Arctic cloud cover during the summers of 1977-1979

Technical Report · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:5257877

Robinson, D A; Kukla, G J; Serreze, M C

Cloud cover in the Artic Basin has been charted from satellite images at approximately 3 day intervals for the months of May to August from 1977 to 1979. Three classes of cloud thickness at three altitudes were mapped and digitized together with sea level pressure. Cloudiness was found to be heterogeneous in space and time. Optically thick clouds had high tops and were associated with low pressure systems and airmasses advected from the south. Clouds of moderate thickness were the most prevalent. Cloud-free skies were most often colocated with high pressure. The central Arctic was cloudest, whereas the Canadian Archipelago was least cloudy. Overall, thick clouds were considerably less common than in earlier analyses drawn from ground and drifting station data. Cloud-free episodes throughout the basin persisted long enough to significantly affect the surface radiation budget and the dissipation of snow and ice. Our results indicate that climate models which attempt to assess the impact of CO/sub 2/ on the radiation budget in the high latitudes should take into account the heterogeneity of cloud extent, thickness and height in the Arctic Basin. 28 refs., 45 figs., 3 tabs.

• Research Organization: Columbia Univ., Palisades, NY (USA). Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-81EV10665
• OSTI ID: 5257877
• Report Number(s): DOE/EV/10665-6; ON: DE86000729
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500100* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Basic Studies-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ARCTIC REGIONS
ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE
CLOUDS
DATA
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
INFORMATION
NUMERICAL DATA
POLAR REGIONS
VARIATIONS