In 2014/2015 a one-year field campaign at the Tiksi observatory in the Laptev Sea area was carried out using Sound Detection and Ranging/Radio Acoustic Sounding System (SODAR/RASS) measurements to investigate the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) with a focus on low-level jets (LLJ) during the winter season. In addition to SODAR/RASS-derived vertical profiles of temperature, wind speed and direction, a suite of complementary measurements at the Tiksi observatory was available. Data of a regional atmospheric model were used to put the local data into the synoptic context. Two case studies of LLJ events are presented. The statistics of LLJs for six months show that in about 23% of all profiles LLJs were present with a mean jet speed and height of about 7 m/s and 240 m, respectively. In 3.4% of all profiles LLJs exceeding 10 m/s occurred. The main driving mechanism for LLJs seems to be the baroclinicity, since no inertial oscillations were found. LLJs with heights below 200 m are likely influenced by local topography.
In recent decades, the Arctic has been undergoing a wide range of fast environmental changes. The sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean not only reacts rapidly to these changes, but also influences and alters the physical properties of the atmospheric boundary layer and the underlying ocean on various scales. In that regard, polynyas, i.e. regions of open water and thin ice within thernclosed pack ice, play a key role as being regions of enhanced atmosphere-ice-ocean interactions and extensive new ice formation during winter. A precise long-term monitoring and increased efforts to employ long-term and high-resolution satellite data is therefore of high interest for the polar scientific community. The retrieval of thin-ice thickness (TIT) fields from thermal infrared satellite data and atmospheric reanalysis, utilizing a one-dimensional energy balance model, allows for the estimation of the heat loss to the atmosphere and hence, ice-production rates. However, an extended application of this approach is inherently connected with severe challenges that originate predominantly from the disturbing influence of clouds and necessary simplifications in the model set-up, which all need to be carefully considered and compensated for. The presented thesis addresses these challenges and demonstrates the applicability of thermal infrared TIT distributions for a long-term polynya monitoring, as well as an accurate estimation of ice production in Arctic polynyas at a relatively high spatial resolution. Being written in a cumulative style, the thesis is subdivided into three parts that show the consequent evolution and improvement of the TIT retrieval, based on two regional studies (Storfjorden and North Water (NOW) polynya) and a final large-scale, pan-Arctic study. The first study on the Storfjorden polynya, situated in the Svalbard archipelago, represents the first long-term investigation on spatial and temporal polynya characteristics that is solely based on daily TIT fields derived from MODIS thermal infrared satellite data and ECMWF ERA-Interim atmospheric reanalysis data. Typical quantities such as polynya area (POLA), the TIT distribution, frequencies of polynya events as well as the total ice production are derived and compared to previous remote sensing and modeling studies. The study includes a first basic approach that aims for a compensation of cloud-induced gaps in daily TIT composites. This coverage-correction (CC) is a mathematically simple upscaling procedure that depends solely on the daily percentage of available MODIS coverage and yields daily POLA with an error-margin of 5 to 6 %. The NOW polynya in northern Baffin Bay is the main focus region of the second study, which follows two main goals. First, a new statistics-based cloud interpolation scheme (Spatial Feature Reconstruction - SFR) as well as additional cloud-screening procedures are successfully adapted and implemented in the TIT retrieval for usage in Arctic polynya regions. For a 13-yr period, results on polynya characteristics are compared to the CC approach. Furthermore, an investigation on highly variable ice-bridge dynamics in Nares Strait is presented. Second, an analysis of decadal changes of the NOW polynya is carried out, as the additional use of a suite of passive microwave sensors leads to an extended record of 37 consecutive winter seasons, thereby enabling detailed inter-sensor comparisons. In the final study, the SFR-interpolated daily TIT composites are used to infer spatial and temporal characteristics of 17 circumpolar polynya regions in the Arctic for 2002/2003 to 2014/2015. All polynya regions combined cover an average thin-ice area of 226.6 -± 36.1 x 10-³ km-² during winter (November to March) and yield an average total wintertime accumulated ice production of about 1811 -± 293 km-³. Regional differences in derived ice production trends are noticeable. The Laptev Sea on the Siberian shelf is presented as a focus region, as frequently appearing polynyas along the fast-ice edge promote high rates of new ice production. New affirming results on a distinct relation to sea-ice area export rates and hence, the Transpolar Drift, are shown. This new high-resolution pan-Arctic data set can be further utilized and build upon in a variety of atmospheric and oceanographic applications, while still offering room for further improvements such as incorporating high-resolution atmospheric data sets and an optimized lead-detection.
Arctic and Antarctic polynya systems are of high research interest since extensive new ice formation takes place in these regions. The monitoring of polynyas and the ice production is crucial with respect to the changing sea-ice regime. The thin-ice thickness (TIT) distribution within polynyas controls the amount of heat that is released to the atmosphere and has therefore an impact on the ice-production rates. This thesis presents an improved method to retrieve thermal-infrared thin-ice thickness distributions within polynyas. TIT with a spatial resolution of 1 km × 1 km is calculated using the MODIS ice-surface temperature and atmospheric model variables within the Laptev Sea polynya for the winter periods 2007/08 and 2008/09. The improvement of the algorithm is focused on the surface-energy flux parameterizations. Furthermore, a thorough sensitivity analysis is applied to quantify the uncertainty in the thin-ice thickness results. An absolute mean uncertainty of -±4.7 cm for ice below 20 cm of thickness is calculated. Furthermore, advantages and drawbacks using different atmospheric data sets are investigated. Daily MODIS TIT composites are computed to fill the data gaps arising from clouds and shortwave radiation. The resulting maps cover on average 70 % of the Laptev Sea polynya. An intercomparison of MODIS and AMSR-E polynya data indicates that the spatial resolution issue is essential for accurately deriving polynya characteristics. Monthly fast-ice masks are generated using the daily TIT composites. These fast-ice masks are implemented into the coupled sea-ice/ocean model FESOM. An evaluation of FESOM sea-ice concentrations is performed with the result that a prescribed high-resolution fast-ice mask is necessary regarding the accurate polynya location. However, for a more realistic simulation of other small-scale sea-ice features further model improvements are required. The retrieval of daily high-resolution MODIS TIT composites is an important step towards a more precise monitoring of thin sea ice and sea-ice production. Future work will address a combined remote sensing " model assimilation method to simulate fully-covered thin-ice thickness maps that enable the retrieval of accurate ice production values.
Measurements of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) structure were performed for three years (October 2017–August 2020) at the Russian observatory “Ice Base Cape Baranova” (79.280° N, 101.620° E) using SODAR (Sound Detection And Ranging). These measurements were part of the YOPP (Year of Polar Prediction) project “Boundary layer measurements in the high Arctic” (CATS_BL) within the scope of a joint German–Russian project. In addition to SODAR-derived vertical profiles of wind speed and direction, a suite of complementary measurements at the observatory was available. ABL measurements were used for verification of the regional climate model COSMO-CLM (CCLM) with a 5 km resolution for 2017–2020. The CCLM was run with nesting in ERA5 data in a forecast mode for the measurement period. SODAR measurements were mostly limited to wind speeds <12 m/s since the signal was often lost for higher winds. The SODAR data showed a topographical channeling effect for the wind field in the lowest 100 m and some low-level jets (LLJs). The verification of the CCLM with near-surface data of the observatory showed good agreement for the wind and a negative bias for the 2 m temperature. The comparison with SODAR data showed a positive bias for the wind speed of about 1 m/s below 100 m, which increased to 1.5 m/s for higher levels. In contrast to the SODAR data, the CCLM data showed the frequent presence of LLJs associated with the topographic channeling in Shokalsky Strait. Although SODAR wind profiles are limited in range and have a lot of gaps, they represent a valuable data set for model verification. However, a full picture of the ABL structure and the climatology of channeling events could be obtained only with the model data. The climatological evaluation showed that the wind field at Cape Baranova was not only influenced by direct topographic channeling under conditions of southerly winds through the Shokalsky Strait but also by channeling through a mountain gap for westerly winds. LLJs were detected in 37% of all profiles and most LLJs were associated with channeling, particularly LLJs with a jet speed ≥ 15 m/s (which were 29% of all LLJs). The analysis of the simulated 10 m wind field showed that the 99%-tile of the wind speed reached 18 m/s and clearly showed a dipole structure of channeled wind at both exits of Shokalsky Strait. The climatology of channeling events showed that this dipole structure was caused by the frequent occurrence of channeling at both exits. Channeling events lasting at least 12 h occurred on about 62 days per year at both exits of Shokalsky Strait.