{"id":50986,"date":"2023-03-08T22:58:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-08T22:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/?p=50986"},"modified":"2023-03-10T19:24:06","modified_gmt":"2023-03-10T19:24:06","slug":"atmospheric-river-moving-across-the-north-pole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/archives\/50986","title":{"rendered":"Atmospheric river moves across the North Pole"},"content":{"rendered":"
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MIMIC Total Precipitable Water product during the period 0400 UTC on 06 March to 1200 UTC on 08 March 2023 [click to play animated GIF | MP4<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/div>\n

The MIMIC Total Precipitable Water<\/strong><\/a> product during the period 0400 UTC on 06 March to 1200 UTC on 08 March 2023 (above)<\/strong><\/em> displayed the poleward transport of an atmospheric river<\/strong><\/a> (AR) that moved across Alaska and then the North Pole — eventually passing over Svalbard<\/strong><\/a> (located between Norway and Greenland). As this AR was emerging from the north coast of Alaska and approaching the North Pole, Total Precipitable Water (TPW) value anomalies<\/strong><\/a> were as high as 5-6 standard deviations above normal (source<\/strong><\/a>).<\/p>\n

As the AR moisture plume was moving over Utqiagvik (formerly “Barrow”; station identifier PABR) Alaska at 0000 UTC on 07 March, the rawinsonde-derived TPW value was 0.62 inch<\/strong><\/a> (which might have been a monthly record high TPW for PABR, according to this tweet<\/strong><\/a>). At that particular time there was good agreement with the MIMIC TPW product, whose value in the vicinity of PABR was 0.65 inch (below)<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

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MIMIC Total Precipitable Water product at 0000 UTC on 07 March, along with a cursor sample showing the PABR surface report at that time [click to enlarge]<\/p><\/div>\n

The NESDIS Snowfall Rate<\/strong><\/a> product from the CICS<\/strong><\/a> site (below)<\/strong><\/em> showed the AR plume of clouds that was likely producing snowfall at the surface as it moved northward from the coast of Alaska to the Arctic Ocean.<\/p>\n

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NESDIS Snowfall Rate product [click to play animated GIF]<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n

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Here\u2019s a special image! This shows a snowfall rate product, giving liquid equivalent of snow in inches\/hr. What\u2019s special is that the remote north pole typically doesn't have observations of snowfall, but now we have a satellite product that can provide this information! #akwx<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/wPn4wVLpvX<\/a><\/p>— GINA (@uafgina) March 7, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote>