A three-dimensional residence-time analysis of potential summertime atmospheric transport to Summit, Greenland

Abstract

AbstractThe interannual variations in atmospheric transport patterns to Summit, Greenland, are studied using twice-daily, three-dimensional, 10 day backward trajectory data corresponding to the summers (1 June–31 August) of 1989–98. While previous trajectory climatology studies have been prepared for Summit, the present work considers both the horizontal and vertical components of transport. A three-dimensional residence-time methodology is employed to account for both horizontal and vertical components of transport. the vertical transport component is quantified by passing all trajectories through a three-dimensional grid and tracking the time spent (i.e. the residence time) in each gridcell. This method also allows inspection of trajectory altitude distributions corresponding to transport from upwind regions of interest. the three-dimensional residence-time methodology is shown to be a valuable tool for diagnosing the details of long-range atmospheric transport to remote locations. for Summit, we find that the frequent transport from North America tends to occur at low altitudes, whereas transport from Europe is highly variable. Mean summertime flow patterns are described, as are anomalous patterns during 1990,1996 and 1998.