Blowing Snow Over the Antarctic Plateau
Studies of blowing snow over Antarctica have been limited greatly by the remoteness and harsh conditions of the region. Space-based observations are also of lesser value than elsewhere, given the similarities between ice clouds and snow-covered surfaces, both at infrared and visible wavelengths. It...
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ftnasantrs:oai:casi.ntrs.nasa.gov:20030053141 2023-05-15T13:34:40+02:00 Blowing Snow Over the Antarctic Plateau Campbell, James R. Spinhirne, James D. Mahesh, Ashwin Eager, Rebecca Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available [2002] application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20030053141 unknown Document ID: 20030053141 http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20030053141 Copyright, Distribution as joint owner in the copyright CASI Earth Resources and Remote Sensing 2002 ftnasantrs 2018-06-09T23:03:15Z Studies of blowing snow over Antarctica have been limited greatly by the remoteness and harsh conditions of the region. Space-based observations are also of lesser value than elsewhere, given the similarities between ice clouds and snow-covered surfaces, both at infrared and visible wavelengths. It is only in recent years that routine ground-based observation programs have acquired sufficient data to overcome the gap in our understanding of surface blowing snow. In this paper, observations of blowing snow from visual observers' records as well as ground-based spectral and lidar programs at South Pole station are analyzed to obtain the first climatology of blowing snow over the Antarctic plateau. Occurrence frequencies, correlation with wind direction and speed, typical layer heights, as well as optical depths are determined. Blowing snow is seen in roughly one third of the visual observations and occurs under a narrow range of wind directions. The near-surface layers typically a few hundred meters thick emit radiances similar to those from thin clouds. Because blowing snow remains close to the surface and is frequently present, it will produce small biases in space-borne altimetry; these must be properly estimated and corrected. Other/Unknown Material Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica South pole South pole NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) Antarctic South Pole The Antarctic |
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Open Polar |
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NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
op_collection_id |
ftnasantrs |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Earth Resources and Remote Sensing |
spellingShingle |
Earth Resources and Remote Sensing Campbell, James R. Spinhirne, James D. Mahesh, Ashwin Eager, Rebecca Blowing Snow Over the Antarctic Plateau |
topic_facet |
Earth Resources and Remote Sensing |
description |
Studies of blowing snow over Antarctica have been limited greatly by the remoteness and harsh conditions of the region. Space-based observations are also of lesser value than elsewhere, given the similarities between ice clouds and snow-covered surfaces, both at infrared and visible wavelengths. It is only in recent years that routine ground-based observation programs have acquired sufficient data to overcome the gap in our understanding of surface blowing snow. In this paper, observations of blowing snow from visual observers' records as well as ground-based spectral and lidar programs at South Pole station are analyzed to obtain the first climatology of blowing snow over the Antarctic plateau. Occurrence frequencies, correlation with wind direction and speed, typical layer heights, as well as optical depths are determined. Blowing snow is seen in roughly one third of the visual observations and occurs under a narrow range of wind directions. The near-surface layers typically a few hundred meters thick emit radiances similar to those from thin clouds. Because blowing snow remains close to the surface and is frequently present, it will produce small biases in space-borne altimetry; these must be properly estimated and corrected. |
author |
Campbell, James R. Spinhirne, James D. Mahesh, Ashwin Eager, Rebecca |
author_facet |
Campbell, James R. Spinhirne, James D. Mahesh, Ashwin Eager, Rebecca |
author_sort |
Campbell, James R. |
title |
Blowing Snow Over the Antarctic Plateau |
title_short |
Blowing Snow Over the Antarctic Plateau |
title_full |
Blowing Snow Over the Antarctic Plateau |
title_fullStr |
Blowing Snow Over the Antarctic Plateau |
title_full_unstemmed |
Blowing Snow Over the Antarctic Plateau |
title_sort |
blowing snow over the antarctic plateau |
publishDate |
2002 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20030053141 |
op_coverage |
Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available |
geographic |
Antarctic South Pole The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic South Pole The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica South pole South pole |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica South pole South pole |
op_source |
CASI |
op_relation |
Document ID: 20030053141 http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20030053141 |
op_rights |
Copyright, Distribution as joint owner in the copyright |
_version_ |
1766055660403818496 |