Using <italic>Arktika-M No. 1</italic> Satellite MSU-GS Data for Monitoring and Analyzing Mesoscale Cyclones in the Arctic Region

You are here: Homepage > Search

Using Arktika-M No. 1 Satellite MSU-GS Data for Monitoring and Analyzing Mesoscale Cyclones in the Arctic Region

Frolova, E. A. / Nesterov, E. S. / Salagina, A. A.

Despite the long-term studies of mesoscale cyclones in the Arctic region that started in 1960, this atmospheric phenomenon has not been fully understood yet and is extremely difficult to predict. This is mainly due to the lack of satellite monitoring of the atmosphere in the northern polar latitudes with a high temporal resolution and an extremely sparse network of ground-based observations in the Arctic. On February 28, 2021, the Russian Arktika-MNo. 1 satellite was launched, which is the world’s first hydrometeorological satellite operating in a highly elliptical Molniya-type orbit. The launch of this unique satellite with a multichannel scanning unit (MSU-GS) as the main onboard mission equipment opened a possibility of obtaining data on the state of the atmosphere over the entire Arctic region with a frequency of 15/30 min during the working section of the satellite orbit. In particular, obtaining these data makes an invaluable contribution to solving the problems of monitoring and studying mesoscale cyclones in the northern polar latitudes, which is clearly shown in the present paper. The first summary results of monitoring mesoscale cyclones are presented as a map of their occurrence frequency. The potential of using the Arktika-M No. 1 MSU-GS data coupled with data of the regional hydrodynamic forecast model to perform synoptic analysis by the example of the manifestation of mesoscale cyclogenesis in the Barents Sea on May 31, 2021, is demonstrated.