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Mesoscale atmospheric vortices in the Okhotsk and Bering Seas: results of satellite multisensor study

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Influence of Climate Change on the Changing Arctic and Sub-Arctic Conditions

Winter mesoscale cyclones (MCs) are frequently formed over the northern Asian Marginal Seas. They are often associated with precipitation and severe winds causing ice drift and serious disturbance in fishery and transport operation at the sea. Mesocyclones are difficult to forecast because of their rapid evolution and movement. Climatological occurrence of mesoscale vortices in various areas is still poorly understood. They were investigated mainly in the Northern Atlantic Ocean, as well as in Gulf of Alaska and the Japan Sea in the Pacific Ocean. Favorable conditions for their development are also in the Bering and Okhotsk Seas and to the east of Kamchatka where MCs are frequently observed on satellite images. However, conventional network is here sparse and the published information on MCs is too limited. Thus the main sources of quantitative spatial data to examine these systems are satellite observations and fields of geophysical parameters retrieved from measurements conducted by various satellite sensors. The MCs were detected by screening Envisat ASAR archive images acquired over the Northwest Pacific in 2002–2006. High-resolution ASAR images of selected MCs were compared with satellite visible and infrared imagery, QuikSCAT-derived wind fields, surface analysis and upper-air analysis as well as with Aqua AMSRE-derived fields of total atmospheric water vapor content V, total cloud liquid water content Q and wind speed W.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. V.I. Il'ichev Pacific Oceanological Institute, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok, Russia

    Leonid M. Mitnik

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  1. Leonid M. Mitnik
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Correspondence to Leonid M. Mitnik .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Liège, Liège, Belgium

    Jacques C. J. Nihoul

  2. P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    Andrey G. Kostianoy

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Mitnik, L.M. (2009). Mesoscale atmospheric vortices in the Okhotsk and Bering Seas: results of satellite multisensor study. In: Nihoul, J.C.J., Kostianoy, A.G. (eds) Influence of Climate Change on the Changing Arctic and Sub-Arctic Conditions. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9460-6_5

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