TheArctic front is the semipermanent, semi-continuousweather front between the cold arcticair mass and the warmer air of thepolar cell. It can also be defined as the southern boundary of the Arctic air mass.[1] Mesoscale cyclones known aspolar lows can form along the arctic front in the wake ofextratropical cyclones. Arctic air masses in their wake are shallow with a deep layer of stable air above the shallow cold cool.[2]
Arctic Fronts form in the Arctic region, and move southwards in southerly flows. When they reach Northern Europe, they have usually travelled over an open sea, and convective cloudiness has developed. The appearance of an Arctic Cold Fronts is then, essentially, that of a shallow Cold Front.
Arctic Cold Fronts are usually so far north thatMeteosat images alone are inadequate to recognize them. Also, the following conceptual models may look like Arctic Cold Fronts: polar Cold Front, Polar Low and Comma. The final check is best made using a loop of AVHRR images with the help of numerical model parameter fields.
Arctic Cold Fronts can be classified into two types:
These fronts resemble polar cold fronts, but are usually not so extensive. Thefrontal cloudiness becomes more convective with time.
These fronts form over the ice/sea boundary and move southwards with the basic flow. There is only an isolated Cold Front. Often this type is so shallow and weak that it can not be detected in Meteosat water vapour images.
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