Fig. 1
The ERA-I topography (shading – km) and the winter mean (DJF) 500 mb geopotential height (contours – km) and the 500 mb horizontal wind (vectors – m/s). Locations in the coastal seas around Greenland are indicated as are the South Dome (SD), North Dome (ND), Saddle (S), and NGRIP (N) sites on the ice sheet.
Table 1. Comparison of the 10 m wind speed from Polar MM5 (Box et al., 2004) and from the ERA-I with the 10 m wind speed from the automatic weather stations of the GC-Net (Steffen and Box, 2001)
Polar MM58.52.60.61/4.574.43.35/6.120.480.23/0.6825.6ERA-I6.70.38−2.01/3.561.00.05/3.50.650.48/0.7373.5
[i] Please refer to Box et al. (2004) for details on the stations used.
Fig. 2
The ERA-I (a) winter mean (DJF) and (b) summer mean (JJA) 10 m wind speed (contours and shading – m/s) and vector wind (vectors – m/s) fields.
Fig. 3
The ERA-I winter mean (DJF): (a) zonal component and (b) meridional component of the 10 m wind (contours and shading – m/s) fields; the summer mean (JJA) (c) zonal component; and (d) meridional component of the 10 m wind (contours and shading – m/s) fields.
Fig. 4
The ERA-I (a) winter mean (DJF) and (b) summer mean (JJA) directional constancy of the 10 m wind speed (contours and shading).
Fig. 5
The ERA-I winter mean (DJF): (a) pressure (shading and contours – mb) and wind field (vectors – m/s); (b) meridional component of the wind (shading and contours – m/s); (c) temperature (shading and contours – K); and (d) directional constancy of the wind field (shading and contours) at 2.8 km. The area shaded in black is underground.
Fig. 6
The ERA-I winter mean (DJF): (a) pressure (shading and contours – mb) and wind field (vectors – m/s); (b) meridional component of the wind (shading and contours – m/s); (c) temperature (shading and contours – K); and (d) directional constancy of the wind field (shading and contours) at 8 km.
Fig. 7
Zonal cross-section of the flow along 72°N from the ERA-I for the winter mean (DJF) flow: (a) the temperature field (K); (b) the meridional component of the wind (m/s); (c) the zonal component of the wind (m/s); and (d) the directional constancy of the horizontal wind.
Fig. 8
Zonal cross-section of the flow along 72°N from the ERA-I for the summer mean (JJA) flow: (a) the temperature field (K); (b) the meridional component of the wind (m/s); (c) the zonal component of the wind (m/s); and (d) the directional constancy of the horizontal wind.
Fig. 9
Meridional cross-section of the flow along 45°W from the ERA-I for the winter mean (DJA) flow: (a) the temperature field (K); (b) the meridional component of the wind (m/s); (c) the zonal component of the wind (m/s); and (d) the directional constancy of the horizontal wind.
Fig. 10
The ERA-I winter mean (DJF) and summer mean (JJA) vertical profiles of: (a) temperature (K); (b) meridional component of the wind (m/s); and (c) zonal component of the wind (m/s) at 72°N 45°W. The vertical levels on which the data are available are indicated by the ‘ + ’ in (a).
Fig. 11
Zonal cross-section of the flow along 72°N from the ERA-I for the winter mean (DJF) flow: (a) the zonal derivative of the pressure field (mb/100 km); (b) the zonal derivative of the temperature field (K/100 km); (c) the meridional component of the geostrophic wind (m/s); and (d) the meridional component of the wind (m/s).
Fig. 12
Zonal cross-section of the meridional component of the wind (solid contours and shading-m/s) and temperature (dashed contours – K) along 72°N from the: (a) ERA-I; (b) NCEPR; and (c) CFSR for the winter mean (DJF) during the period 1979–2009.
Fig. 13
Zonal cross-section of the zonal component of the wind (shading and contours-m/s) along 72°N from the: (a) ERA-I; (b) NCEPR; and (c) CFSR for the winter mean (DJF) during the period 1979–2009.