The content of the ARM website is available to any browser, but for the best experience we highly recommend you upgrade to a standards-compliant browser such as Firefox, Opera or Safari.
VIEW CART
primary link menu HOME SITE INDEX PEOPLE
skip to main content ABOUT ARMABOUT ACRFSCIENCESITESINSTRUMENTSMEASUREMENTSDATAPUBLICATIONSEDUCATIONFORMS
Cover image

A Comparison of Surface Cloud Forcing between the Coastal North Slope of Alaska Site and the Arctic Ocean SHEBA Site

Intrieri, J.M.(a) and Shupe, M.D.(b), NOAA (a), Science and Technology Corporation (b)
Fourteenth Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Science Team Meeting

In this study, we compare cloud and radiation measurements obtained at the DOE/North Slope of Alaska (NSA) facility, between 1999 and 2002, to measurements obtained for a one year period in the Western Arctic Ocean as part of the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic (SHEBA) program in 1997-1998. Comparisons of the cloud and radiation observations obtained in both locations by lidar, radar, and radiometers, as well as calculated cloud forcing values allow an assessment of (1) cloud occurrence and morphology differences between the Arctic Coastal Zone and the Open Arctic Ocean, (2) how the surface radiation is affected by clouds in two different regions, and (3) how representative the measurements made at the NSA land site are of the greater oceanic and sea ice covered polar region. We discuss factors that contribute to the differences between the two regions such as albedo, solar zenith angle, aerosol and temperature structure as well as comment on the effect of interpolating atmospheric conditions between radiosonde launch times, an important factor at the NSA site. Recommendations regarding sounding frequency, radiometer sensitivity, albedo considerations, ozone and aerosol models, and depolarization information are also provided.

Note: This is the poster abstract presented at the meeting; an extended version was not provided by the author(s).