Atmospheric snow particle flux in the Central Arctic during MOSAiC 2019-20 ...

• Main Authors: Frey, Markus, Wagner, David, Kirchgaessner, Amelie, Uttal, Taneil, Shupe, Matthew
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre 2023
• Subjects: "EARTH SCIENCE","ATMOSPHERE","PRECIPITATION","SOLID PRECIPITATION","SNOW"; "EARTH SCIENCE","ATMOSPHERE","WEATHER EVENTS","SNOW STORMS","BLOWING SNOW"; Arctic blowing snow; drifting snow; snow particle drift density; snow particle number flux; Arctic; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5285/7d8e401b-2c75-4ee4-a753-c24b7e91e6e9; https://data.bas.ac.uk/full-record.php?id=GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/01740

Particle number flux of airborne snow particles was measured near-continuously at 1-min resolution above the sea ice surface from October 2019 to July 2020 during the year-round MOSAiC expedition. Sensors where mounted at 0.1 m and 10 m on the mast in MetCity on the MOSAiC ice floe drifting during the measurement period within an area of 79.2 N to 88.6 N and 2.7 W to 133.6 E. The SPC measurements were part of the BAS measurement suite during MOSAiC to quantify sea salt aerosol production from blowing snow above sea ice and potential impacts on clouds and climate. Instrument and data quality checks during the year-round campaign were carried out by BAS scientists and the MOSAiC ATMOS team. Funding was provided by UKRI Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) project "Sea Salt Aerosol above Arctic Sea Ice - sources, processes and climate impacts" (SSAASI-CLIM) grant NE/S00257X/1. The project was part of the international Multi-disciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) with ... : To measure airborne snow particles Snow Particle Counters (SPC) (SPC-95, Niigata Electric Co., Ltd) were employed manufactured and calibrated in Japan. The open-path SPC has a wind vane to steer into the prevailing wind direction and is equipped with a super-luminescent diode sensor, which acts as a constant light source during the measurement. Once a snow particle enters the beam first the light energy detected by the upwind sensor decreases then that seen by the down-wind sensor. These signals are converted to two successive voltage pulses, which are proportional to particle size. Each signal is classified into one of 64 size classes (30 to 500 μm particle diameter). The SPC measures number flux of snow particles within each size class. Number flux can be converted into number concentration or drift density by dividing by horizontal wind speed from the nearest wind speed sensor on the mast (Level 2.4 NOAA doi:10.18739/A2K649V1F). The project was part of the international Multi-disciplinary drifting ...