INFRARED-MICROWAVE SYNERGY TO SUPPORT CHARACTERISATION OF POLAR LOWS

D. Gallucci¹, D. Cimini¹, S. Larosa¹, G. Noer², R. Randriamampianina², B. Theodore³, M. Crapeau³, D. Coppens³, F. Romano¹

¹Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis, National Research Council of Italy, CNR-IMAA, Tito Scalo, Italy, ²The Norwegian Meteorological Institute, MET-Norway, Oslo, Norway, ³European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, Darmstadt, Germany

Polar low systems are small, short-lived but intense low-pressure weather systems that form over high latitude ocean areas, typically in polar or subpolar regions [1]. The small size and short lifetime of polar lows hinder their detection and tracking; besides, sparse synoptic observations in areas where polar lows frequently occur provide incomplete data for modeling and forecasting. Therefore, the comprehensive study of polar lows, their timely detection, tracking, and forecasting are challenges for today’s science.

Polar Orbiting satellites, such as the EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS) MetOp constellation, offer a great deal of observations on such areas, because of their relatively short revisit period at high latitudes, and are suitable to improve the detection and monitoring of such phenomena. A project addressing such challenge has recently started: “Study on Use of IASI L2 MW + IR Products for the Characterisation of Polar Lows (PoLo)”. The PoLo project aims at assessing the potential benefit as well as limitations of the EPS L2 all sky temperature and humidity profiles retrievals combining infrared (IR) observations from IASI and microwave (MW) measurements from AMSU and MHS [2] for supporting the characterisation and monitoring of polar lows.

This presentation will show preliminary results, including the selected dataset of polar low cases in the Arctic/North Atlantic, and the outcomes from the first phase of the PoLo project.

1. Moreno-Ibáñez M., Laprise R. and Gachon P., 2021 Recent advances in polar low research: current knowledge, challenges and future perspectives, Tellus-A 73-1 (https://doi.org/10.1080/16000870.2021.1890412).

2. EUMETSAT, 2021, Product User Guide – IASI level2 TS, T,Q, EUM/OPS/DOC/19/1085967, available from: https://user.eumetsat.int/s3/eup-strapi-media/Product_User_Guide_IASI_level2_TS_T_Q_release_1_d0120f17a6.pdf