Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-19T04:52:32.842Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Strong-wind events and their impact on the near-surface climate at Kohnen Station on the Antarctic Plateau

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 August 2007

Dirk van As ,
Michiel R. van den Broeke  and
Michiel M. Helsen
Dirk van As
Affiliation:
Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht (IMAU), Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands
Michiel R. van den Broeke
Affiliation:
Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht (IMAU), Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands
Michiel M. Helsen
Affiliation:
Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht (IMAU), Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Strong-wind events occur 10–20 times per year at Kohnen Station, East Antarctica (75°00′S, 0°04′E, 2892 m above sea level), and are often caused by warm-core cyclones in the north-eastern Weddell Sea. An uncommon event occurred in January 2002, when blocking both in the south Atlantic Ocean and in the south Tasman Sea caused a split-up of the circumpolar vortex, and large amounts of heat and moisture were transported onto the Antarctic Plateau. During strong-wind events over the plateau the near-surface temperature can increase by tens of degrees, which is partly caused by the advection of heat, but for an important part by the destruction of the stable temperature-deficit layer by enhanced vertical mixing. The temperature rise is larger during the winter/night than during the summer/day, due to a better-developed temperature deficit. Snowdrift during the January 2002 event linearly increased surface roughness for momentum with friction velocity, for values over about 0.18 m s-1. The cloud cover during the event reduced down-welling solar radiation by 32%, and increased the albedo from about 0.86 to 0.92. Changes in longwave radiation largely cancelled the daytime changes in shortwave radiation, thus net radiation was most affected at night.

Keywords

albedoblocking highscloudsstorm eventssurface roughness lengthtemperature-deficit layer
Type
PHYSICAL SCIENCES
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , December 2007 , pp. 507 - 519
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ambach, W. 1974. The influence of cloudiness on the net radiation balance of a snow surface with high albedo. Journal of Glaciology, 13, 73–84.Google Scholar
Anderson, P.S. 1994. A method for rescaling humidity sensors at temperatures well below freezing. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 11, 1388–1391.Google Scholar
Andreas, E.L., Guest, P.S., Persson, P.O.G., Fairall, C.W., Horst, T.W., Moritz, R.E. & Semmer, S.R. 2002. Near-surface water vapor over polar sea ice is always near ice saturation. Journal of Geophysical Research, 107, doi: 10.1029/2000JC000411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ball, F.K. 1956. The theory of strong katabatic winds. Australian Journal of Physics, 9, 373–386.Google Scholar
Bintanja, R. 2001. Modification of the wind speed profile caused by snowdrift: results from observations. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 127, 2417–2434.Google Scholar
Bintanja, R., Lilienthal, H. & Tug, H. 2001. Observations of snowdrift over Antarctic snow and blue-ice surfaces. Annals of Glaciology, 32, 168–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bintanja, R. & Van den Broeke, M.R. 1996. The influence of clouds on the radiation of ice and snow surfaces in Antarctica and Greenland in summer. International Journal of Climatology, 16, 1281–1296.Google Scholar
Birnbaum, G., Brauner, R. & Ries, H. 2006. Synoptic situations causing high precipitation rates on the Antarctic plateau: observations from Kohnen Station, Dronning Maud Land, Antarctic Science, 18, 279–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carleton, A.M. & Carpenter, D.A. 1990. Satellite climatology of polar lows and broadscale climatic association for the southern hemisphere. International Journal of Climatology, 10, 219–246.Google Scholar
Enomoto, H., Motoyama, H., Shiraiwa, T., Saito, T., Kameda, T., Furukawa, T., Takahashi, S., Kodama, Y. & Watanabe, O. 1998. Winter warming over Dome Fuji, East Antarctica and semiannual oscillation in the atmospheric circulation. Journal of Geophysical Research, 103, doi: 10.1029/98JD02001.Google Scholar
Jones, D.A. & Simmonds, I. 1993. A climatology of southern-hemisphere extratropical cyclones. Climate Dynamics, 9, 131–145.Google Scholar
King, J.C. & Anderson, P.S. 1999. A humidity climatology for Halley, Antarctica, based on frost-point hygrometer measurements. Antarctic Science, 11, 100–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kodama, Y., Wendler, G. & Ishikawa, N. 1989. The diurnal variation of the boundary layer in summer in Adélie Land, eastern Antarctica. Journal of Applied Meteorology, 28, 16–24.Google Scholar
Kottmeier, C. 1986. Shallow gravity flows over the Ekström ice shelf. Boundary-Layer Meteorology, 35, 1–20.Google Scholar
Mann, G.W., Anderson, P.S. & Mobbs, S.D. 2000. Profile measurements of blowing snow at Halley, Antarctica. Journal of Geophysical Research, 105, 24 491–24 508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marques, R.F.C. & Rao, V.B. 1999. A diagnosis of a long-lasting blocking event over the southeast Pacific Ocean. Monthly Weather Review, 127, 1761–1999.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massom, R.A., Pook, M.J., Comiso, J.C., Adams, N., Turner, J., Lachlan-Cope, T. & Gibson, T.T. 2004. Precipitation over the interior East Antarctic Ice Sheet related to midlatitude blocking-high activity. Journal of Climate, 17, 1914–1928.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massom, R.A., Stammerjohn, S.E., Smith, R.C., Pook, M.J., Iannuzzi, R.A., Adams, N., Martinson, D.G., Vernet, M., Fraser, W.R., Quetin, L.B., Ross, R.M., Massom, Y. & Krouse, H.R. 2006. Extreme anomalous atmospheric circulation in the West Antarctic Peninsula region in austral spring and summer 2001/02, and its profound impact on sea ice and biota. Journal of Climate, 19, 3544–3571.Google Scholar
Mastrantonio, G., Malvestuto, V., Argentini, S., Georgiadis, T. & Viola, A. 1999. Evidence of a convective boundary layer developing on the Antarctic Plateau during the summer. Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics, 71, 127–132.Google Scholar
Murphy, B.F. 2003. Prediction of severe synoptic events in coastal east Antarctica. Monthly Weather Review, 131, 354–370.Google Scholar
Naithani, J., Gallee, H. & Schayes, G. 2002. Marine air intrusion into the Adelie Land sector of East Antarctica: a study using the regional climate model (MAR). Journal of Geophysical Research, 107, doi: 10.1029/2000JD000274.Google Scholar
Neff, W.D. & Hall, F.F. 1976. Acoustic sounding of the atmospheric boundary layer at the South Pole. Antarctic Journal of the United States, 11(3), 143–144.Google Scholar
Noone, D., Turner, J. & Mulvaney, R. 1999. Atmospheric signals and characteristics of accumulation in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. Journal of Geophysical Research, 104, 19191–19211.Google Scholar
Pook, M. & Cowled, L. 1999. On the detection of weather systems over the Antarctic interior in the FROST analyses. Weather and Forecasting, 14, 920–929.Google Scholar
Reijmer, C.H. & Van den Broeke, M.R. 2003. Temporal and spatial variability of the surface mass balance in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, as derived from automatic weather stations. Journal of Glaciology, 49, 512–520.Google Scholar
Renfrew, I.A. 2004. The dynamics of idealized katabatic flow over a moderate slope and ice shelf. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 130, 1023–1045.Google Scholar
Rusin, N.P. 1961. Meteorologicheskii i radiatsionnyi rehzim Antarktidy. Leningrad, Gidrometeorologicheskoye Izdatel'stvo. [Translation: Meteorological and radiational regime of Antarctica. Jerusalem, Israel Program for Scientific Translations, 1964, 355 pp.]Google Scholar
Sinclair, M.R. 1981. Record-high temperatures in the Antarctic: a synoptic case study. Monthly Weather Review, 109, 2234–2242.Google Scholar
Sinclair, M.R. 1994. An objective cyclone climatology for the southern-hemisphere. Monthly Weather Review, 122, 2239–2256.Google Scholar
Sinclair, M.R. 1996. A climatology of anticyclones and blocking for the southern hemisphere. Monthly Weather Review, 124, 245–263.Google Scholar
Turner, J., Harangozo, S.A., Marshall, G.J., King, J.C. & Colwell, S.R. 2002. Anomolous atmospheric circulation over the Weddell Sea, Antarctica, during the austral summer of 2001/2 resulting in extreme sea ice conditions. Geophysical Research Letters, 29, doi: 10.1029/2002GL015565.Google Scholar
Trenberth, K.E. & Mo, K.C. 1985. Blocking in the southern hemisphere. Monthly Weather Review, 113, 3.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uppala, S.M., Kallberg, P.W., Simmons, A.J., Andrae, U., Bechtold, V.D., Fiorino, M., Gibson, J.K., Haseler, J., Hernandez, A., Kelly, G.A., Li, X., Onogi, K., Saarinen, S., Sokka, N., Allan, R.P., Andersson, E., Arpe, K., Balmaseda, M.A., Beljaars, A.C.M., Van de Berg, L., Bidlot, J., Bormann, N., Caires, S., Chevallier, F., Dethof, A., Dragosavac, M., Fisher, M., Fuentes, M., Hagemann, S., Holm, E., Hoskins, B.J., Isaksen, L., Janssen, P.A.E.M., Jenne, R., McNally, A.P., Mahfouf, J.F., Morcrette, J.J., Rayner, N.A., Saunders, R.W., Simon, P., Sterl, A., Trenberth, K.E., Untch, A., Vasiljevic, D., Viterbo, P. & Woollen, J. 2005. The ERA-40 re-analysis. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 131, 2961–3012.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van As, D., Van den Broeke, M.R. & Helsen, M.M. 2006. Structure and dynamics of the summertime atmospheric boundary layer over the Antarctic Plateau: 1. Measurements and model validation. Journal of Geophysical Research, 111, doi: 10.1029/2005JD005948.Google Scholar
Van As, D., Van den Broeke, M.R., Reijmer, C.H. & Van de Wal, R.S.W. 2005a. The summer surface energy balance of the high Antarctic plateau. Boundary-Layer Meteorology, 115, 289–317.Google Scholar
Van As, D., Van den Broeke, M.R. & Van de Wal, R.S.W. 2005b. Daily cycle of the surface layer and energy balance on the high Antarctic Plateau. Antarctic Science, 17, 121–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van den Broeke, M.R., Reijmer, C.H., Van As, D. & Boot, W. 2006. Daily cycle of the surface energy balance in Antarctica and the influence of clouds. International Journal of Climatology 26, 1587–1605.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van den Broeke, M.R., Van As, D., Reijmer, C.H. & Van de Wal, R.S.W. 2004. Assessing and improving the quality of unattended radiation observations in Antarctica. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 21, 1417–1431.Google Scholar
Van den Broeke, M.R. & Van Lipzig, N.P.M. 2003. Factors controlling the near-surface wind field in Antarctica. Monthly Weather Review, 131, 733–743.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van den Broeke, M.R., Van Lipzig, N.P.M. & Van Meijgaard, E. 2002. Momentum budget of the East Antarctic atmospheric boundary layer: Results of a regional climate model. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 59, 3117–3129.Google Scholar
Wiscombe, W.J. & Warren, S.G. 1980. A model for the spectral albedo of snow. I: Pure snow. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 37, 2712–2733.Google Scholar
Yamanouchi, T., Wada, M., Mae, S., Kawaguchi, S. & Kusunoki, K. 1982. The radiation budget at Mizuho Station. Annals of Glaciology, 3, 327–332.Google Scholar