The Lower Atmosphere above Svalbard (LAS): Observed long-term trends, small-scale processes and the surface exchange

• Main Authors: Viola, Angelo P, Hudson, Stephen R, Krejci, Radovan, Pedersen, Christina A
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System 2019
• Subjects: Arctic; Svalbard
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/4778471; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4778471

This is chapter 7 of the State of Environmental Science in Svalbard (SESS) report 2018 (https://sios-svalbard.org/SESS_Issue1). The lower atmosphere is where clouds and atmospheric particles interact with sunlight and infrared radiation, ultimately driving the heating and cooling of the surface. The surface interacts with the lower atmosphere through transfer of energy, gases and particles between the land, snow, ice or ocean and the atmosphere. With all of these interactions going on, this part of the atmosphere must be well monitored to understand changes in climate and the processes behind them. In addition to measuring long time series of the basic state of the atmosphere (temperature near the surface, frequency of cloud cover, total amount of water vapour, etc.), it is also important to coordinate measurements of different variables to understand complex processes and feedbacks. Clouds cannot be well understood without knowledge about the tiny particles in the atmosphere on which cloud droplets form, where those particles come from and how they are exchanged between mid-latitudes and the Arctic. Models to accurately represent the Svalbard region must be developed with an understanding of the peculiarities of the region, such as a complex boundary layer that is strongly influenced by the islands’ topography and varied surfaces.