Finding Deformation Zones

#2570 "Cirrus Sunset from the Bottom of the Atmospheric Ocean"
October 2021, 11x14

If you want to find deformation zones, it really helps if you know where to look!  It is best to start with the entire globe and gaze down from space - the satellite view of the atmosphere. 

The world has changed much since I became a meteorologist in 1976. Atmospheric scientists were well aware of the impacts of fossil fuels consumption on the atmosphere as early as 1824.  I wrote about the history of climate change science in "True Confessions from Singleton Philly". I updated the current state of climate change, where we are headed and why in "The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery - Become Informed and Involved in a Good Way" and "The Weather Makers  - What has happened in Fifteen Years?". Mankind is rewriting climate which is the average weather, with each passing year. To witness these impacts in a single lifetime is unthinkable. Deformation zones are just another indication that this is true. 

All of the deformation zone flavours are on the increase with climate change. The poles are warming up much faster than the equator as the snow and ice melts to expose darker, less reflective surfaces. These low albedo surfaces absorb the sun's energy and in turn, warms the atmosphere. The temperature difference between the equator and the poles drive the jet stream. As a result, the jet stream is transforming more into a meandering trickle than a fast flowing river of high speed air. The ox bow patterns of the weakening jet stream are the perfect place to create swirls and deformation zones.

Historical Jet Stream Left - Weaker Jet Today Right

The distribution of the mountain ranges and oceans of the earth also play important roles in deviating the atmospheric currents. As a result the preferred number of waves around the globe is seven. That means that seven troughs of low pressure are separated by seven ridges of high pressure along a line of mid-latitude encircling the globe. You can safely expect a predominance of cyclonic swirls in those troughs and anticyclonic swirls in the ridges. Your extended Coriolis Hand with its fingers pointing with the flow, will convince you that this is true. 

Where to Find the Different Flavours of Swirls

Where do cyclonic swirls dominate? Cyclonic swirls can be found in upper troughs of low pressure in the atmosphere. The trough is the red area in the above graphic. 

Where do anticyclonic swirls dominate? Anticyclonic swirls can be found in upper ridges of high pressure in the atmosphere. The ridge is the blue area in the above graphic. 

Double Cyclonic Deformation Zone -
Big X added to another Big X

A deformation zone that is wholly within a trough will look like a backward s – a double cyclonic DZ. Such a deformation zone is typically generated by a flow that is associated with ascending warm air moving toward the north. I wrote about that process in "Cloud Edge Shapes - The "Backward S" Deformation Zone" and also "Warming Winds and Deformation Zones". The beauty of a conceptual model is that having worked through the theory a few times, you can appreciate what a pattern means by simple observation. You do not need to reinvent the conceptual model every day. If you witness a line in the sky that is a double cyclonic DZ, then you are in a trough of low pressure with warming weather. 

Double Anticyclonic Deformation Zone -
Big N added to another Big N

A deformation zone that is wholly within a ridge will look like an s – a double anticyclonic DZ. Such a deformation zone is generated by a flow that is associated with descending, cold air moving toward the south. 

Winds that veer (turn clockwise) with height and/or time will generate a double cyclonic DZ. Similarly winds that back (turn counter-clockwise) with height and/or time will generate a double anticyclonic DZ. 

A larger deformation zone that spans a trough into a ridge with a bowed shaped pattern pointing northward (and rising) is characteristic of a large warm conveyor belt and a storm. Similarly a deformation zone that spans a ridge into a downstream trough with a bowed shaped pattern pointing southward (and sinking) is characteristic of a large cold outbreak following in the wake of a storm.  

Bowed Deformation Zone -
Big X added to a Big N

The best place to view these deformation zone is certainly water vapour satellite imagery. Typically, one can only few a small segment of a deformation zone from the ground. From space, one can see the entire conceptual model at work.

Jim Day Rapids Double Anticyclonic DZ

For those who are interested, the same patterns can be seen not only in duckweed, but also in oatmeal and your coffee cup if you use cream. In fact, every fluid can be investigated and better understood by applying these conceptual models. 

Coffee and Cream Swirls and Deformation Zones

The shape of the lines in the sky tell the story of the weather. The vocabulary of these tales has been developed in the past few Blogs. It took me many Night Shifts when the weather was quiet (which was not often), to piece all of this together. Some of this material can be found in various Modules on the COMET Website. The rest is being presented here for the first time although this material was certainly the content of many fireside chats in the Weather Centre when the team was determining what the concern of the day would be and where the resources would be most wisely allocated. 

This content has been a bit more meteorological and scientific that I had intended but it illustrates just how much information can be gleaned from those lines in the sky. I will return to more art than science in the next Blog. 

Keep you paddle in the water and warmest regards... 

Phil the Forecaster Chadwick