THE SURFACE CLIMATOLOGY OF THE ROSS ICE SHELF ANTARCTICA
Carol Costanza1*, Matthew A. Lazzara1,3, Linda Keller1,2, and John J. Cassano4
Antarctic Meteorological Research Center, Space Science and Engineering Center
2 Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
3 Department of Physical Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, Madison Area Technical College, Madison, WI,
USA
4 Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic
Sciences, University of Colorado – Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
1
http://amrc.ssec.wisc.edu/
1. OVERVIEW
One of the most data sparse continents in the
world is Antarctica. Over the last thirty years, a
network of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) has
been taking meteorological surface observations
across the continent. In this presentation, the
climatology of the Ross Ice Shelf (RIS) region of
the Antarctic is reviewed using the AWS network.
Thirteen AWS divided into three regions (Figure 1)
are employed to describe the temperature,
pressure and wind observed and analyzed on
daily, seasonal, and annual timescales. The three
regions include the central RIS, the coastal RIS,
and the Transantarctic Mountain region.
observations, inconsistencies in the dataset for the
time series, lack of AWS winter data, RIS
movement
northward,
and
AWS
net
accumulation. The results here are vital for the
broader Antarctic meteorological community for
operational forecasting, logistical planning, and to
improve our understanding of Antarctic climate.
The climatology described here includes a general
overview of the characteristics of the region along
with significant changes during the observation
period. The mean temperatures vary from about 5°C in the summer to about -35 °C in the winter,
and there are significant temperature increases
found at Marilyn AWS, Gill AWS, and
Schwerdtfeger AWS. The mean pressures vary
from 970 mb to 990 mb within a year and there are
significant pressure decreases found at Gill AWS
and Schwerdtfeger AWS. The resultant wind
speeds vary from about 0 m/s to 5 m/s within a
year, and directed southeasterly or southwesterly
(Figure 2).
There is a significant wind speed increase found at
Schwerdtfeger AWS. MEI, SAM, and SAO index
are compared to temperature and pressure data of
five of the AWS with the longest time period.
Significance is found in pressure for MEI, SAM
and SAO, and significance is found in temperature
for SAM and SAO. This climatology study
highlights the challenges in making automated
*
Figure 1 - A map of the Ross Ice Shelf shows the
locations of the AWS sites used in this project
orientated Greenwich up and north is down. Central
AWS are in red, coastal AWS are in blue, and
Transantarctic Mountain AWS are in green.
Corresponding Author: Carol Costanza
Antarctic Meteorological Research Center, Space Science and
Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison
E-mail: carol.costanza@ssec.wisc.edu
2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This material is based upon work supported by the
National Science Foundation under grant #ANT1245663.
Figure 2 – Twelve AWS resultant wind speed
vectors (m/s) pointed in the direction the wind is
going to, where the magnitude of the vector is a
factor of the resultant wind speed. Nascent AWS
wind data is excluded.