Decadal-Length Composite West Antarctic Air Temperature Records

This data set includes daily, monthly, and yearly mean surface air temperatures for four interior West Antarctic sites between 1978 and 1997. Data include air surface temperatures measured at the Byrd, Lettau, Lynn, and Siple Station automatic weather stations. In addition, because weather stations in Antarctica are difficult to maintain, and resulting multi-decade records are often incomplete, the investigators also calculated surface temperatures from satellite passive microwave brightness temperatures. Calibration of 37-GHz vertically polarized brightness temperature data during periods of known air temperature, using emissivity modeling, allowed the investigators to replace data gaps with calibrated brightness temperatures. MS Excel data files and GIF images derived from the data are available via ftp from the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

本数据集收录了1978年至1997年间南极西部内陆4个站点的逐日、逐月及逐年地表气温平均值。其中包含伯德（Byrd）、莱托（Lettau）、林恩（Lynn）与赛普勒站（Siple Station）自动气象站的观测地表气温数据。此外，鉴于南极地区气象站运维难度极高，且长期观测记录往往存在缺失，研究人员还通过卫星被动微波亮度温度数据反演得到地表气温。研究人员借助发射率建模方法，在已知气温的时段对37吉赫兹（GHz）垂直极化亮度温度数据开展校准，利用校准后的亮度温度数据填补观测记录的空白。由该数据集衍生的微软Excel（MS Excel）数据文件与GIF图像，可通过文件传输协议（FTP）从国家冰雪数据中心（National Snow and Ice Data Center）获取。