Articles | Volume 18, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5239-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5239-2024
Research article
 | 
19 Nov 2024
Research article |  | 19 Nov 2024

Extending the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E) atmospheric river scale to the polar regions

Zhenhai Zhang, F. Martin Ralph, Xun Zou, Brian Kawzenuk, Minghua Zheng, Irina V. Gorodetskaya, Penny M. Rowe, and David H. Bromwich

Data sets

Complete ERA5 from 1940: Fifth generation of ECMWF atmospheric reanalyses of the global climate H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.143582cf

Dome C II Automatic Weather Station, 2022 quality-controlled observational data Antarctic Meteorological Research and Data Center https://doi.org/10.48567/x7a9-cx26

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Short summary
Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are long, narrow corridors of strong water vapor transport in the atmosphere. ARs play an important role in extreme weather in polar regions, including heavy rain and/or snow, heat waves, and surface melt. The standard AR scale is developed based on the midlatitude climate and is insufficient for polar regions. This paper introduces an extended version of the AR scale tuned to polar regions, aiming to quantify polar ARs objectively based on their strength and impact.