Polar lows

Polar lows

Arctic Weather and Climate Patterns

Published in Neloy Khare, Climate Change in the Arctic, 2022

Polar lows are small, intense cyclones that form over the open ocean during the cold season (Figure 2.3). From satellite imagery, polar lows can look much like a hurricane, with a large spiral of clouds centred around an eye – for this reason, they are sometimes called Arctic hurricanes. Polar lows range in size from around 100 to 500 km in diameter. Wind speeds average about 80 km/hour, and they can occasionally reach hurricane strength (103 km/hour). Polar lows tend to form when cold Arctic air flows over relatively warm open water. The storms can develop rapidly, reaching their maximum strength within 12–24 hours of formation, but they dissipate just as quickly, lasting on average only for 1 or 2 days.

Vessel stability in polar low situations: case study for semi-submersible drilling rigs

View Article

Journal Information

Published in Ships and Offshore Structures, 2018

Adekunle Peter Orimolade, Svein Larsen, Ove Tobias Gudmestad

Strong winds, heavy snowfall, poor visibility and large waves are some of the weather conditions that often accompany polar lows. A vessel at sea may also experience severe icing due to the strong winds, if other environmental conditions for vessel icing are favourable. The Norwegian Coast Guard vessel (KV Nordkapp) experienced severe icing when the vessel was caught up in polar lows in late February 1987 (2015 personal communication with S Løset; unreferenced, ‘Discussions’). Figure 2 shows the ice accretion on the vessel in about 20 hours.

Explore chapters and articles related to this topic

Arctic Weather and Climate Patterns

Vessel stability in polar low situations: case study for semi-submersible drilling rigs