Advanced Materials Science Research

Polar Vortex Study

 A polar vortex is an upper-level low-pressure area lying near one among the Earth's poles. There are two polar vortices within the Earth's atmosphere, overlying the North and South Poles. Each polar vortex may be a persistent, large-scale, low-pressure zone but 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) in diameter, that rotates counter-clockwise at the North Pole and clockwise at the South Pole (called a cyclone in both cases), i.e., both polar vortices rotate eastward round the poles. As with other cyclones, their rotation is driven by the Coriolis effect. The bases of the 2 polar vortices are located within the middle and upper troposphere and extend into the stratosphere. Beneath that lies an outsized mass of cold, dense Arctic air. The interface between the cold dry atmosphere of the pole and therefore the warm moist atmosphere farther south defines the situation of the cold front. The cold front is centered, roughly at 60° latitude. A polar vortex strengthens within the winter and weakens within the summer due to its dependence on the temperature difference between the equator and therefore the poles. The vortices weaken and strengthen from year to year. When the vortex of the Arctic is robust, it's well defined, there's one vortex, and therefore the Arctic air is well contained; when weaker, which it generally is, it will break into two or more vortices; when very weak, the flow of Arctic air becomes more disorganized, and masses of cold Arctic air can push equator ward, bringing with them a rapid and sharp temperature drop. When the polar vortex is robust, there's an outsized single vortex with a airstream that's "well constrained" near the cold front. When the northern vortex weakens, it separates into two or more smaller vortices, the strongest of which are near Baffin Island, Canada, and therefore the other over northeast Siberia.  

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