Editorial Type:
Article
Article Type:
Research Article

Cold Surges in Tropical and Extratropical South America: The Strong Event in June 1994

Jose Marengo Centro de Previsão de Tempo e Estudos Climáticos, CPTEC/INPE, Sao Paulo, Brazil

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Angel Cornejo Centro de Previsão de Tempo e Estudos Climáticos, CPTEC/INPE, Sao Paulo, Brazil

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Prakky Satyamurty Centro de Previsão de Tempo e Estudos Climáticos, CPTEC/INPE, Sao Paulo, Brazil

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Carlos Nobre Centro de Previsão de Tempo e Estudos Climáticos, CPTEC/INPE, Sao Paulo, Brazil

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William Sea Department of Soil, Water and Climate, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota

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Print Publication:
01 Nov 1997
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(1997)125<2759:CSITAE>2.0.CO;2
Page(s):
2759–2786
Restricted access

Abstract

The authors investigate one case of surges of polar air that occasionally propagate into southeastern Brazil during wintertime and are harmful to coffee production because of the freezing conditions associated with them. The cooling is also observed in southern and, with less intensity, in western Amazonia. The event of 26 June 1994 is studied. The frost event caused a sharp drop in coffee production and similarly dramatic increases in coffee prices.

The event was characterized by the presence of an anticyclonic perturbation off the coast of Chile that enters South America and crosses the Andes Mountains south of 45°S hours later. The anticyclone center tracks equatorward until it reaches 20°–30°S and then shifts eastward toward the Atlantic.

Based on a diagnostic analysis using the National Centers for Environmental Prediction–National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP–NCAR) reanalysis, a two-stage process can be distinguished. In the starting period, midtropospheric troughing is established east of the Andes, over central Argentina, due to stretching and/or vorticity advection. This troughing is responsible for cold advection along the eastern flank of the Andes, which produces substantial temperature drops and deepens the upper trough locally. The increase in the magnitude of the zonal temperature gradients east of the cold advection zone at levels near 700 hPa is another result of the cooling process. This feature would ensure that the cold advection be extended eastward, producing an upper-level trough local deepening there. This intensification would produce an increase in the cyclonic vorticity advection, which would tend to produce sea level pressure drops underneath. This near-surface low pressure area would eventually contribute to the southeastern Brazil (SB) cooling due to the associated southerly winds.

Another feature is the near-surface local anticyclonic generation due to midtropospheric cold advection associated with descending motions, low-level divergence, and anticyclonic growth. Eventually this high pressure would also contribute to produce southwesterlies to transport cold air to SB.

The paper is divided in two sections. The first part is a study of synoptic and climatic aspects of the cold surge episodes by using daily surface climatic observations. The purpose of the second part is to analyze the dynamic aspects of this cold episode and to study the cooling mechanisms by using the four-times-daily surface and upper-air NCEP–NCAR reanalysis, as well as to look for possible predictors.

Corresponding author address: Dr. José Marengo, CPTEC/INPE, Rodovia Presidente Dutra Km. 40, 12630-000 Cashoeira Paulista, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Abstract

The authors investigate one case of surges of polar air that occasionally propagate into southeastern Brazil during wintertime and are harmful to coffee production because of the freezing conditions associated with them. The cooling is also observed in southern and, with less intensity, in western Amazonia. The event of 26 June 1994 is studied. The frost event caused a sharp drop in coffee production and similarly dramatic increases in coffee prices.

The event was characterized by the presence of an anticyclonic perturbation off the coast of Chile that enters South America and crosses the Andes Mountains south of 45°S hours later. The anticyclone center tracks equatorward until it reaches 20°–30°S and then shifts eastward toward the Atlantic.

Based on a diagnostic analysis using the National Centers for Environmental Prediction–National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP–NCAR) reanalysis, a two-stage process can be distinguished. In the starting period, midtropospheric troughing is established east of the Andes, over central Argentina, due to stretching and/or vorticity advection. This troughing is responsible for cold advection along the eastern flank of the Andes, which produces substantial temperature drops and deepens the upper trough locally. The increase in the magnitude of the zonal temperature gradients east of the cold advection zone at levels near 700 hPa is another result of the cooling process. This feature would ensure that the cold advection be extended eastward, producing an upper-level trough local deepening there. This intensification would produce an increase in the cyclonic vorticity advection, which would tend to produce sea level pressure drops underneath. This near-surface low pressure area would eventually contribute to the southeastern Brazil (SB) cooling due to the associated southerly winds.

Another feature is the near-surface local anticyclonic generation due to midtropospheric cold advection associated with descending motions, low-level divergence, and anticyclonic growth. Eventually this high pressure would also contribute to produce southwesterlies to transport cold air to SB.

The paper is divided in two sections. The first part is a study of synoptic and climatic aspects of the cold surge episodes by using daily surface climatic observations. The purpose of the second part is to analyze the dynamic aspects of this cold episode and to study the cooling mechanisms by using the four-times-daily surface and upper-air NCEP–NCAR reanalysis, as well as to look for possible predictors.

Corresponding author address: Dr. José Marengo, CPTEC/INPE, Rodovia Presidente Dutra Km. 40, 12630-000 Cashoeira Paulista, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

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