SEARCH Projects

NOAA SEARCH Element 3: Atmospheric Observatory

PI: Taneil Uttal PI: Robert Stone PI: Chris Fairall PI: Patrick Sheridan PI: John Ogren Institution: NOAA ETL

Abstract

At present, the only continuous measurements of Arctic surface radiation, clouds, aerosols, and chemistry sufficient for detailed evaluation of interactive climate change processes in the lower atmosphere (0-15 km) are made in Barrow, Alaska. The Barrow facilities include the National Weather Service (with records from the 1920s), the NOAA/CMDL Baseline Observatory (in operation since 1972), and the DOE ARM North Slope of Alaska (NSA) site (in operation since 1998). It is the intention of the Atmospheric Observatory Element of the NOAA/SEARCH program to mirror the Barrow atmospheric measurements, first in northeastern Canada, and a some later date in central Siberia.

The Canadian and Siberian regions have been selected based on the principal hypothesis of the SEARCH program that Arctic climate change is related to the Arctic Oscillation (AO). There have been observations of large scale co-variability between a number of climatic variables (surface temperature, hydrological balances, cloud cover, winds) with the primary modes of the Arctic Oscillation. Analyses suggest that one of the most significant AO-related trends over the last 50 years is warming in Eastern Siberia and cooling in the northeastern Canada, western Greenland region. The Barrow site appears to be in a region of lower variability with respect to the AO, thus additional measurements in the regions where AO-related variability is expected to be the most pronounced are desirable. A coordinated set of intensive atmospheric measurements in Alaska, NE Canada, and Siberia will not only provide important observational records on regional variations within the Arctic, but will also provide key data sets for validating satellite measurements and improving model parameterizations.