Abstract
During October–November 2014 and May 2015, NASA sponsored and conducted a pair of airborne campaigns called Polar Winds to investigate atmospheric circulations, particularly in the boundary layer, over the Arctic using NASA’s Doppler Aerosol WiNd (DAWN) lidar. A description of the campaigns, the DAWN instrument, wind retrieval methods and data processing is provided. During the campaigns, the DAWN instrument faced backscatter sensitivity issues in the low aerosol conditions that were fairly frequent in the 2–6 km altitude range. However, when DAWN was able to make measurements, comparisons with dropsondes show good agreement and very low bias and supports the use of an airborne Doppler wind lidar such as DAWN that can provide profiles with high velocity precision, ~65 m vertical resolution and horizontal spacing as fine as 3–7 km. Case study analyses of a Greenland tip jet, barrier winds and an upper level jet are presented and show how, despite sensitivity issues, DAWN data can be confidently used in diagnostic studies of dynamic features in the Arctic. Comparisons with both an operational and research Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model for these events also show the potential for utilization in model validation. The sensitivity issues of the DAWN laser have since been corrected.
Highlights
Over the past twenty years, rising air and sea surface temperatures and shrinking sea ice extent in the Arctic [1] have led to a growing scientific interest in the atmospheric processes of the globe’s polar regions and the ability to better observe, model and forecast these processes on time scales from hours to seasonal
While the shortest possible range gate for Doppler Aerosol WiNd (DAWN) is ~30 m, we have found that 76 m is optimum for processing
Usefulness and viability of the DAWN data for scientific research and model validation in the Arctic, we briefly present and describe the results of three individual missions flown during Polar Winds
Summary
Over the past twenty years, rising air and sea surface temperatures and shrinking sea ice extent in the Arctic [1] have led to a growing scientific interest in the atmospheric processes of the globe’s polar regions and the ability to better observe, model and forecast these processes on time scales from hours to seasonal. Prior to the intensive YOPP, NASA sponsored and conducted a pair of airborne campaigns to, in part, investigate atmospheric circulations in the Arctic, the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL), over and off the coast of Greenland using an ADWL. These campaigns, collectively called Polar Winds, were designed to fly the Doppler Aerosol WiNd (DAWN) lidar [14] to take airborne wind and aerosol measurements of the Arctic atmosphere and PBL during October–November 2014 and May 2015
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