On Monsoon Features of Atmospheric Circulation over the Barents Sea

Based on the analysis of seasonal changes in prevailing wind, S.P. Khromov proposed in 1957 that the atmospheric circulation over the Barents and Kara seas has monsoon features. The ЕRА-Interim reanalysis is used to study seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation types over the Barents Sea during 1979–2018. The monsoon features of circulation (airflows from the land to the sea) in winter are observed only when the positive phase of the North Atlantic Circulation dominates. In summer, the manifestation of the monsoon pattern (air flows from the sea to the land) is associated with the zone of cyclone regeneration over the Kara and Laptev seas: the cyclones become stationary, and southward flows over the Barents Sea become a rather stable circulation feature.