NNA: NSFGEO-NERC: Collaborative Research: The Integrated Characterization of Energy, Clouds, Atmospheric state, and Precipitation at Summit, Aerosol-Cloud Experiment (ICECAPS-ACE)

格陵兰冰盖在北极是一个独特的位置。它从海平面上升到海拔超过10,000英尺，是迄今为止北极圈以北最大的地形地貌。科学家们已经确定，冰盖对气候波动很敏感。尽管它具有独特性和重要性，但与地球上其他地方相比，人们对它的研究相对较少。顶峰能量、云、大气状态和降水的综合特征(ICECAPS)项目自2010年以来一直在测量格陵兰上空的地面和大气特性。这项长期的实地考察使研究人员能够更好地了解大气是如何影响冰盖的。特别是，该项目帮助确定了格陵兰上空的云和降水在调节冰盖的质量和能量收支方面所起的作用。这些过程对于正确量化格陵兰冰盖产生多少融化水以及这如何导致全球海平面上升至关重要。作为这一新项目的一部分，仪器套件将通过与英国自然环境研究理事会的研究人员合作，扩大到包括气溶胶-云实验(ACE)。ICECAPS-ACE将继续对大气进行常规观测，但包括两个新的主要目标。首先，ICECAPS-ACE将更好地了解格陵兰冰盖上的气溶胶-云相互作用。顶峰站是研究这种相互作用的独特地点，因为当地没有重要的云活动气溶胶来源。气溶胶是大气中的微小颗粒，对云的形成起着重要作用。了解气溶胶和云之间的相互作用对于提供格陵兰上空更准确的天气和气候模型很重要。其次，ICECAPS-ACE将提供一套全面的观测资料，作为极地预报年的一部分，可用于评估数值模式。它还将与北极气候研究多学科漂流观测站(MOSAIC)项目的实地活动重叠，该项目为业务模型界提供了对北极系统前所未有的关注。冰盖实地活动的继续将创建一个有价值的10年数据集，记录格陵兰这个独特位置的年际变化。格陵兰冰盖(GRIS)对人类社会至关重要，因为它在全球海平面上升中扮演着重要角色，而且它正在加速融化。更好地了解气溶胶和云之间的相互作用具有直接的社会价值，因为它们最终会影响地球观测系统的质量和能量收支。自2010年以来，ICECAPS大大提高了对全球资源信息系统上的云特性、辐射和地面能量以及降水过程的理解，同时还支持基于过程的模式评估、新测量技术的开发、多卫星测量和飞机飞行任务的地面比较以及天气预报模型的业务无线电探空仪数据。新的ICECAPS-ACE将深入了解平流气溶胶来源在云和降水过程中所起的作用。增加气溶胶测量将首次能够调查气溶胶如何影响中央全球观测系统的表面能量和质量收支。由于GRIS对北极的重要性，冰盖项目已被批准为YOPP活动，并将存档高分辨率数据，用于基于物理过程的模式评估和验证，重点是地表能量预算、降水和云-气溶胶相互作用。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智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Greenland Ice Sheet is a unique location in the Arctic. It rises from sea level to over 10,000 feet in elevation and is, by far, the largest topographic feature north of the Arctic Circle. Scientists have determined that the ice sheet is sensitive to climatic fluctuations. In spite of its uniqueness and importance, it is relatively under-studied compared to other locations on Earth. The Integrated Characterization of Energy, Clouds, Atmospheric state, and Precipitation at Summit (ICECAPS) project has been measuring properties of the surface and atmosphere over Greenland since 2010. This long-term field campaign has allowed researchers to better understand how the atmosphere affects the ice sheet. In particular, the project has helped to determine the role that clouds and precipitation over Greenland play in modulating the mass and energy budgets of the ice sheet. These processes are essential for properly quantifying how much melt water is produced by the Greenland Ice Sheet, and how this contributes to global sea-level rise. As part of this new project, the instrument suite will be expanded to include an Aerosol-Cloud Experiment (ACE) through a partnership with researchers at the U.K. Natural Environment Research Council. ICECAPS-ACE will continue to make routine observations of the atmosphere, but includes two new major goals. First, ICECAPS-ACE will provide a better understanding of aerosol-cloud interactions over the Greenland Ice Sheet. Summit Station is a unique location to study such interactions because there are no significant local sources of cloud-active aerosols. Aerosols are tiny particles in the atmosphere that play a significant role in cloud formation. Knowledge of the interaction between aerosols and clouds is important for providing more accurate models of weather and climate over Greenland. Secondly, ICECAPS-ACE will provide a comprehensive suite of observations as part of the Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP) that can be used for the assessment of numerical models. It will also overlap with field activities of the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) project, which offers an unprecedented focus by the operational modeling community on the Arctic system. The continuation of the ICECAPS field campaign will create a valuable 10-year dataset that documents changes from year-to-year from this unique location in Greenland.The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) is of critical importance to human society because of its role in global sea-level rise, and it is melting at an accelerating rate. Providing a better understanding of the interactions between aerosols and clouds is of direct societal value because of their ultimate impact on the GrIS mass and energy budgets. Since 2010 ICECAPS has significantly advanced understanding of cloud properties, radiation and surface energy, and precipitation processes over the GrIS, while also supporting process-based model evaluation, development of new measurement techniques, ground comparisons for multiple satellite measurements and aircraft missions, and operational radiosonde data for weather forecast models. The new ICECAPS-ACE will provide insight into the role that advective aerosol sources play in cloud and precipitation processes. The addition of the aerosol measurements will allow, for the first time, an investigation of how aerosols impact the surface energy and mass budgets of the central GrIS. Because of the importance of the GrIS to the Arctic, the ICECAPS project has been endorsed as a YOPP activity and will archive high-resolution data to be used for physical process-based model evaluation and verification that will focus on the surface energy budget, precipitation, and cloud-aerosol interactions.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.