Atmospheric conditions of thunderstorms in the European part of the Arctic derived from sounding and reanalysis data

Abstract

While thunderstorms in equatorial and mid-latitudes are well documented, little is known about their presence in high latitudes. There are barely a few studies on this phenomenon analyzing their occurrence in the European Arctic region. In an attempt to rectify this situation authors aim to explain which conditions are conducive to their formation in Bjørnøya, Jan Mayen and Svalbard islands. A total of 41 thunderstorm days derived from SYNOP reports from the period of 1981–2010 were used to define thunderstorm-favorable synoptic conditions from NCEP/NCAR reanalyses and sounding data. In order to underline seasonal variation, anomalies were presented in the polar day and polar night timeframes. As it turned out polar night thunderstorms occur most often in situations with southern warm marine air advections intensified by the positive North Atlantic and Arctic Oscillations. Thunderstorms in this season are characterized by steep vertical lapse rates and occur most likely at the cold fronts. Polar day thunderstorms form when warm air masses move from the continental north-eastern Europe to the Arctic, and create unstable conditions. In this type, thunderstorms are generated by elevated convection and occur most likely in a cyclone's cool side of warm sector.