Summary

A Rayleigh lidar at Davis, Antarctica (69S, 78E) has made intermittent observations of clouds for the last few years. Radiosondes and a co-located wind-profiling radar provide additional data with which to characterise the clouds and the environment in which they exist. We present a case study of thin cirrus in the wintertime upper troposphere and examine its presence in the context of the mesoscale meteorology. We use a second case study of cloud observed from the boundary layer upward to examine the ice and super-cooled water distribution. Using all available cases, we construct an initial climatology of cloud parameters, including cloud top height, cloud temperature (from radiosondes) and optical depth. We discuss our future plans for extending the suite of instruments at Davis and plans for dedicated cloud-observing campaigns to more fully characterise clouds in coastal East Antarctica and to provide various parameters for model validation.

Authors:Alexander S.P. Klekociuk A.R. Published in: 2013 Category 3: Verbal presentation Program area: Climate Processes and Change
Read publication at daca-13.org
Alexander S.P., Klekociuk A.R. (2013) Ground-based observations of Antarctic clouds using a Rayleigh LiDAR at Davis (69S, 78E), Davos Atmosphere and Cryosphere Assembly 2013, Davos, Switzerland, 8-12 July 2013 .; http://www.daca-13.org/index_EN;

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