The polar vortex is about to go haywire
Scientific American · Jackie Flynn Mogensen ·
“Everybody’s hair is on fire in the climate or meteorologist community”
Something “unprecedented” is happening in the atmosphere: the Arctic polar vortex, a spinning mass of air high above the North Pole, is collapsing. This disruption isn’t unusual, but it is happening at what may be the earliest point in the year on record, climate experts say.
Every winter the polar vortex strengthens in the stratosphere, a layer of the atmosphere that stretches from about 10 to 30 miles above Earth’s surface, explains Andrea Lopez Lang, an associate professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Like a fast-spinning top, the polar vortex’s tight rotation helps keep cold air trapped over the pole, says Judah Cohen, a climatologist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But if the vortex is disrupted, it can push cold air down to other parts of the world, such as North America and Europe.
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