A comparison of tracking methods for extreme cyclones in the Arctic basin

Abstract

Dramatic climate changes have occurred in recent decades over the Arctic region, and very noticeably in near-surface warming and reductions in sea ice extent. In a climatological sense, Arctic cyclone behaviour is linked to the distributions of lower troposphere temperature and sea ice, and hence the monitoring of storms can be seen as an important component of the analysis of Arctic climate. The analysis of cyclone behaviour, however, is not without ambiguity, and different cyclone identification algorithms can lead to divergent conclusions. Here we analyse a subset of Arctic cyclones with 10 state-of-the-art cyclone identification schemes applied to the ERA-Interim reanalysis. The subset i..