HR: 1340h
AN: PP13C-1416    [Abstracts]
TI: A Transition in Atmospheric Moisture Transport as Observed in Stable Isotope Data From Mount Wrangell
AU: * Moore, K
EM: gwk.moore@utoronto.ca
AF: University of Toronto, 60 St. George Street, Toronto, Ont M5S 1A7, Canada
AU: Field, R
EM: robert.field@utoronto.ca
AF: University of Toronto, 60 St. George Street, Toronto, Ont M5S 1A7, Canada
AU: Benson, C
EM: benson@gi.alaska.edu
AF: University of Alaska, 903 Koyukuk Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775, United States
AB: Measurements made at the summit of Mount Wrangell in the Saint Elias Mountains during a storm in early August 1980 show a change in δ¹⁸O that approaches that normally observed to occur between winter and summer in the same region. We explore the synoptic-scale conditions associated with this storm with a view to understanding the processes responsible for this large change in δ¹⁸O. Using a variety of diagnostic techniques including satellite imagery, reanalysis data and back-trajectories, we show that during this event there was a dramatic transition in the atmospheric moisture transport to Mount Wrangell from a sub-tropical source region over the central Pacific to an extra-tropical source region over Siberia. This transition was mediated by the interaction of two synoptic-scale weather systems, the semi-permanent high situated over the northeastern Pacific Ocean and a transient extra-tropical cyclone that entered the Alaska region from the west. The implications that such events have on the reconstruction of climate signals contained in ice cores from the Saint Elias region will be discussed.
DE: 0720 Glaciers
DE: 0776 Glaciology (1621, 1827, 1863)
DE: 3349 Polar meteorology
DE: 3364 Synoptic-scale meteorology
SC: Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology [PP]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting