A Lagrangian analysis of the present-day sources of moisture for major ice-core sites
A Lagrangian approach was used to identify the moisture sources for 14 ice-core sites located worldwide for the period of 1980–2012. The sites were classified into three domains: Arctic, Central (Andes, Alps, and Kilimanjaro), and Antarctic. The approach was used to compute budgets of evaporation mi...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2016-07-01
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| Series: | Earth System Dynamics |
| Online Access: | http://www.earth-syst-dynam.net/7/549/2016/esd-7-549-2016.pdf |
| Summary: | A Lagrangian approach was used to identify the moisture sources for 14
ice-core sites located worldwide for the period of 1980–2012. The sites were
classified into three domains: Arctic, Central (Andes, Alps, and
Kilimanjaro), and Antarctic. The approach was used to compute budgets of
evaporation minus precipitation by calculating changes in the specific
humidity along 10-day backward trajectories. The results indicate that the
oceanic regions around the subtropical high-pressure centres provide most of
moisture, and their contribution varies throughout the year following the
annual cycles of the centres. For the Arctic Domain, the sources lie in the
subtropical North Atlantic and Pacific. The subtropical South Atlantic,
Indian, and Pacific oceans provide moisture for the Antarctic Domain. The
sources for South America are the Atlantic and South Pacific, for Europe the
sources are in the Mediterranean and the North Atlantic, and for Asia the
sources are the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. |
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| ISSN: | 2190-4979 2190-4987 |