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http://dx.doi.org/10.14191/Atmos.2016.26.2.301

A Case Study on the Polar Low Developed over the Sea Near Busan on 11~12 February 2011  

Lee, Jae Gyoo (Department of Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences, Gangneung-Wonju National University)
Kim, Hae-Min (Department of Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences, Gangneung-Wonju National University)
Kim, Yu-Jin (Department of Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences, Gangneung-Wonju National University)
Publication Information
Atmosphere / v.26, no.2, 2016 , pp. 301-319 More about this Journal
Abstract
The evolutionary process of the polar low, which caused the heavy snowfall in the East Coast area on 11~12 February 2011, was investigated to describe in detail using synoptic weather charts, satellite imageries, and ERA (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Re-Analysis) -Interim reanalysis data. It was revealed that 1) the polar low was generated over the sea near Busan where a large cyclonic shear in the inverted trough branched from the parent low existed, 2) during the developing and mature stages, there was a convectively unstable region in the lower layer around the polar low and its south side, 3) the polar low was developed in the region where the static stability in the 500~850 hPa layer was the lowest, 4) the result from the budget analysis of the vorticity equation indicated that the increase in the vorticity at the lower atmosphere, where the polar low was located, was dominated mainly by the stretching term, 5) the warm core structure of the polar low was identified in the surface-700 hPa layer during the mature stage, 6) there was a close inverse relationship between a development of the polar low and the height of the dynamic tropopause over the polar low, and 7) for generation and development of the polar low, large-scale circulation systems, such as upper cold low and its combined short wave trough, major low (parent low), and polar air outbreak, should be presented, indicating that the polar low has the nature of the baroclinic disturbance.
Keywords
Polar low; upper cold low; tropopause folding; vorticity;
Citations & Related Records
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