Abstract
Abstract. Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) have been observed from 2014 to 2018 from the lidar observatory at the Antarctic Concordia station (Dome C), included as a primary station in the NDACC (Network for Detection of Atmospheric Climate Change). Many of these measurements have been performed in coincidence with overpasses of the satellite-borne CALIOP (Cloud Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization) lidar, in order to perform a comparison in terms of PSC detection and composition classification. Good agreement has been obtained, despite intrinsic differences in observation geometry and data sampling. This study reports, to our knowledge, the most extensive comparison of PSC observations by ground-based and satellite-borne lidars. The PSCs observed by the ground-based lidar and CALIOP form a complementary and congruent dataset and allow us to study the seasonal and interannual variations in PSC occurrences at Dome C. Moreover, a strong correlation with the formation temperature of NAT (nitric acid trihydrate), TNAT, calculated from local temperature, pressure, and H2O and HNO3 concentrations is shown. PSCs appear at Dome C at the beginning of June up to 26 km and start to disappear in the second half of August, when the local temperatures start to rise above TNAT. Rare PSC observations in September coincide with colder air masses below 18 km.
Highlights
Long-term ground-based and satellite-borne lidar observations provide valuable climatological data and allow monitoring of the state of the polar stratosphere and comparison with chemistry climate models (CCMs)
Composition classification for ground-based Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) is nearly identical to the Cloud Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) v2 procedure, the exception being that we use values of RNAT|ice reported for the closest profiles in the v2 CALIOP data files
Lidar measurements of PSCs from the Dome C lidar observatory have been compared in terms of detection and composition with the data obtained with the spaceborne lidar CALIOP
Summary
Long-term ground-based and satellite-borne lidar observations provide valuable climatological data and allow monitoring of the state of the polar stratosphere and comparison with chemistry climate models (CCMs). Ground-based lidars usually integrate over 30– 60 min, CALIOP takes “snapshots” with a duration of several seconds This implies that ground-based observations integrate the optical parameters over a lapse of time while air masses of different composition might pass over the lidar station and are apt to observe PSC types with average values of the optical parameters at the cost of underestimating others. In a previous paper (Snels et al, 2019) the full dataset of PSC observations by ground-based and satellite-borne lidar above McMurdo has been statistically compared in terms of detection and composition classification of PSCs. In the McMurdo study all ground-based lidar and CALIOP data within a longitude–latitude box (7◦ × 1◦) centered on McMurdo, without further constraints, were taken into account. We use TNAT as a delimiter of the area where PSCs may be formed
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