Near-infrared digital photography to estimate snow correlation length for microwave emission modeling

The study is based on experimental work conducted in alpine snow. We made microwave radiometric and near-infrared reflectance measurements of snow slabs under different experimental conditions. We used an empirical relation to link near-infrared reflectance of snow to the specific surface area (SSA), and converted the SSA into the correlation length. From the measurements of snow radiances at 21 and 35 GHz , we derived the microwave scattering coefficient by inverting two coupled radiative transfer models (the sandwich and six-flux model). The correlation lengths found are in the same range as those determined in the literature using cold laboratory work. The technique shows great potential in the determination of the snow correlation length under field conditions.

Measurement of Neutrino Oscillation Parameters from Muon Neutrino Disappearance with an Off-Axis Beam

The T2K collaboration reports a precision measurement of muon neutrino disappearance with an off-axis neutrino beam with a peak energy of 0.6 GeV. Near detector measurements are used to constrain the neutrino flux and cross section parameters. The Super-Kamiokande far detector, which is 295 km downstream of the neutrino production target, collected data corresponding to 3.01×1020 protons on target. In the absence of neutrino oscillations, 205±17 (syst.) events are expected to be detected and only 58 muon neutrino event candidates are observed. A fit to the neutrino rate and energy spectrum assuming three neutrino flavors, normal mass hierarchy and θ23≤π/4 yields a best-fit mixing angle sin2(2θ23)=1.000 and mass splitting |Δm232|=2.44×10−3 eV2/c4. If θ23≥π/4 is assumed, the best-fit mixing angle changes to sin2(2θ23)=0.999 and the mass splitting remains unchanged.

Validation of middle-atmospheric campaign-based water vapour measured by the ground-based microwave radiometer MIAWARA-C

Middle atmospheric water vapour can be used as a tracer for dynamical processes. It is mainly measured by satellite instruments and ground-based microwave radiometers. Ground-based instruments capable of measuring middle-atmospheric water vapour are sparse but valuable as they complement satellite measurements, are relatively easy to maintain and have a long lifetime. MIAWARA-C is a ground-based microwave radiometer for middle-atmospheric water vapour designed for use on measurement campaigns for both atmospheric case studies and instrument intercomparisons. MIAWARA-C's retrieval version 1.1 (v1.1) is set up in a such way as to provide a consistent data set even if the instrument is operated from different locations on a campaign basis. The sensitive altitude range for v1.1 extends from 4 hPa (37 km) to 0.017 hPa (75 km). For v1.1 the estimated systematic error is approximately 10% for all altitudes. At lower altitudes it is dominated by uncertainties in the calibration, with altitude the influence of spectroscopic and temperature uncertainties increases. The estimated random error increases with altitude from 5 to 25%. MIAWARA-C measures two polarisations of the incident radiation in separate receiver channels, and can therefore provide two measurements of the same air mass with independent instrumental noise. The standard deviation of the difference between the profiles obtained from the two polarisations is in excellent agreement with the estimated random measurement error of v1.1. In this paper, the quality of v1.1 data is assessed for measurements obtained at two different locations: (1) a total of 25 months of measurements in the Arctic (Sodankylä, 67.37° N, 26.63° E) and (2) nine months of measurements at mid-latitudes (Zimmerwald, 46.88° N, 7.46° E). For both locations MIAWARA-C's profiles are compared to measurements from the satellite experiments Aura MLS and MIPAS. In addition, comparisons to ACE-FTS and SOFIE are presented for the Arctic and to the ground-based radiometer MIAWARA for the mid-latitude campaigns. In general, all intercomparisons show high correlation coefficients, confirming the ability of MIAWARA-C to monitor temporal variations of the order of days. The biases are generally below 13% and within the estimated systematic uncertainty of MIAWARA-C. No consistent wet or dry bias is identified for MIAWARA-C. In addition, comparisons to the reference instruments indicate the estimated random error of v1.1 to be a realistic measure of the random variation on the retrieved profile between 45 and 70 km.

Atmospheric Soluble Dust Records from a Tibetan Ice Core: Possible Climate Proxies and Teleconnection With the Pacific Decadal Oscillation

In autumn 2005, a joint expedition between the University of Maine and the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research recovered three ice cores from Guoqu Glacier (33 degrees 34'37.80 '' N, 91 degrees 10'35.3 '' E, 5720 m above sea level) on the northern side of Mt. Geladaindong, central Tibetan Plateau. Isotopes ( delta(18)O), major soluble ions (Na(+), K(+), Mg(2+), Ca(2+), Cl(-), NO(3)(-), SO(4)(2-)), and radionuclide (beta-activity) measurements from one of the cores revealed a 70-year record (1935-2005). Statistical analysis of major ion time series suggests that atmospheric soluble dust species dominate the chemical signature and that background dust levels conceal marine ion species deposition. The soluble dust time series have interspecies relations and common structure (empirical orthogonal function (EOF) 1), suggesting a similar soluble dust source or transport route. Annual and seasonal correlations between the EOF 1 time series and National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis climate variables (1948-2004) suggest that the Mt. Geladaindong ice core record provides a proxy for local and regional surface pressure. An approximately threefold decrease of soluble dust concentrations in the middle to late 1970s, accompanied by regional increases in pressure and temperature and decreases in wind velocity, coincides with the major 1976-1977 shift of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) from a negative to a positive state. This is the first ice core evidence of a potential teleconnection between central Asian atmospheric soluble dust loading and the PDO. Analysis of temporally longer ice cores from Mt. Geladaindong may enhance understanding of the relationship between the PDO and central Asian atmospheric circulation and subsequent atmospheric soluble dust loading.

The Effects of Joint ENSO-Antarctic Oscillation Forcing on the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

Stable oxygen analyses and snow accumulation rates from snow pits sampled in the McMurdo Dry Valleys have been used to reconstruct variations in summer temperature and moisture availability over the last four decades. The temperature data show a common interannual variability, with strong regional warmings occurring especially in 1984/85, 1995/96 and 1990/91 and profound coolings during 1977/78, 1983/84, 1988/89, 1993/94, and 1996/97. Annual snow accumulation shows a larger variance between sites, but the early 1970s, 1984, 1997, and to a lesser degree 1990/91 are characterized overall by wetter conditions, while the early and late 1980s show low snow accumulation values. Comparison of the reconstructed and measured summer temperatures with the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) and the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO) yield statistically significant correlations, which improve when phaserelationships are considered. A distinct change in the phase relationship of the correlation is observed, with the SOI-AAO leading over the temperature records by one year before, and lagging by one year after 1988. These results suggest that over the last two decades summer temperatures are influenced by opposing El Niho Southern Oscillation and AAO forcings and support previous studies that identified a change in the Tropical-Antarctic teleconnection between the 1980s and 1990s.

The quasi 16-day wave in mesospheric water vapor during boreal winter 2011/2012

This study investigates the characteristics of the quasi 16-day wave in the mesosphere during boreal winter 2011/2012 using observations of water vapor from ground-based microwave radiometers and satellite data. The ground-based microwave radiometers are located in Seoul (South Korea, 37° N), Bern (Switzerland, 47° N) and Sodankylä (Finland, 67° N). The quasi 16-day wave is observed in the mesosphere at all three locations, while the dominant period increases with latitude from 15 days at Seoul to 20 days at Sodankylä. The observed evolution of the quasi 16-day wave confirms that the wave activity is strongly decreased during a sudden stratospheric warming that occurred in mid-January 2012. Using satellite data from the Microwave Limb Sounder on the Aura satellite, we examine the zonal characteristics of the quasi 16-day wave and conclude that the observed waves above the mid-latitudinal stations Seoul and Bern are eastward-propagating s=−1 planetary waves with periods of 15 to 16 days, while the observed oscillation above the polar station Sodankylä is a standing oscillation with a period of approximately 20 days. The strongest relative wave amplitudes in water vapor during the investigated time period are approximately 15%. The wave activity varies strongly along a latitude circle. The activity of the quasi 16-day wave in mesospheric water vapor during boreal winter 2011/2012 is strongest over Northern Europe, the North Atlantic ocean and North-West Canada. The region of highest wave activity seems to be related to the position of the polar vortex. We conclude that the classic approach to characterize planetary waves zonally averaged along a latitude circle is not sufficient to explain the local observations because of the strong longitudinal dependence of the wave activity.

Microwave radiometer to retrieve temperature profiles from the surface to the stratopause

TEMPERA (TEMPERature RAdiometer) is a new ground-based radiometer which measures in a frequency range from 51–57 GHz radiation emitted by the atmosphere. With this instrument it is possible to measure temperature profiles from ground to about 50 km. This is the first ground-based instrument with the capability to retrieve temperature profiles simultaneously for the troposphere and stratosphere. The measurement is done with a filterbank in combination with a digital fast Fourier transform spectrometer. A hot load and a noise diode are used as stable calibration sources. The optics consist of an off-axis parabolic mirror to collect the sky radiation. Due to the Zeeman effect on the emission lines used, the maximum height for the temperature retrieval is about 50 km. The effect is apparent in the measured spectra. The performance of TEMPERA is validated by comparison with nearby radiosonde and satellite data from the Microwave Limb Sounder on the Aura satellite. In this paper we present the design and measurement method of the instrument followed by a description of the retrieval method, together with a validation of TEMPERA data over its first year, 2012.

Diurnal variations in middle-atmospheric water vapor by ground-based microwave radiometry

Abstract. In this paper, we compare the diurnal variations in middle-atmospheric water vapor as measured by two ground-based microwave radiometers in the Alpine region near Bern, Switzerland. The observational data set is also compared to data from the chemistry–climate model WACCM. Due to the small diurnal variations of usually less than 1%, averages over extended time periods are required. Therefore, two time periods of five months each, December to April and June to October, were taken for the comparison. The diurnal variations from the observational data agree well with each other in amplitude and phase. The linear correlation coefficients range from 0.8 in the upper stratosphere to 0.5 in the upper mesosphere. The observed diurnal variability is significant at all pressure levels within the sensitivity of the instruments. Comparing our observations with WACCM, we find that the agreement of the phase of the diurnal cycle between observations and model is better from December to April than from June to October. The amplitudes of the diurnal variations for both time periods increase with altitude in WACCM, but remain approximately constant at 0.05 ppm in the observations. The WACCM data are used to separate the processes that lead to diurnal variations in middle-atmospheric water vapor above Bern. The dominating processes were found to be meridional advection below 0.1 hPa, vertical advection between 0.1 and 0.02 hPa and (photo-)chemistry above 0.02 hPa. The contribution of zonal advection is small. The highest diurnal variations in water vapor as seen in the WACCM data are found in the mesopause region during the time period from June to October with diurnal amplitudes of 0.2 ppm (approximately 5% in relative units).