Abstract
The break-up of a stratospheric streamer over the British Isles is described, using satellite, Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) radar and in situ observations together with European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts analyses. The streamer started as a thin ribbon of high potential vorticity to the west of the British Isles. As this was strained by the background flow it broke up into a series of mesoscale vortices. MST radar and ozonesonde observations delineated a tropopause fold to the west of the initial streamer, taking the form of a thin layer of stratospheric air embedded in a deep layer of descending upper-tropospheric air. The fold appears to have been mixed out by small-scale turbulence as the streamer broke up. This break-up also generated strong inertia-gravity waves, which broke just above the tropopause introducing extensive mixing to the lowermost stratosphere. One of the mesoscale vortices returned over the MST radar, showing a very indistinct tropopause typical of a synoptic-scale cut-off low. This vortex was also responsible for the development of a rain band on its eastern flank, which brought significant rainfall to the British Isles at a time when the synoptic flow pattern was strongly anticyclonic.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1751-1769 |
Number of pages | 18 |
Journal | Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society |
Volume | 126 |
Issue number | 566 |
Publication status | Published - 2000 |
Keywords
- Atmospheric dynamics
- Potential vorticity
- Tropopause