Abstract
A small-size meteorological mast, BEAR (Budget of Energy for Arctic regions) has been developed as a part of a new autonomous buoy for monitoring the sea ice mass balance. BEAR complements observations of the thickness and thermodynamic properties of the ice/snow pack determined by the so-called Ice-T (Ice-Thickness) buoy, giving access to bulk fluxes and energy budget at the surface, using meteorological measurements. The BEAR mast has been tested with success during ten days in April-May 2010 at Ny Alesund, in the Svalbard archipelago (Norway) showing that meteorological data were close to measurements at the same level of the Italian Climate Change Tower (CCT) from the ISAC-CNR. A discussion is undertaken on bulk fluxes determination and uncertainties. Particularly, the strategy to systematically use different relevant fluxes parameterizations is pointed out to explore flux range uncertainty before to analyze energy budget. Net radiation, bulk fluxes and energy budget are estimated using as average 10 minutes, 24 hours and the ten days of the experiment. The observation period was very short, but we observe a spring transition when the net radiation begins to warm the surface while the very small turbulent heat flux cools the surface.
Highlights
The most conspicuous manifestations of the ongoing climate warming are found in the Arctic, where the multiyear ice decline is larger than expected from climatic scenarios (IPCC Fourth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2007 (AR4))
BEAR complements observations of the thickness and thermodynamic properties of the ice/snow pack determined by the so-called Ice-T (Ice-Thickness) buoy, giving access to bulk fluxes and energy budget at the surface, using meteorological measurements
The BEAR mast has been tested with success during ten days in April-May 2010 at Ny Alesund, in the Svalbard archipelago (Norway) showing that meteorological data were close to measurements at the same level of the Italian Climate Change Tower (CCT) from the ISAC-CNR
Summary
The most conspicuous manifestations of the ongoing climate warming are found in the Arctic, where the multiyear ice decline is larger than expected from climatic scenarios (IPCC Fourth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2007 (AR4)). Recent studies have been concerned by sea ice evolution as an integrative indicator of global warming, and different processes (atmospheric or oceanic) have been analyzed experimentally or using models: see, for example, to quote a few, Sedlar et al [1] for the radiation impact on the surface, Hendricks et al [2] for the sea ice-thickness climatic variability in the Svalbard region due to atmospheric wind forcing, and Timmermans et al [3] concerning surface effects in the Arctic Ocean’s Eurasian basin associated with a shift in the large scale circulation. Strategy taking into account the precision relative to the chosen measurement method
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