Vertical profiles of atmospheric variables based on tethersonde soundings from Ny-Ålesund

Abstract

The melt of snow and sea ice in Svalbard and its fjords is strongly controlled by the radiative and turbulent surface fluxes. The fluxes depend, among others, on the structure of and processes in the ABL. Over a complex topography, such as Svalbard mountains and fjords, the state of the ABL is not well known. It is affected by the synoptic-scale flow conditions, which vary between cases of advection of warm, marine air masses from open ocean and cold-air outbreaks from the north or east. Data of vertical profiles of atmospheric variables were collected as a part of the project "Atmospheric boundary layer and its interaction with snow and sea ice in Svalbard fjords". The principal objective of the project was to better understand and quantify the processes in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) over complex topography in Svalbard and their interaction with the snow and sea ice surface. Soundings archive consists 17 high-resolution vertical profiles of the measured atmospheric characteristics (air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, and air pressure) acquired from the tethersonde soundings campaign in Ny-Ålesund (Svalbard archipelago) between 21 March and 2 April in 2009.