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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 31, L19201, doi:10.1029/2004GL020714, 2004

The impact of Greenland's deglaciation on the Arctic circulation

K. Dethloff

Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam, Germany


W. Dorn

Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam, Germany


A. Rinke

Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam, Germany


K. Fraedrich

Institute of Meteorology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany


M. Junge

Institute of Meteorology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany


E. Roeckner

Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany


V. Gayler

Model and Data Group at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany


U. Cubasch

Institute of Meteorology, Free University Berlin, Berlin, Germany


J. H. Christensen

Danish Meteorological Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark


Abstract

The influence of Greenland's deglaciation on the atmospheric winter and summer circulation of the Arctic have been quantified with the high-resolution regional atmospheric model HIRHAM4. Greenland's deglaciation exerts a pronounced influence on the atmospheric winter circulation of the Arctic. The land areas over Siberia and the Canadian archipelago are warmed by up to 5°C. Parts of the Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean are cooled by up to 3°C. A north-eastward shift of the storm tracks occurs over the North Atlantic as well as an increase of synoptic activity over Alaska. The pronounced P-E changes connected with shifts in the synoptic storm tracks during winter would have important consequences for the atmospheric freshwater input into the Arctic Ocean and the Nordic sea with the potential to cause variability in the Arctic Ocean dynamics on centennial to millennial time scales. The significant differences between simulations with and without Greenland result in a decrease of the geopotential height and a dominant barotropic response of the Arctic atmosphere. These changes correspond to an enhanced winter polar vortex and stratospheric conditions more favorable for large Arctic ozone losses.

Received 9 June 2004; accepted 2 August 2004; published 12 October 2004.

Index Terms: 1610 Global Change: Atmosphere (0315, 0325); 1620 Global Change: Climate dynamics (3309); 3349 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Polar meteorology; 3354 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Precipitation (1854); 3364 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Synoptic-scale meteorology.

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Citation: Dethloff, K., W. Dorn, A. Rinke, K. Fraedrich, M. Junge, E. Roeckner, V. Gayler, U. Cubasch, and J. H. Christensen (2004), The impact of Greenland's deglaciation on the Arctic circulation, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L19201, doi:10.1029/2004GL020714.