A global perspective on atmospheric blocking using GPS radio occultation – one decade of observations

Brunner, Lukas; Steiner, Andrea K.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4727-2017

Articles | Volume 10, issue 12

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4727-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Observing Atmosphere and Climate with Occultation Techniques...

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4727-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 10, issue 12

Research article

|

05 Dec 2017

Research article |

| 05 Dec 2017

A global perspective on atmospheric blocking using GPS radio occultation – one decade of observations

Lukas Brunner and Andrea K. Steiner

Data sets

ERA-Interim: ECMWF Reanalysis Interim European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) http://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/data/interim-full-daily/levtype=pl/

MERRA-2 inst6_3d_ana_Np: 3d, 6-Hourly, Instantaneous, Pressure-Level, Analysis, Analyzed Meteorological Fields V5.12.4 Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) https://doi.org/10.5067/A7S6XP56VZWS

JRA-55: Japanese 55-year Reanalysis Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) http://jra.kishou.go.jp/JRA-55/index_en.html

Short summary

Atmospheric blocking is a weather pattern where a stable high pressure system blocks the westerly flow at mid-latitudes. We provide, for the first time, a global perspective on blocking and related impacts, based on satellite observations from GPS radio occultation for 2006–2016. We find strong direct and remote effects on the vertical atmospheric structure revealing significant temperature and humidity anomalies up to 15 km. The observations will help for a better insight into blocking impacts.