Continuous observations of the surface energy budget and meteorology over the Arctic sea ice during MOSAiC

• Published in: Scientific Data
• Main Authors: Christopher J. Cox, Michael R. Gallagher, Matthew D. Shupe, P. Ola G. Persson, Amy Solomon, Christopher W. Fairall, Thomas Ayers, Byron Blomquist, Ian M. Brooks, Dave Costa, Andrey Grachev, Daniel Gottas, Jennifer K. Hutchings, Mark Kutchenreiter, Jesse Leach, Sara M. Morris, Victor Morris, Jackson Osborn, Sergio Pezoa, Andreas Preußer, Laura D. Riihimaki, Taneil Uttal
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Portfolio 2023
• Subjects: Science; Q; Arctic; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02415-5; https://doaj.org/article/1cce0005c8214b87abc4d0a2a8e5e4b5

Abstract The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) was a yearlong expedition supported by the icebreaker R/V Polarstern, following the Transpolar Drift from October 2019 to October 2020. The campaign documented an annual cycle of physical, biological, and chemical processes impacting the atmosphere-ice-ocean system. Of central importance were measurements of the thermodynamic and dynamic evolution of the sea ice. A multi-agency international team led by the University of Colorado/CIRES and NOAA-PSL observed meteorology and surface-atmosphere energy exchanges, including radiation; turbulent momentum flux; turbulent latent and sensible heat flux; and snow conductive flux. There were four stations on the ice, a 10 m micrometeorological tower paired with a 23/30 m mast and radiation station and three autonomous Atmospheric Surface Flux Stations. Collectively, the four stations acquired ~928 days of data. This manuscript documents the acquisition and post-processing of those measurements and provides a guide for researchers to access and use the data products.