Coordinated observations of the water cycle of marine cold-air outbreaks in the European Arctic during the ISLAS 2022 field campaign

• Main Authors: Sodemann, Harald, Thurnherr, Iris, Seidl, Andrew, Dekhtyareva, Alena, Johannessen, Aina, Kähnert, Marvin, Steinslid, Mari, Løklingholm, Sander, Hole, Lars, Voss, Paul, Papritz, Lukas, Dütsch, Marina, David, Robert, Carlsen, Tim, Chandler, David, Chazette, Patrick, Totems, Julien, Schwarzenboeck, Alfons, Hellmuth, Franziska, Delanoë, Julien
• Other Authors: Geophysical Institute Bergen (GFI / BiU), University of Bergen (UiB), Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research (BCCR), Department of Biological Sciences Bergen (BIO / UiB), University of Bergen (UiB)-University of Bergen (UiB), Norwegian Meteorological Institute Oslo (MET), Smith College Northampton, Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science Zürich (IAC), Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETH Zürich), University of Vienna Vienna, Department of Geosciences Oslo, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Oslo, University of Oslo (UiO)-University of Oslo (UiO), Norwegian Research Center (NORCE), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Laboratoire de Météorologie Physique (LaMP), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Clermont Auvergne (UCA), SPACE - LATMOS, Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2024
• Subjects: [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-AO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics [physics.ao-ph]; Arctic; Greenland; Northern Norway; Ny Ålesund; Ny-Ålesund; Svalbard; Tromsø
• Online Access: https://insu.hal.science/insu-04511787; https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-14866

International audience Marine cold-air outbreaks (mCAOs) are a characteristic type of high-impact weather in the European Arctic and are characterized by an intense water cycle where polar cloud processes play an important role. Model simulations and weather forecasts of mCAO events are challenging and associated with poor predictability. One reason is that processes related to the water cycle interact with one another on a wide range of scales. In regional models, some of these processes are resolved and others are fully or partly parameterised. To test and improve numerical weather prediction models, additional observations and novel types of measurements of water vapour are highly demanded. Stable water isotopes are an increasingly available measurement, allowing to trace sub-grid scale processes, and providing the potential to constrain the mass budget of the atmospheric water cycle during mCAO events. During the ISLAS2022 field experiment (21 March to 10 April 2022), the stable isotope composition of water vapour and liquid samples, cloud structures, and other meteorological parameters were collected between Svalbard and Northern Scandinavia on various measurement platforms. Airborne survey flights to Svalbard provided the ocean evaporation signature and subsequent processing of water vapour during mCAO conditions. During a number of flights, mCAO airmasses were repeatedly sampled over a course of hours to days, allowing to characterize their thermodynamic evolution as clouds were first forming, then glaciating and precipitating. In addition, vapour isotope and sea water isotope measurements were taken continuously onboard R/V Helmer Hanssen between Tromsø and the Greenland west coast. Finally, coordinated land-based measurement activity over Northern Norway and Sweden allowed collection of precipitation samples, thus closing the mass budget of the mCAO events. Furthermore, using buoyancy-controlled meteorological balloons launched from Ny Ålesund, we additionally obtained continuous in-situ measurements ...