Vertical Temperature Simulation of Pegasus Runway, McMurdo Station, Antarctica

• Main Authors: Daly, Steven F, Haehnel, Robert, Hiemstra, Christopher
• Other Authors: ENGINEER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER HANOVER NH COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Terminal Flight Facilities; Snow; Ice and Permafrost; Thermodynamics; *ICE; *RUNWAYS; *TEMPERATURE; ABSORPTION; ALBEDO; ANTARCTIC REGIONS; DENSITY; ESTIMATES; HEAT; HEAT FLUX; LATENT HEAT; OBSERVATION; PENETRATION; PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; SIMULATION; SOLAR RADIATION; THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY; ANTARCTICA; EPOLAR(ENGINEERING FOR POLAR OPERATIONS LOGISTICS AND RESEARCH); HEAT CAPACITY; ICE PROPERTIES; LONG-WAVE RADIATION; MCMURDO ICE SHEET; MIS(MCMURDO ICE SHELF); NSF(NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION); PEGASUS RUNWAY; RUNWAY TEMPERATURE MODELING; SENSIBLE HEAT; SHORTWAVE RADIATION; SNOWCAPS; SUPERIMPOSED ICE; SURFACE HEAT FLUXES; TEMERATURE ESTIMATION; VERTICAL TEMPERATURE SIMULATION; Antarctic; Austral; McMurdo Ice Shelf; McMurdo Station; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice; Ice Sheet; Ice Shelf; permafrost
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA614252; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA614252

Pegasus Runway, located 13 km south of McMurdo Station, Antarctica, on the McMurdo Ice Shelf (MIS), is constructed out of snow and ice. It is susceptible to weakening and damage caused by melting and to reduction in the strength caused by warm weather and sunlight. This report describes the development of the Pegasus Runway temperature model. It begins by quantitatively describing the physical properties of the Pegasus Runway snow and ice and the physical properties of the MIS directly beneath the runway. The temperature model is based on a one-dimensional heat conduction model that includes the penetration and absorption of solar radiation beneath the surface. The report describes the methods for estimating the sensible heat, latent heat, shortwave radiation, and long-wave radiation surface heat fluxes that drive the model and presents estimates of the constant-temperature lower-boundary condition for the model. A novel approach for estimating the initial vertical temperature profile is used. We simulate the Pegasus Runway temperatures for three austral summer seasons (2011 12, 2012 13, and 2013 14). The model simulation shows good results when compared to in situ observations of the runway temperatures. The original document contains color images.