Collaborative Research: Observing the Atmospheric Boundary over the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

南极洲西部的近地表大气是地球上变暖最快的地区之一。这种大气变暖，加上海洋作用力，正在导致冰盖融化，从而导致全球海平面上升。计划开展一项观测活动，重点关注南极西部冰盖上空的大气边界层。一套强大的全年、自主的大气和地表测量，将在南极西部冰盖分水岭野外营地使用一个30米高的仪器塔进行。在该项目的第二年将进行额外的无人机系统实地行动，并将通过对边界层深度进行采样来补充南极西部冰盖高塔观测。南极ABL这个更广泛的课题显然支持了一系列的研究活动，从湍流混合的物理学，它的参数化和对气象预报的限制，甚至是气候效应，如地表质量和能量平衡。随着Thwaites WAIS项目的到来，一套计量观测设备将成为NSF/NERC (UK) Thwaites野外联合活动的一个受欢迎的补充。本次提案的气象学家率先在南极开展了30米高的塔（TT）和无人机系统（UAS）的开发，并为成功开展和分析这项工作做好了准备。反过来，这些观测结果很有可能促进我们对大气如何与冰盖交换热量的理解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The near surface atmosphere over West Antarctica is one of the fastest warming locations on the planet. This atmospheric warming, along with oceanic forcing, is contributing to ice sheet melt and hence rising global sea levels. An observational campaign, focused on the atmospheric boundary layer over the West Antarctic ice sheet, is envisioned. A robust set of year-round, autonomous, atmospheric and surface measurements, will be made using an instrumented 30-m tall tower at the West Antarctic ice sheet divide field camp. An additional unmanned aerial system field campaign will be conducted during the second year of this project and will supplement the West Antarctic ice sheet tall tower observations by sampling the depths of the boundary layer.The broader subject of the Antarctic ABL clearly supports a range of research activities ranging from the physics of turbulent mixing, its parameterization and constraints on meteorological forecasts, and even climatological effects, such as surface mass and energy balances. With the coming of the Thwaites WAIS program, a suite of metrological observables would be a welcome addition to the joint NSF/NERC (UK) Thwaites field campaigns. The meteorologists of this proposal have pioneered 30-m tall tower (TT) and unmanned aerial system (UAS) development in the Antarctic, and are well positioned to successfully carry out and analyze this work. In turn, the potential for these observations to advance our understanding of how the atmosphere exchanges heat with the ice sheet is high.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.