The structure and maintenance of tropopause polar vortices over the Arctic

Tropopause polar vortices (TPVs) are coherent vortices based the tropopause in polar regions, where they are isolated from the wind shear associated with the midlatitude jet stream. Cyclonic TPVs are a common feature of the Arctic, have radii up to 1500 km, and can have lifetimes of over one month. The Arctic is a particularly favorable region for these features due to the isolation from the jet stream, an environment conducive for vortex longevity. Further, TPVs can have an impact on surface weather since they provide more favorable conditions for surface cyclogenesis.;The intensification of cyclonic TPVs is examined using an Ertel Potential Vorticity (EPV) framework to test the hypothesis that diabatic effects are able to intensify the vortices due to a dominance of radiative cooling within the vortices that can be seen in high latitudes. This thesis first generalizes the diabatic intensification mechanisms by applying the EPV framework methods to a large sample of cyclones in the Canadian Arctic, and shows that there is a net tendency to create EPV in the vortex, and hence intensify cyclones from radiative processes. While the effects of latent heating are considerable, they are smaller in magnitude. The physical mechanisms leading to these observations are then examined in idealized numerical experiments, where it is shown that longwave radiative cooling is the most important mechanism for intensification. Dry air from the downward intrusion of stratospheric air in the vortex strengthens the vertical gradient of water vapor near the tropopause, and weakens the vertical gradient of water vapor in the lower stratosphere.;This results in relatively high radiative cooling near the tropopause, and relatively low radiative cooling in the lower stratosphere with respect to the background environment in the vortex core, enhancing EPV generation in the vortex core. The impact of radiative processes to the climatology of cyclonic TPVs is then examined by comparing a numerically simulated control mesoscale climatology with full physics to one without radiative forcings. The two simulated climatologies exhibit substantially different evolutions, and emphasize the important role of radiation in intensifying and maintaining cyclonic TPVs.