The Year of Polar Prediction in the Southern Hemisphere (YOPP-SH)

The Year of Polar Prediction in the Southern Hemisphere (YOPP-SH) had a special observing period (SOP) that ran from 16 November 2018 to 15 February 2019, a period chosen to span the austral warm season months of greatest operational activity in the Antarctic. Some 2,200 additional radiosondes were launched during the 3-month SOP, roughly doubling the routine program, and the network of drifting buoys in the Southern Ocean was enhanced. An evaluation of global model forecasts during the SOP and using its data has confirmed that extratropical Southern Hemisphere forecast skill lags behind that in the Northern Hemisphere with the contrast being greatest between the southern and northern polar regions. Reflecting the application of the SOP data, early results from observing system experiments show that the additional radiosondes yield the greatest forecast improvement for deep cyclones near the Antarctic coast. The SOP data have been applied to provide insights on an atmospheric river event during the YOPP-SH SOP that presented a challenging forecast and that impacted southern South America and the Antarctic Peninsula. YOPP-SH data have also been applied in determinations that seasonal predictions by coupled atmosphere-ocean-sea ice models struggle to capture the spatial and temporal characteristics of the Antarctic sea ice minimum. Education, outreach, and communication activities have supported the YOPP-SH SOP efforts. Based on the success of this Antarctic summer YOPP-SH SOP, a winter YOPP-SH SOP is being organized to support explorations of Antarctic atmospheric predictability in the austral cold season when the southern sea ice cover is rapidly expanding.

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Author Bromwich, David H.
Werner, Kirstin
Casati, Barbara
Powers, Jordan G.
Gorodetskaya, Irina V.
Massonnet, François
Vitale, Vito
Heinrich, Victoria J.
Liggett, Daniela
Arndt, Stefanie
Barja, Boris
Bazile, Eric
Carpentier, Scott
Carrasco, Jorge F.
Choi, Taejin
Choi, Yonghan
Colwell, Steven R.
Cordero, Raul R.
Gervasi, Massimo
Haiden, Thomas
Hirasawa, Naohiko
Inoue, Jun
Jung, Thomas
Kalesse, Heike
Kim, Seong-Joong
Lazzara, Matthew A.
Manning, Kevin W.
Norris, Kimberley
Park, Sang-Jong
Reid, Phillip
Rigor, Ignatius
Rowe, Penny M.
Schmithüsen, Holger
Seifert, Patric
Sun, Qizhen
Uttal, Taneil
Zannoni, Mario
Zou, Xun
Publisher UCAR/NCAR - Library
Publication Date 2020-10-01T00:00:00
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Topic Category geoscientificInformation
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Metadata Date 2023-08-18T18:15:13.577291
Metadata Record Identifier edu.ucar.opensky::articles:23887
Metadata Language eng; USA
Suggested Citation Bromwich, David H., Werner, Kirstin, Casati, Barbara, Powers, Jordan G., Gorodetskaya, Irina V., Massonnet, François, Vitale, Vito, Heinrich, Victoria J., Liggett, Daniela, Arndt, Stefanie, Barja, Boris, Bazile, Eric, Carpentier, Scott, Carrasco, Jorge F., Choi, Taejin, Choi, Yonghan, Colwell, Steven R., Cordero, Raul R., Gervasi, Massimo, Haiden, Thomas, Hirasawa, Naohiko, Inoue, Jun, Jung, Thomas, Kalesse, Heike, Kim, Seong-Joong, Lazzara, Matthew A., Manning, Kevin W., Norris, Kimberley, Park, Sang-Jong, Reid, Phillip, Rigor, Ignatius, Rowe, Penny M., Schmithüsen, Holger, Seifert, Patric, Sun, Qizhen, Uttal, Taneil, Zannoni, Mario, Zou, Xun. (2020). The Year of Polar Prediction in the Southern Hemisphere (YOPP-SH). UCAR/NCAR - Library. http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d790274c. Accessed 15 June 2025.

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