Broadband and filter radiometers at Ross Island, Antarctica: Detection of cloud ice phase versus liquid water influences on shortwave and longwave radiation

Surface radiometer data from Ross Island, Antarctica, collected during the austral summer 2015–16 by the US Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program West Antarctic Radiation Experiment (AWARE), are used to evaluate how shortwave and longwave irradiance respond to changing...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Scarci, Kristopher, Scott, Ryan, Ghiz, Madison, Vogelmann, Andrew, Lubin, Dan
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2023
Subjects:
article
Verlagsveröffentlichung
Antarctic
Austral
Ross Island
Transantarctic Mountains
Antarc*
Antarctica
Ice Shelves
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1665
https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00068580
https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00067003/egusphere-2023-1665.pdf
https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2023/egusphere-2023-1665/egusphere-2023-1665.pdf
Description
Summary:Surface radiometer data from Ross Island, Antarctica, collected during the austral summer 2015–16 by the US Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program West Antarctic Radiation Experiment (AWARE), are used to evaluate how shortwave and longwave irradiance respond to changing cloud properties as governed by contrasting meteorological regimes. Shortwave atmospheric transmittance is derived from pyranometer measurements, and cloud conservative-scattering optical depth is derived from filter radiometer measurements at 870 nm. With onshore flow associated with marine air masses, clouds contain mostly liquid water. With southerly flow over the Transantarctic Mountains, orographic forcing induces substantial cloud ice water content. These ice and mixed-phase clouds attenuate more surface shortwave irradiance than the maritime-influenced clouds, and also emit less longwave irradiance due to colder cloud base temperature. These detected irradiance changes are in a range that can mean onset or inhibition of surface melt over ice shelves. This study demonstrates how basic and relatively low-cost broadband and filter radiometers can be used to detect subtle climatological influences of contrasting cloud microphysical properties at very remote locations.

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