30 years of upper air soundings on board of R/V <i>POLARSTERN</i>
The research vessel and supply icebreaker <i>POLARSTERN</i> is the flagship of the Alfred-Wegener-Institut in Bremerhaven (Germany) and one of the infrastructural pillars of German Antarctic research. Since its commissioning in 1982, <i>POLARSTERN</i> has conducted 30 campaig...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2016-06-01
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| Series: | Earth System Science Data |
| Online Access: | http://www.earth-syst-sci-data.net/8/213/2016/essd-8-213-2016.pdf |
| Summary: | The research vessel and supply icebreaker <i>POLARSTERN</i> is the flagship
of the Alfred-Wegener-Institut in Bremerhaven (Germany) and one of the
infrastructural pillars of German Antarctic research. Since its commissioning
in 1982, <i>POLARSTERN</i> has conducted 30 campaigns to Antarctica (157
legs, mostly austral summer), and 29 to the Arctic (94 legs, northern
summer). Usually, <i>POLARSTERN</i> is more than 300 days per year in
operation and crosses the Atlantic Ocean in a meridional section twice a
year. The first radiosonde on <i>POLARSTERN</i> was released on the
29 December 1982, 2 days after <i>POLARSTERN</i> started on its maiden
voyage to the Antarctic. And these daily soundings have continued up to the
present. Due to the fact that <i>POLARSTERN</i> has reliably and regularly
been providing upper air observations from data sparse regions (oceans and
polar regions), the radiosonde data are of special value for researchers and
weather forecast services alike. In the course of 30 years (29 December 1982
to 25 November 2012) a total of 12 378 radiosonde balloons were started on
<i>POLARSTERN</i>. All radiosonde data can now be found at
König-Langlo (2015, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.810000" target="_blank">doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.810000</a>). Each data set contains
the directly measured parameters air temperature, relative humidity and air
pressure, and the derived altitude, wind direction and wind speed. 432 data
sets additionally contain ozone measurements.<br><br>Although more sophisticated techniques (meteorological satellites, aircraft
observation, remote-sensing systems, etc.) have nowadays become increasingly
important, the high vertical resolution and quality of radiosonde data
remains paramount for weather forecasts and modelling approaches. |
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| ISSN: | 1866-3508 1866-3516 |