Can you please provide information about SSWs during Northern hemisphere winter 2016/2017 i.e.
- occurence of major/minor SSW
- dates
- presence in open datasets (reanalyses etc. )
Thank you in advance!
Hi. There has been a split of the polar vortex around October 31st 2016 at the 10 hPa level (~32 km, 850 k), which is an indication for a sudden stratospheric warming. SSW usually go hand in hand with either a split or a displacement of the vortex towards mid-latitudes. This split is clearly visible in Aura/MLS ozone data for instance. You can check the data plots here:
https://mls.jpl.nasa.gov/plots/mls/mls_plot_locator.php
Now you would have to check if this event (vortex split) fulfills also the definition of a sudden stratospheric warming i.e. was it associated with a poleward temperature increase at stratospheric heights between 65 N and 90 N (in the temperature in the zonal mean) and if there has been a reversal of the wind direction. But you should clearly check the data in the time period end of october to beginning of november 2016.
Unfortunately I am working in a different field now and do not have access to all the interesting data anymore.
There was a sudden warming at the beginning of February 2017 which got close to the criterion of a major warming (10hPa zonal mean wind reversal at 60N).
Best regards
adam
You can find interesting info here:
http://www.aer.com/winter2017
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