Observations of the Arctic boundary layer clouds during ACSE 2014

Abstract:

Boundary-layer structure and dynamics are intimately linked with both surface exchange processes and the properties of boundary-layer clouds, which in turn exert a strong control on the surface energy budget. Sea ice melt and formation are thus closely coupled with boundary layer clouds and turbulent exchange. Coordinated observations of boundary layer processes and cloud dynamics are sparse in over the Arctic Ocean. This holds especially for observations that extend over the entire ice melt season.

Measurements with surface-based remote-sensing instruments and near-surface meteorological sensors as well as through radiosoundings were perfomed during the 3-month Arctic Clouds in Summer Experiment (ACSE) in the East Siberian Arctic Ocean during the summer and early autumn of 2014. We will present a detailed view of cloud and fog properties in connection with boundary layer structure (e.g. inversions, stratification), vertical mixing processes, and the effect of a variety of surface conditions from open water, through marginal ice to dense pack ice on the overlaying cloud layers over. Most of the observed clouds showed a base height of 300 m or less. Strongly stable near-surface conditions with fog were often observed during the beginning of the cruise (summer season), whereas deeper surface-based mixed layers capped by mixed-phase clouds occured more frequently in autumn.