Vertical profiles of atmospheric variables based on tethersonde soundings from Hornsund

• Main Authors: Palo, Timo, Jakobson, Erko
• Other Authors: University of Tartu, Institute of Physics; Tartu Observatory, University of Tartu, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, Department of Geography, Jaagus, Jaak, Post, Piia, Tammiksaar, Erki, Sepp, Mait, Kiik, Tarmo, Jakobson, Liisi, Uba, Peep, Vaikmäe, Rein, Martma, Tõnu, Kaup, Enn, Ivask, Jüri, Raidla, Valle, Vihma, Timo, Kramer, Daniel, Jonassen, Opsanger Marius, Wickström, Siiri
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Department of Geography, University of Tartu 2017
• Subjects: vertical profiles of air temperature; realtive humidity; wind speed and wind direction; Svalbard; Spitsbergen; Polish Polar Station in Hornsund; tethersonde soundings; atmospheric boundary layer; Arctic; atmosphere; Arctic climate; Adventdalen; Hornsund; Svalbard Archipelago; University Centre in Svalbard
• Online Access: http://datadoi.ee/handle/33/46; https://doi.org/10.15155/repo-5

A tethersonde system by Vaisala (DigiCORA TT12) was applied to measure high-resolution vertical profiles of atmospheric variables (air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, and air pressure) up to 2000 meters. The instrumentation consisted of 7 m3 helium filled balloon for lifting sondes, an electrical winch, two sondes suspended on the tether line below the balloon at approximately 10 m vertical intervals, and a ground station. Sondes were ascended as high as possible at every measurement. Depending on the cloud conditions, wind speed, and the buoyancy of the balloon, the height of the soundings varied, but was in average 1212 m. Each profile includes ascending and descending of the sonde. Sampling interval of the sondes was in average 5-6 seconds. Length of the soundings was variable depending of the weather conditions. Tethersonde system is wind sensitive and there were some temporal gaps in planned measurements when soundings could not be performed due to the strong winds and heavy snowfall. Since 17th of October soundings were done in collaboration with University Centre in Svalbard. Measurements then were simultaneously carried out in Adventdalen fjord. These synchronized atmosphere soundings were aimed to study ABL at different places in a same time. Data is checked manually for errors but no averaging over the sondes and heights is done. Some distinct obviously erroneous signals and spike values were removed from the data. More about the methods is described in ReadMe text file. Arctic fjords are usually surrounded by a complex orography of mountains, valleys and glaciers, which complicates the dynamics of the air flow. Between different fjords in Svalbard temperature and wind regime can vary largely in space. Due to the combined effects of the complex orography and thermal heterogeneity of the fjord surface, the dynamic and thermodynamic processes affecting the state of the ABL are complex. Although several studies have addressed boundary-layer and mesoscale processes in the ...