A Cloud Profiling Radar for SHEBA

这笔赠款支持的研究由北极系统科学(ARCS)全球变化研究计划赞助，并由海洋科学部和极地方案办公室联合赞助。将开展的工作是迈向一个名为SHEBA的五年重大研究项目的初步步骤，该项目旨在研究北冰洋的热量收支及其对全球变化的影响。SHEBA的主要目标是：(1)开发、测试和实施北极海洋-大气-冰过程模式，利用全球环流模式明显改进对当今北极气候包括其变异性的模拟，以及(2)改进对北极卫星遥感数据的解释，用于北极气候系统的分析，并为模型投入、模型验证和气候监测提供可靠的数据。这项工作将开发、建造并准备部署一台35 GHz的云监测雷达，该雷达将专门为舍巴主要冰营地的自主运行而建造。这一独特的仪器将有助于解决SHEBA已确定的一个科学问题：海洋北极云辐射反馈机制。在没有其他传感器能够提供可比观测的条件下，将连续测量云结构和微物理特性的垂直剖面。其中一些属性包括云的边界、多层和光学厚层的存在、冰晶的下落速度，以及根据来自其他系统的信息，特征冰粒的大小、浓度和质量含量。

Research supported by this grant is under the auspices of the Arctic Systems Science (ARCSS) Global Change Research Program and is jointly sponsored by the Division of Ocean Sciences and the Office of Polar Programs. Work to be performed represents preliminary steps towards a major 5-year research project named SHEBA, which is envisioned to study the heat budget of the Arctic Ocean and its impact on global change. The primary goals of SHEBA are: (1) to develop, test and implement models of arctic ocean-atmosphere-ice processes that demonstrably improve simulations of the present day arctic climate, including its variability, using General Circulation Models (GCMs), and (2) to improve the interpretation of satellite remote sensing data in the Arctic for analysis of the arctic climate system and provide reliable data for model input, model validation and climate monitoring. This work will develop, construct, and prepare for deployment a 35-GHz cloud monitoring radar which will be built specifically for autonomous operation at the main SHEBA ice camp. This unique instrumentation will be useful in addressing an identified scientific issue of SHEBA: the sea arctic cloud-radiation feedback mechanism. Vertical profiles of cloud structural and microphysical properties will be measured continuously and under conditions when no other sensors are able to provide comparable observations. Some of these properties are cloud boundaries, the existence of multiple layers and optically thick layers, ice crystal fallspeeds, and, with information from other systems, characteristic ice particle size, concentration, and mass content.