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About OAII |
Taneil Uttal
Kenneth Moran
Madison Post
Robert A. Kropfli
NOAA-Environmental Research Lab
Start Date: April 15, 1995
Expires: March 31, 1997 (Estimated)
Expected Total Amt.: $322,000 (Estimated)
Fld Science: Atmospheric Sciences
Abstract:
Research supported by this grant is under the auspices of the Arctic Systems Science (ARCSS) Global Change Research Program and is jointly sponsored by the Division of Ocean Sciences and the Office of Polar Programs. Work to be performed represents preliminary steps towards a major 5-year research project named SHEBA, which is envisioned to study the heat budget of the Arctic Ocean and its impact on global change. The primary goals of SHEBA are: (1) to develop, test and implement models of arctic ocean-atmosphere-ice processes that demonstrably improve simulations of the present day arctic climate, including its variability, using General Circulation Models (GCMs), and (2) to improve the interpretation of satellite remote sensing data in the Arctic for analysis of the arctic climate system and provide reliable data for model input, model validation and climate monitoring. This work will develop, construct, and prepare for deployment a 35-GHz cloud monitoring radar which will be built specifically for autonomous operation at the main SHEBA ice camp. This unique instrumentation will be useful in addressing an identified scientific issue of SHEBA: the sea arctic cloud-radiation feedback mechanism. Vertical profiles of cloud structural and microphysical properties will be measured continuously and under conditions when no other sensors are able to provide comparable observations. Some of these properties are cloud boundaries, the existence of multiple layers and optically thick layers, ice crystal fallspeeds, and, with information from other systems, characteristic ice particle size, concentration, and mass content.