Abstract

In March 2013, the Springtime Atmospheric Boundary Layer Experiment (STABLE) was carried out in the region of Fram Strait and over Svalbard to investigate atmospheric convection and boundary layer modifications due to interactions between sea ice, atmosphere, and open water. A major goal was the observation of marine cold-air outbreaks (MCAOs), which are typically characterised by a transport of very cold air masses from the ice-covered ocean over a relatively warm water surface, and which often affect local and regional weather conditions. During STABLE, such MCAOs were observed on four days within a period of a strongly northward shifted sea ice edge north of Svalbard and thus with an unusually large Whaler's Bay Polynya. The observations mainly consisted of in situ measurements from airborne instruments and of measurements by dropsondes. Here, we present the corresponding data set from, in total, 15 aircraft vertical profiles and 22 dropsonde releases. Besides an overview on flight patterns and instrumentation, we provide a detailed presentation of the individual quality-processing mechanisms, which ensure that the data can be used, for example, for model validation. A few remarks are also given on data quality and on some characteristics of the MCAOs based on the quality-processed data. All 37 data series are published in the World Data Center PANGAEA (Lüpkes et al., 2021a, https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.936635).

Highlights

  • A major goal was the observation of marine cold-air outbreaks (MCAOs), which are typically characterised by a transport of very cold air masses from the ice-covered ocean over a relatively warm water 5 surface, and which often affect local and regional weather conditions

  • During marine cold-air outbreaks (MCAOs), cold air masses typically originating from the sea ice covered ocean are advected 15 over a relatively warm water surface, which can result in moderate or strong convection depending on the season

  • The aim of this paper is to provide a detailed presentation of the measurements related to the MCAOs observed during Springtime Atmospheric Boundary Layer Experiment (STABLE)

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Summary

Introduction

During marine cold-air outbreaks (MCAOs), cold air masses typically originating from the sea ice covered ocean are advected 15 over a relatively warm water surface, which can result in moderate or strong convection depending on the season. Some projections suggest a future weakening of MCAOs and, correspondingly, a weaker or reduced polar low development by increased sea ice loss in their source region (e.g., Kolstad and Bracegirdle, 2008; Zahn and von Storch, 2010; Landgren et al, 2019). For some regions, such a development might be an already ongoing process: the Fram Strait region, which is characterised by a high frequency of strong Northern Hemisphere MCAO events (Brümmer and Pohlmann, 2000; Fletcher 30 et al, 2016), is marked by a stronger than average retreat in Arctic sea ice extent (Cavalieri and Parkinson, 2012).

Materials and methods
Flight patterns
Aircraft
Dropsondes
Quality-processing of airborne measurements
Quality-processing of dropsonde measurements using ASPEN
Airborne measurements
Dropsonde measurements
Geopotential height calculation
Wind speed error
Horizontal distance
MCAO episode from 4 to 7 March
MCAO event on 26 March
Findings
Conclusions
Full Text
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