Characteristics of the Night and Day Time Atmospheric Boundary Layer at Dome C, Antarctica

Abstract

A large atmospheric field experiment STABLEDC (STudy of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer Environmental at Dome C plateau station) was held at the Franco-Italian station of Concordia at Dome C during 2004–2005. The aim of the field experiment was to study the processes occurring in the long-lived stable and the weak convective atmospheric boundary layers, observed during winter and summer respectively, and to collect the relevant parameters for the atmospheric models. We used both in situ and ground based remote sensing sensors to monitor the meteorological parameters. The thermal structure of the atmosphere and the diurnal behavior of the height of the atmospheric boundary layer, as seen by a minisodar, for a typical summer and winter day is shown. The behaviour of the surface temperature during the year evidences that, on average, the lowest surface temperatures occur in April and mid-August. Warming events were observed periodically during the winter with temperatures sometimes reaching the summer values. Average temperature profiles for each season are shown. During the winter the temperature strongly decreases in the first 100–200 m. However a detailed analysis of the potential temperature gradients evidence that generally the strongest gradients occur in a narrow layer of 10–40 m. Finally the potential to investigate the fine structure of the PBL with a high resolution minisodar, developed by ISAC/CNR, is discussed.