Interactions Among Observations of Laterally Advected Heat and Moisture, Cloud Properties, Surface Temperature, Surface Radiation Fluxes, and Net Precipitation in the Arctic

在拟议的调查中，pi将研究北极环境的五个基本组成部分之间的相互作用和反馈：水平输送的热量和水分、云特性、地表温度、净降水和地表辐射通量。北冰洋上空的常规气象数据很少，除了地表压力场和温度之外，在泛北极意义上调查这些问题的信息相对较少。美国国家海洋和大气管理局/美国国家航空航天局探路者计划最新提供的卫星数据集提供了一个前所未有的机会，通过提供20年来大气量的测量来观察北极气候。利用这些数据进行的初步计算表明，地表温度、平流模式和云层特性发生了显著的内聚性变化，但它们之间是如何相互关联的呢？这些明显的趋势与地表辐射平衡的变化有什么关系？观测到的趋势是否可以用大尺度大气环流特征来解释，例如北极涛动、北大西洋涛动、北太平洋涛动或其他？这些都是私家侦探希望在这次调查中解决的问题。这项被提议的研究直接证实了四个假说中的三个，这些假说被称为“北极环境变化研究”（SEARCH）： 1) Unaami（对观测到的一系列泛北极变化的称呼）与北极涛动有关，2)Unaami是气候变化的一个组成部分，3)海洋、陆地、冰和大气之间的反馈对Unaami至关重要。利用两个新获得的20年卫星数据集与地面观测相结合，PI将诊断输送热量和水分、云特性、地表温度、净降水和地表辐射通量变化的模式和相互作用，并检验这些模式与大气大尺度环流特征相互关联和一致的假设。这项活动的更广泛的影响是：1)有助于理解和预测全球气候过程和变化；2)使研究生参与研究；3)为遥感和冰冻圈过程的本科课程提供材料。

In the proposed investigation the PIs will examine interactions and feedbacks among five fundamental components of the Arctic environment: horizontally transported heat and moisture, cloud properties, surface temperature, net precipitation, and surface radiation fluxes. Conventional meteorological data are sparse over the Arctic Ocean, and other than surface pressure fields and temperatures there is relatively little information with which to investigate these issues in a pan-Arctic sense. Newly available satellite-derived data sets from the NOAA/NASA Pathfinder Program offer an unprecedented opportunity to observe the Arctic climate by providing measurements of atmospheric quantities spanning two decades. Preliminary calculations using these data indicate that significant, cohesive changes have occurred in surface temperature, advection patterns, and cloud properties, but how are they related to each other? How do these apparent trends relate to changes in the surface radiation balance? Can the observed trends be explained by large-scale atmospheric circulation features, such as the Arctic Oscillation, North Atlantic Oscillation, North Pacific Oscillation, or others? These are the questions the PI's expect to address in this investigation. The proposed study speaks directly to three of the four hypotheses targeted by the new multiagency initiative called the Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH): 1) Unaami (the name given to the suite of observed pan-Arctic changes) is related to the Arctic Oscillation, 2)Unaami is a component of climate change, and 3) Feedbacks among the ocean, land, ice and the atmosphere are critical to Unaami. Using two newly-available, 20-year, satellite-derived data sets in combination with surface observations, the PI's will diagnose patterns of and interactions among change in transported heat and moisture, cloud properties, surface temperature, net precipitation, and surface radiation fluxes, and test the hypothesis that these patterns are interrelated and aligned with large-scale circulation features in the atmosphere. The broader impacts of this activity are 1) to contribute toward understanding and predicting global climate processes and change, 2) to involve graduate students in the research, and 3) to provide material to be included in undergraduate course material for classes in remote sensing and cryospheric processes.