Surface Energy Balance on West Antarctica and the Ross Ice Shelf

We will measure the surface energy balance on West Antarctica as it relates to atmospheric forcing of surface melt and hydrofracturing of ice shelves and grounding-line ice cliffs. In this program we build upon recent experience with a major campaign jointly supported by the US Antarctic Program (USAP) and US Department of Energy (DOE), the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) West Antarctic Radiation Experiment (AWARE). AWARE deployed a highly advanced suite of atmospheric and climate science instrumentation to McMurdo Station from December 2015 through December 2016, including spectral radiometers, research radars and lidars, and comprehensive meteorological equipment. AWARE also deployed a smaller suite of radiometers, lidars, and rawinsonde equipment to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide Ice Camp during December 2015 and January 2016. This project’s principal investigator, Dr. Lubin (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, SIO), was the AWARE lead scientist. For this program we will deploy a suite instruments to measure downwelling and net shortwave and longwave fluxes, sensible and latent heat fluxes, and near-surface meteorology. This suite of instruments will be self-reliant with power requirements and will be supportable in the field with flexible resources, for example a single Twin Otter aircraft mission. These measurements will be analyzed and interpreted to determine synoptic and mesoscale conditions that govern surface melt in West Antarctica, in the context of improving coupled climate model parameterizations.