ROMA (ITALPRESS) – The heating of the surface of Antarctica from 1950 to today, especially in the Antarctic Peninsula, is significantly altering the stability of the lowest layers of the atmosphere. This is what emerges from a study conducted by ENEA together with a group of scientists from six international institutions and published in the journal Journal of Climate. “The progressive reduction of atmospheric stability near the ground, caused by the increase in surface temperatures, increases the formation of waves of atmospheric gravity starting from the Antarctic Peninsula, one of the main ‘fabrics’ of these waves that play a crucial role in the dynamics of the Earth’ climate,” explains the first author of the study, Maria Vittoria Guarino, ENEA researcher of the Sustainability Department. “A less stable atmosphere – he adds – facilitates the birth and propagation of these undulatory signals that travel upwards and our research highlights for the first time an increase in these waves, linking it with a change in surface atmospheric flows.”.
The study highlights how the effects of surface heating do not remain confined to the ground, but are generating more waves that propagate to the stratosphere and beyond, contributing to reshaping atmospheric circulation with effects that from global premises become. “The waves of atmospheric gravity are not only a local phenomenon but are able to influence the polar vortex, the processes related to ozone and the weather of the average latitudes. And an increase in their presence in the heavens indicates potentially profound changes in the dynamics of the climate of our planet,” concludes Guarino. The results obtained are based on data of weather stations, satellite observations, reanalysis products and model simulations, which show a marked and consistent increase in gravity waves.
In December, due to its scientific relevance, the study was highlighted by the American Meteorological Society among the Early Online Highlights which are the contributions published online previews because considered of particular interest, and was reported in the newsletter addressed to the media.
– photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
