronts is then, essentially, that of a shallow Cold Front. Arctic Cold Fronts are usually so far north thatMeteosat
The Meteosat series of satellites are geostationary meteorological satellites operated by EUMETSAT under the Meteosat Transition Programme (MTP) and the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) program.
The MTP program was established to ensure the ope ...
images alone are inadequate to recognize them. Also, the following conceptual models may look like Arctic Cold Fronts: polar Cold Front, Polar Low and Comma. The final check is best made using a loop of AVHRR images with the help of numerical model parameter fields.
Types of Arctic cold fronts
Arctic Cold Fronts can be classified into two types: *Baroclinic fronts These fronts resemble polar cold fronts, but are usually not so extensive. The frontal cloudiness becomes more convective with time. *Ice/sea boundary fronts These fronts form over the ice/sea boundary and move southwards with the basic flow. There is only an isolated Cold Front. Often this type is so shallow and weak that it can not be detected in Meteosat water vapour images.See also
*Polar climate
The polar climate regions are characterized by a lack of warm summers but with varying winters. Every month in a polar climate has an average temperature of less than . Regions with polar climate cover more than 20% of the Earth's area. Most of ...
References
Atmospheric dynamics Environment of the Arctic Weather fronts {{Climate-stub