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Atmospheric scientists were surprised earlier this month to notice that the Arctic's polar vortex reversed its trajectory as it began spinning in the opposite direction. What's more: It has yet to stop.
The change occurred around March 4 and is among the six strongest such events since 1979, Amy Butler, a climate scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), told Spaceweather.com.
The rotating mass of cold air that circles in the Arctic stratosphere is infamous for triggering extreme cold and storms in various regions, but fortunately that has not happened in this case, according to Butler, the author of NOAA's new polar vortex blog. Instead, what Butler calls "Sudden Stratospheric Warming events" led to an increase of polar ozone from lower latitudes surrounding the Arctic, causing the swirling reversal.
A sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) is an event in which polar stratospheric temperatures rise by several tens of kelvins (up to increases of about 50 °C (90 °F)) over the course of a few days. The warming is preceded by a slowing then reversal of the westerly winds in the stratospheric polar vortex. SSWs occur about six times per decade in the northern hemisphere, and about once every 20-30 years in the southern hemisphere. Only two southern SSWs have been observed.
originally posted by: theatreboy
a reply to: Coelacanth55
It sounds like most don't understand why yet.
I wonder if it has anything to do with the poles moving...
S&F great post.