Backward trajectory plumes using FLEXPART-WRF, for the expedition ARTofMELT, Arctic Ocean, 2023
Anderson Da Silva, Cort Zang, Louis Marelle
Set of backward potential emission sensitivity (PES) outputs, produced with the Lagrangian particles dispersion model (LPDM) FLEXPART-WRF for the expedition ARTofMELT (Atmospheric Rivers and the Onset of Arctic Melt) in the Fram Strait pack ice during the spring transition, 8 May to 14 June of 2023. The entire campaign is covered.
The FLEXPART-WRF data can be used to trace air masses origins or, when combined with measurements, to identify emissions sources of atmospheric species observed during the campaign.
The backward simulations have been held after the campaign, in early 2024 first, then revised in 2025.
AtmosphereModel simulationsArcticArctic OceanARTofMELTARTofMELT 2023 expeditionIcebreaker OdenBacktrajectoriesFLEXPART-WRFAir tracers
Download dataName
Version
Citation
References
Brioude J, Arnold D, Stohl A, Cassiani M, Morton D, Seibert P, Angevine W, Evan S, Dingwell A, Fast JD, Easter RC, Pisso I, Burkhart J, Wotawa G (2013) The Lagrangian particle dispersion model FLEXPART-WRF version 3.1. Geoscientific Model Development 6:1889–1904. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-6-1889-2013
Da Silva A, Marelle L (2025) Plotting python tools for the ARTofMELT FLEXPART-WRF runs. Software version 1.0.1. Bolin Centre Code Repository. https://doi.org/10.57669/oden-artofmelt-2023-trajectories-backward-flexpart-1.0.1
Data description
FLEXPART-WRF (Brioude et al. 2013) is a Lagrangian particle dispersion model. Here it is used to produced potential emission sensitivity (PES) maps in order to track the origins of air masses on the campaign pathway.
FLEXPART-WRF has run on a 25 km resolution WRF simulation.
The runs were launched every 3 hours from 2023-05-05 00:00 to 2023-06-14 18:00, and the backtrajectories extend to 10 days. The trajectories begin at ship location and 10 meters above sea level.
The simulated particles used for the backtrajectory computation are purely air tracers with no lifetime or deposition processes set. 100 000 air tracers are emitted at every run.
There are 313 runs. They all have their own subdirectory containing 11 netCDF (nc) output files (one per day of simulation).
Subdirectories
The subdirectories are named as follows:
DONE.FLEXPART-WRF_ARTofMELT_NorthDrift_2023MMDD-HHh.2024MMDD., where 2023MMDD-HHh stands for the starting time of the backward run, and 2025MMDD stands for date at which the model ran.
Each subdirectory also contains some other files that are related to each run. Information about these files can be obtained from the dataset's contact person.
Files
Each NetCDF files covers 24 hours of simulation, and is named as follows: outputflxout_d01_2023MMDD_HH0000.nc, where 2023MMDD stands for the corresponding date of the output (up to 10 days before the starting date of the run), and HH0000 stands for the reference hour of the run.
Comments
Associated code
A python script for reading and plotting the FLEXPART-WRF outputs is provided by Da Silva & Marelle (2025). It contains a single WRF output necessary for plotting the map projection.
The expedition
Data were produced for the ARTofMELT 2023 expedition which was organized by the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat from 8 May through 14 June, 2023.
Version 1.2
In the previous version, the simulation runs had a time shift of two days due to an error in the Oden's position tracking file. The current version has this time shift corrected.
Version 1.1
Initial release.
Project
ARTofMELT 2023 expedition
Publisher
Bolin Centre Database
License
First name
Anderson
Last name or organisation
Da Silva
Email address
anderson.da-silva@latmos.ipsl.fr
Address
LATMOS-IPSL; Sorbonne Université
Postal code
75005
City
Paris
Country
France
GCMD science keyword
Earth science > Atmosphere
GCMD location
Ocean > Arctic Ocean
Dataset language
English
Begin date
2023-05-05
End date
2023-06-14