Presentation
Atmospheric rivers are filamentary atmospheric flows carrying intense amounts of water vapor, generally associated with a low-level jet ahead of the cold front of an extratropical low, associated with the ascent of large masses of warm, moist air to the upper troposphere as they move poleward.
Projet ANR : 2020 – 2024
Participants : IGE (coordination) ; LSCE ; LOCEAN (UTAS ; CESAM ; EPFL ; ULiège)
The ARCA project aims to describe atmospheric rivers in the polar regions by applying recent algorithms for detecting these events to simulations of past, present and future climates. ARCA will assess the impact of atmospheric rivers on Antarctic surface mass balance and explore the extent to which past atmospheric river activity can be recovered from ice core records. To do this, ARCA will collect meteorological, isotopic, and aerosol data in (atmospheric) water vapor and surface snow to define the isotopic and aerosol signatures of atmospheric rivers.
The ARCA consortium is composed of members from IGE, LSCE and LOCEAN with recognized expertise in atmospheric modeling (global and regional) and surface mass balance in polar regions, development of atmospheric river detection algorithms, and interpretation of water isotopes and aerosol content in snow and ice samples. This project is also the basis of a close collaboration with the CESAM of the University of Aveiro, the EPFL, the University of Liege, the University of Tasmania (Hobart) and the University of Boulder Colorado.