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Using a blend of rawinsonde ascents from fixed stations, ships, and Russian drifting ice stations, a gridded climatological monthly-mean data base of Arctic water vapor characteristics is assembled that is suitable for use as input and validation data for simulations of Arctic climate from general circulation models. Preparation of the data base is described and examples of selected data fields are presented.

Summary Synoptic activity for the Arctic is examined for the period 1952–1989 using the National Meteorological Center sea level pressure data set. Winter cyclone activity is most common near Iceland, between Svalbard and Scandinavia, the Norwegian and Kara seas, Baffin Bay and the eastern Canadian Arctic Archipelago; the strongest systems are found in the Iceland and Norwegian seas. Mean cyclone tracks, prepared for 1975–1989, confirm that winter cyclones most frequently enter the Arctic from the Norwegian and Barents seas. Winter anticyclones are most frequent and strongest over Siberia and Alaska/Yukon, with additional frequency maxima of weaker systems found over the central Arctic Ocean and Greenland.