Canadian Arctic weather system configuration related to the recent sea ice decline and heatwave of summer 2019

Abstract

Average summer surface temperatures time series during 1948-2019 reveals higher positive slope for eastern Canadian Arctic rather than west with a peak in summer 2019, accompanied with recent Arctic sea-ice decline. This is associated with Greenland omega blocking high-pressure system. The Hovmoller diagram of 500 hPa geopotential height anomaly map shows 3 peaks during summer of 2019 in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Also, upper-level anomaly wind analysis shows the Rossby wave meridionally stretching. A regression statistical analysis shows a significant positive correlation between the eastern Canadian temperatures and Greenland blocking index.