Surface energy fluxes during the total solar eclipse over Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, on 20 March 2015

• Published in: Meteorologische Zeitschrift
• Main Authors: Alexander Schulz, Carsten Schaller, Marion Maturilli, Julia Boike, Christoph Ritter, Thomas Foken
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Borntraeger 2017
• Subjects: total solar eclipse; sensible heat flux; radiation; eclipse cyclone; Ny-Ålesund; Meteorology. Climatology; QC851-999; Svalbard; Ny Ålesund
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1127/metz/2017/0846; https://doaj.org/article/cfca1fde82a6406e930d34ec2e2dbc35

On 20 March 2015, a total solar eclipse occurred over Ny-Ålesund (78.9° N, 11.9° E), Svalbard, under ideal conditions with clear sky. The cycle of the radiation fluxes is comparable with other experiments during eclipses, with even the upward longwave radiation showing significant changes, with a delay to the shortwave radiation and a slowly linear increase after the totality. Also, under polar conditions, an increase of the wind velocity before and a decrease after the totality was found, which is an indicator of the generation of an “Eclipse cyclone”. This change of the wind direction generated a local wind system with a near-surface-layer katabatic flow. During the eclipse, a remarkably large sensible heat flux was observed. The turbulent fluxes were analysed using a wavelet technique with 1-minute time resolution, which is the ideal method for investigating these highly non-steady conditions. No influences on the boundary layer structure as measured with radiosondes were found, with the exception of a wind direction change during the eclipse cyclone below the shallow inversion layer.