It seems counter-intuitive, but it seems like these Scientists are saying heat up the Arctic air above normal -- and that "normal" polar air has to go somewhere ...
Study Links Polar Vortex Chills to Melting Sea Ice
by Seth Borenstein, sci-tech-today.com -- Sept 3, 2014
[...]
In the past several years, many studies have looked at the accelerated warming in the Arctic and whether it is connected to extreme weather farther south, from heatwaves to Superstorm Sandy. This Arctic-extremes connection is "cutting edge" science that is hotly debated by mainstream climate scientists, Serreze said. Scientists are meeting this week in Seattle to look at the issue even more closely.
[...]
Normally, sea ice keeps heat energy from escaping the ocean and entering the atmosphere. When there's less ice, more energy gets into the atmosphere and weakens the jet stream, the high-altitude river of air that usually keeps Arctic air from wandering south, said study co-author Jin-Ho Yoon of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington. So the cold air escapes instead.
[...]
In the past several years, many studies have looked at the accelerated warming in the Arctic and whether it is connected to extreme weather farther south, from heatwaves to Superstorm Sandy. This Arctic-extremes connection is "cutting edge" science that is hotly debated by mainstream climate scientists, Serreze said. Scientists are meeting this week in Seattle to look at the issue even more closely.
[...]
Well if you 'leave open' the door to the freezer, the freezer gets warmer -- but those sitting near-by will feel the chill.
That 'once-normal' Arctic sea-ice is "the freezer door" in this analogy.
Here's the hot-off-the-presses study, or rather its Abstract, and some of its key figures:
Weakening of the stratospheric polar vortex by Arctic sea-ice loss
Baek-Min Kim,
Seok-Woo Son,
Seung-Ki Min,
Jee-Hoon Jeong,
Seong-Joong Kim,
Xiangdong Zhang,
Taehyoun Shim
& Jin-Ho Yoon
Affiliations
Contributions
Corresponding author
Nature Communications 5,
Article number: 4646 doi:10.1038/ncomms5646
Received 15 January 2014
Accepted 09 July 2014
Published 02 September 2014
Abstract
Successive cold winters of severely low temperatures in recent years have had critical social and economic impacts on the mid-latitude continents in the Northern Hemisphere. Although these cold winters are thought to be partly driven by dramatic losses of Arctic sea-ice, the mechanism that links sea-ice loss to cold winters remains a subject of debate. Here, by conducting observational analyses and model experiments, we show how Arctic sea-ice loss and cold winters in extra-polar regions are dynamically connected through the polar stratosphere. We find that decreased sea-ice cover during early winter months (November–December), especially over the Barents–Kara seas, enhances the upward propagation of planetary-scale waves [...], subsequently weakening the stratospheric polar vortex in mid-winter (January–February). [...]
[emphasis added]
Here are a few of graphics linked within the Abstract:
Figure 1: SIC variability over the B–K seas during the early winter season.
SIC =
Sea Ice Concentration (?)
B–K seas = Barents–Kara seas.
Figure 5: Wavenumber 1 disturbance linked to Arctic sea-ice loss.
Or in plain English, keep away the late fall ice near Russia (Fig 1b. blue area), lets out the ocean waters' relatively warmth in the atmosphere near Russia (Fig 1b. red area);
which in turn causes an imbalance in the overall Polar Air (or "planetary-scale waves") (Fig 5a. red vs blue areas).
[from 123rf.com ]
Think of one of those long balloons that Clowns use to use at children parties -- squeeze the air tightly at one end of the balloon, and where does that air go?
It pops out, somewhere else, usually at the other far end of the balloon ... until the whole balloon can no longer take the stress -- and the whole thing (aka. 'containment system') just bursts.
Hope that doesn't happen here. We shall see. 'The Clowns' are hardly done with their messing around with that elongated atmospheric balloon, other wise known as the Polar Jet Stream.
To learn more about the basics of "planetary-scale waves" (aka. Rossby Waves) and that wide-ranging Polar Vortex, I would quietly steer you here:
Polar Vortex, Jet Streams, Stratospheric Warming events, Rossby Waves, and Arctic Blasts -- by jamess -- Jan 04, 2014
And always thanks for taking the time. It's our planet/home too.