The impact of surface-based temperature inversion characteristics on air temperatures at earth’s surface at location across northwestern Canada between 1990 and 2016

Study area with the location of five weather stations for which radiosonde data were obtained through the Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive. Permafrost distribution zones from Brown et al. (2002) are also included on the map. The maps include the Canada Boundaries shapefile (Statistics Canada 2016) and the United States Boundaries shapefile (United States Census Bureau 2018) and are displayed in the Canada Albers Equal Area Conic Projection.

Air temperature is often observed to decrease from earth’s surface upwards into the atmosphere.

In high latitude locations, particularly during the winter, temperature can increase from the surface upwards into the atmosphere. This is known as a surface-based temperature inversion.

Read this open access paper on the Arctic Science website.

Data, that was collected by (radiosonde) sensors attached to weather balloons from 1990 to 2016, were used to quantify how often surface-based temperature inversion events occurred, how much warmer the temperature got from the surface to the top of the surface-based temperature inversion layer, and how high above the ground the surface-based temperature inversion extended.

Using this information, we created a new way to measure how much impact surface-based temperature inversions have on air temperatures at the surface. Using this new variable, we determined how much warmer temperature would be at earth’s surface if these surface-based temperature inversions were entirely absent throughout the year and air temperature was assumed to always decrease from the surface upwards into the atmosphere.

We found that temperatures at some locations would be upwards to 5 °C warmer on annual average and 10 °C warmer during the winter season if surface-based temperature inversions were entirely absent. Relationships between surface-based temperature inversion impact on air temperatures at earth’s surface and global climate patterns linked to ocean temperatures and sea ice coverage in the Beaufort Sea were reviewed.

Findings of this research can be applied to any future research in northwestern Canada that relies on accurate understanding of air temperature at earth’s surface such as permafrost research.

Read the paper — Surface-based temperature inversion characteristics and impact on surface air temperatures in northwestern Canada from radiosonde data between 1990 and 2016 by Nick C. Noad, Philip P. Bonnaventure, Gaëlle F. Gilson, Hester Jiskoot, and Madeleine C. Garibaldi