Ice processes in Antarctica: Identification via multi-wavelength active and passive measurements and model evaluation

CHANGES OF CLOUD COVER AND RADIATIVE PROPERTIES OF ANTARCTIC CLOUDS CAN HAVE RIPPLE EFFECTS FOR THE GENERAL CIRCULATION OF THE ATMOSPHERE AND CAN CAUSE NOT YET THOROUGHLY UNDERSTOOD FEEDBACKS TO THE CLIMATE SYSTEM E.G. IN ENHANCING MELTING EVENTS. THE US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY DEPLOYMENT AT THE MCMURDO SITE ON THE SOUTHERN TIP OF ANTARCTICA S ROSS ICE SHELF DURING THE ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION MEASUREMENTS (ARM) WEST ANTARCTIC RADIATION EXPERIMENT (AWARE) FIELD CAMPAIGN OF AN UNPRECEDENTED NUMBER OF MULTI-WAVELENGTH ACTIVE AND PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS OFFERS THE UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY OF OVERCOMING THE SCARCITY OF CLOUD INFORMATION AT SOUTHERN HIGH LATITUDES AND OF UNRAVELLING STRUCTURES AND PROCESSES RELATED TO CLOUD AND PRECIPITATION PHYSICS AT HIGH TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL RESOLUTION. THIS PROJECT CONSISTS OF ANALYSIS AND APPLICATION OF DATA GATHERED DURING AWARE TO ACHIEVE THREE LINKED OBSERVATIONAL AND MODELING SCIENCE OBJECTIVES. (1) BY APPLYING A MODULAR OPTIMAL ESTIMATION (OE) ALGORITHM TO A COMBINATION OF LIDAR TRIPLE-FREQUENCY RADAR AND MICROWAVE RADIOMETER MEASUREMENTS FROM THE MCMURDO AWARE SITE WE WILL PRODUCE A SEAMLESS CLOUD PROPERTY CHARACTERIZATION FROM THE THINNEST SUPERCOOLED LIQUID OR ICE LAYERS TO THE THICKEST PRECIPITATING ICE. (2) WE WILL FOR THE FIRST TIME ADD TO THE OE ALGORITHM OUTPUTS AN IDENTIFICATION OF ACTIVE ICE PHYSICAL PROCESSES (VAPOR GROWTH/SUBLIMATION AGGREGATION RIMING ICE MULTIPLICATION) WITHIN THE SAME CLOUD MASK BY FULLY EXPLOITING MULTI-FREQUENCY DOPPLER SPECTRA. (3)WE WILL MAKE SYNERGISTIC USE OF THESE OBSERVATIONAL PRODUCTS TO EVALUATE AND IMPROVE NASA'S MODELE GENERAL CIRCULATION MODEL (GCM).