Case studies of the wind field around Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, using unmanned aircraft ...

• Main Authors: Schön, Martin, Suomi, Irene, Altstädter, Barbara, Van Kesteren, Bram, Zum Berge, Kjell, Platis, Andreas, Wehner, Birgit, Lampert, Astrid, Bange, Jens
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: London : Taylor & Francis 2022
• Subjects: aircraft measurement; Arctic fjord; boundary layer; Kongsfjorden; Microscale meteorology; wind measurement; 550; 570; Arctic; Ny-Ålesund; Svalbard; Kongsfjord*; Ny Ålesund
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.34657/10643; https://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/11610

The wind field in Arctic fjords is strongly influenced by glaciers, local orography and the interaction between sea and land. Ny-Ålesund, an important location for atmospheric research in the Arctic, is located in Kongsfjorden, a fjord with a complex local wind field that influences measurements in Ny-Ålesund. Using wind measurements from UAS (unmanned aircraft systems), ground measurements, radiosonde and reanalysis data, characteristic processes that determine the wind field around Ny-Ålesund are identified and analysed. UAS measurements and ground measurements show, as did previous studies, a south-east flow along Kongsfjorden, dominating the wind conditions in Ny-Ålesund. The wind measured by the UAS in a valley 1 km west of Ny-Ålesund differs from the wind measured at the ground in Ny-Ålesund. In this valley, we identify a small-scale catabatic flow from the south to south-west as the cause for this difference. Case studies show a backing (counterclockwise rotation with increasing altitude) of the wind ...