• https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-976-ac2Copy DOI Icon

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  • Jun 16, 2025
  • Ekaterina Vorobeva
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Abstract

<strong class="journal-contentHeaderColor">Abstract.</strong> The winter 2023/24 exhibited remarkable stratospheric dynamics with multiple sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs). Based on the fifth generation European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis (ERA5) polar-cap averaged 10 hPa zonal wind, three major SSWs are identified &ndash; an extremely rare occurrence in a single winter. Two of three SSWs were short-lived, lasting under 7 days. In this study, we give an overview of the three SSWs that occurred in winter 2023/24 and focus on the impact of tropospheric forcing on their duration. Blocking high-pressure systems are shown to modulate wave activity flux into the stratosphere through interactions with tropospheric planetary waves, depending on their location. The rapid termination of the first SSW (14&ndash;19 January 2024) is linked to a developing high-pressure system over the North Pacific. The second SSW (16&ndash;22 February 2024) terminated quickly due to more contributing factors, one of which was a high-pressure system developed over the Far East. The third SSW (3&ndash;28 March 2024) was a long-duration canonical event extending to levels below 100 hPa. In contrast to two short-lived SSWs in winter 2023/24, the tropospheric forcing was sustained around the SSW onset in March 2024, allowing a long event to develop. We also note that conditions for these SSWs were particularly favorable due to external factors, including an Easterly Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO), the presence of El Ni&ntilde;o conditions of the ENSO cycle, and the proximity to the solar maximum.

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