The vertical structure of precipitation at two stations in East Antarctica derived from micro rain radars
Precipitation over Antarctica is the main term in the surface mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet, which is crucial for the future evolution of the sea level worldwide. Precipitation, however, remains poorly documented and understood mainly because of a lack of observations in this extreme envir...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2019
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-247-2019 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/13/247/2019/tc-13-247-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/article/3346acf6f1be4063a34e8c6a2fc30df6 |
id |
fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:3346acf6f1be4063a34e8c6a2fc30df6 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:3346acf6f1be4063a34e8c6a2fc30df6 2023-05-15T13:50:37+02:00 The vertical structure of precipitation at two stations in East Antarctica derived from micro rain radars C. Durán-Alarcón B. Boudevillain C. Genthon J. Grazioli N. Souverijns N. P. M. van Lipzig I. V. Gorodetskaya A. Berne 2019-01-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-247-2019 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/13/247/2019/tc-13-247-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/article/3346acf6f1be4063a34e8c6a2fc30df6 en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/tc-13-247-2019 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/13/247/2019/tc-13-247-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/article/3346acf6f1be4063a34e8c6a2fc30df6 undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 13, Pp 247-264 (2019) geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2019 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-247-2019 2023-01-22T19:18:59Z Precipitation over Antarctica is the main term in the surface mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet, which is crucial for the future evolution of the sea level worldwide. Precipitation, however, remains poorly documented and understood mainly because of a lack of observations in this extreme environment. Two observatories dedicated to precipitation have been set up at the Belgian station Princess Elisabeth (PE) and at the French station Dumont d'Urville (DDU) in East Antarctica. Among other instruments, both sites have a vertically pointing micro rain radar (MRR) working at the K band. Measurements have been continuously collected at DDU since the austral summer of 2015–2016, while they have been collected mostly during summer seasons at PE since 2010, with a full year of observation during 2012. In this study, the statistics of the vertical profiles of reflectivity, vertical velocity, and spectral width are analyzed for all seasons. Vertical profiles were separated into surface precipitation and virga to evaluate the impact of virga on the structure of the vertical profiles. The climatology of the study area plays an important role in the structure of the precipitation: warmer and moister atmospheric conditions at DDU favor the occurrence of more intense precipitation compared with PE, with a difference of 8 dBZ between both stations. The strong katabatic winds blowing at DDU induce a decrease in reflectivity close to the ground due to the sublimation of the snowfall particles. The vertical profiles of precipitation velocity show significant differences between the two stations. In general, at DDU the vertical velocity increases as the height decreases, while at PE the vertical velocity decreases as the height decreases. These features of the vertical profiles of reflectivity and vertical velocity could be explained by the more frequent occurrence of aggregation and riming at DDU compared to PE because of the lower temperature and relative humidity at the latter, located further in the interior. Robust and ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet The Cryosphere Unknown Antarctic Austral Dumont d'Urville ENVELOPE(140.017,140.017,-66.667,-66.667) Dumont-d'Urville ENVELOPE(140.013,140.013,-66.667,-66.667) East Antarctica The Antarctic The Cryosphere 13 1 247 264 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Unknown |
op_collection_id |
fttriple |
language |
English |
topic |
geo envir |
spellingShingle |
geo envir C. Durán-Alarcón B. Boudevillain C. Genthon J. Grazioli N. Souverijns N. P. M. van Lipzig I. V. Gorodetskaya A. Berne The vertical structure of precipitation at two stations in East Antarctica derived from micro rain radars |
topic_facet |
geo envir |
description |
Precipitation over Antarctica is the main term in the surface mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet, which is crucial for the future evolution of the sea level worldwide. Precipitation, however, remains poorly documented and understood mainly because of a lack of observations in this extreme environment. Two observatories dedicated to precipitation have been set up at the Belgian station Princess Elisabeth (PE) and at the French station Dumont d'Urville (DDU) in East Antarctica. Among other instruments, both sites have a vertically pointing micro rain radar (MRR) working at the K band. Measurements have been continuously collected at DDU since the austral summer of 2015–2016, while they have been collected mostly during summer seasons at PE since 2010, with a full year of observation during 2012. In this study, the statistics of the vertical profiles of reflectivity, vertical velocity, and spectral width are analyzed for all seasons. Vertical profiles were separated into surface precipitation and virga to evaluate the impact of virga on the structure of the vertical profiles. The climatology of the study area plays an important role in the structure of the precipitation: warmer and moister atmospheric conditions at DDU favor the occurrence of more intense precipitation compared with PE, with a difference of 8 dBZ between both stations. The strong katabatic winds blowing at DDU induce a decrease in reflectivity close to the ground due to the sublimation of the snowfall particles. The vertical profiles of precipitation velocity show significant differences between the two stations. In general, at DDU the vertical velocity increases as the height decreases, while at PE the vertical velocity decreases as the height decreases. These features of the vertical profiles of reflectivity and vertical velocity could be explained by the more frequent occurrence of aggregation and riming at DDU compared to PE because of the lower temperature and relative humidity at the latter, located further in the interior. Robust and ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
C. Durán-Alarcón B. Boudevillain C. Genthon J. Grazioli N. Souverijns N. P. M. van Lipzig I. V. Gorodetskaya A. Berne |
author_facet |
C. Durán-Alarcón B. Boudevillain C. Genthon J. Grazioli N. Souverijns N. P. M. van Lipzig I. V. Gorodetskaya A. Berne |
author_sort |
C. Durán-Alarcón |
title |
The vertical structure of precipitation at two stations in East Antarctica derived from micro rain radars |
title_short |
The vertical structure of precipitation at two stations in East Antarctica derived from micro rain radars |
title_full |
The vertical structure of precipitation at two stations in East Antarctica derived from micro rain radars |
title_fullStr |
The vertical structure of precipitation at two stations in East Antarctica derived from micro rain radars |
title_full_unstemmed |
The vertical structure of precipitation at two stations in East Antarctica derived from micro rain radars |
title_sort |
vertical structure of precipitation at two stations in east antarctica derived from micro rain radars |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-247-2019 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/13/247/2019/tc-13-247-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/article/3346acf6f1be4063a34e8c6a2fc30df6 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(140.017,140.017,-66.667,-66.667) ENVELOPE(140.013,140.013,-66.667,-66.667) |
geographic |
Antarctic Austral Dumont d'Urville Dumont-d'Urville East Antarctica The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Austral Dumont d'Urville Dumont-d'Urville East Antarctica The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 13, Pp 247-264 (2019) |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-13-247-2019 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/13/247/2019/tc-13-247-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/article/3346acf6f1be4063a34e8c6a2fc30df6 |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-247-2019 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
247 |
op_container_end_page |
264 |
_version_ |
1766253774098137088 |