Evaluating Cloud Properties at Scott Base: Comparing Ceilometer Observations with ERA5, JRA55, and MERRA2 Reanalyses Using an Instrument Simulator (Pre-review)

• Main Authors: McDonald, Adrian James, Plank, Graeme
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2024
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11458725

Due to its remote location and extreme weather conditions, atmospheric measurements are rare in Antarctica. Partially due to this lack of observational constraints, large biases in the representation of clouds have been identified over Southern hemisphere high latitudes in various grenerations of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) models, numerical weather prediction models and reanalyses. It has been shown in previous studies that ground-based remote sensing measurements of cloud across the region are critical for complementing satellite data sets due to the importance of boundary layer and low-level cloud processes. These processes are poorly sampled by satellite-based measurements which are typically obscured by overlying cloud cover or are prone to ground clutter. Here we provide a dataset which includes CL51 ceilometer observations of low clouds made during the period 14th February 2022 and 31st December 2023 at Scott Base, Antarctica (77.8 S, 166.7 E). Complemeted by ERA5, JRA55 and MERRA2 reanalyses output that has been processed using an instrument simulator. These datasets allow direct comparison between the reanalyses datasets and the ceilometer observations.