THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2020
2020 Siberian Heatwave continues
Very high temperatures hit Northern Europe and Eastern Siberia near the Arctic Ocean on June 18, 2020. This is a continuation of the heatwave that hit Siberia in May 2020.
The image below, from an earlier post, shows temperature anomalies that were forecast to be at the high end of the scale over Siberia on May 22, 2020, 06:00 UTC, i.e. 30°C or 54°F higher than 1979-2000. At the same time, cold temperatures were forecast for much of eastern Europe.
What enables such a strong heatwave to develop is that the Jet Stream is getting more wavy as the temperature difference between the North Pole and the Equator is narrowing, causing both hot air to move up into the Arctic (red arrow) and cold air to descend out of the Arctic (blue arrow).
On June 19, 2020, at 03:00 UTC, a temperature of 32°C or 89.7°F is forecast to hit Siberia near the Arctic Ocean (green circle).
The image below shows a temperature forecast of 33.4°C or 92°F in Siberia near the Arctic Ocean on June 20, 2020, at 03:00 UTC (green circle).
The image below is a forecast for June 23, 2020, showing how a distorted Jet Stream enables cold air to move down into Russia, while at the same time enabling hot air to move north over Scandinavia and Siberia, near the Arctic Ocean.
The image below is a forecast for June 25, 2020, showing the coast of Siberia near the Arctic Ocean getting hit by temperature anomalies at the top end of scale, i.e. 30°C or 54°F higher than 1979-2000.
Above image illustrates how the heatwave is heating up the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS). The ESAS is quite shallow, making that heat can quickly reach the seafloor.Additionally, the heatwave is heating up rivers that carry large amounts of hot water into the Arctic Ocean.
The image on the right shows sea surface temperatures in the Bering Strait as high as 16.6°C or 61.9°F on June 16, 2020.
The image below shows sea surface temperature anomalies as high as 13.9°C or 25°F compared to 1981-2011 in the Bering Strait on June 17, 2020 (at the green circle).
Above image also shows how sea currents are moving hot water from the Pacific Ocean into the Arctic Ocean. Similarly, ocean currents are moving hot water from the Atlantic Ocean into the Arctic Ocean.
Furthermore, the Siberian heatwave is also threatening to trigger forest fires that can cause huge amounts of black carbon to settle on the snow and ice cover, further speeding up its demise.
Finally, more intense forest fires threaten to cause organic carbon compounds to enter the stratosphere and damage the ozone layer, as discussed in an earlier post.
The situation is dire and calls for immediate, comprehensive and effective action as described in the Climate Plan.
Links
• Climate Plan
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/p/climateplan.html
• Very High Greenhouse Gas Levels
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2020/05/very-high-greenhouse-gas-levels.html
