Enhanced automated meteorological observations at the Canadian Arctic Weather Science (CAWS) supersites

[摘要] The changing Arctic climate is creating increasedeconomic, transportation, and recreational activities requiring reliable andrelevant weather information. However, the Canadian Arctic is sparselyobserved, and processes governing weather systems in the Arctic are not well understood. There is a recognized lack of meteorological data tocharacterize the Arctic atmosphere for operational forecasting and tosupport process studies, satellite calibration/validation, search and rescueoperations (which are increasing in the region), high-impact weather (HIW) detection and prediction, and numerical weather prediction (NWP) modelverification and evaluation. To address this need, Environment and ClimateChange Canada commissioned two supersites, one in Iqaluit (63.74 ∘  N, 68.51 ∘  W) in September 2015 and the other in Whitehorse (60.71 ∘  N,135.07 ∘  W) in November 2017 as part of the Canadian Arctic WeatherScience (CAWS) project. The primary goals of CAWS are to provide enhancedmeteorological observations in the Canadian Arctic for HIW nowcasting(short-range forecast) and NWP model verification, evaluation, and processstudies and to provide recommendations on the optimal cost-effective observing system for the Canadian Arctic. Both sites are inprovincial/territorial capitals and are economic hubs for the region; they also act as transportation gateways to the north and are in the path ofseveral common Arctic storm tracks. The supersites are located at or next tomajor airports and existing Meteorological Service of Canada ground-basedweather stations that provide standard meteorological surface observationsand upper-air radiosonde observations; they are also uniquely situated in close proximity to frequent overpasses by polar-orbiting satellites. Thesuite of in situ and remote sensing instruments at each site is completely automated (no on-site operator) and operates continuously in all weather conditions, providing near-real-time data to operational weather forecasters, the public, and researchers via obrs.ca. The two sites havesimilar instruments, including mobile Doppler weather radars, multiplevertically profiling and/or scanning lidars (Doppler, ceilometer, water vapour), optical disdrometers, precipitation gauges in different shieldedconfigurations, present weather sensors, fog monitoring devices, radiationflux sensors, and other meteorological instruments. Details on the twosupersites, the suites of instruments deployed, the data collection methods, and example case studies of HIW events are discussed. CAWS data are publicly accessible via the Canadian Government Open Data Portal ( https://doi.org/10.18164/ff771396-b22c-4bc3-844d-38fc697049e9 , Mariani etal., 2022a, and https://doi.org/10.18164/d92ed3cf-4ba0-4473-beec-357ec45b0e78 , Mariani etal., 2022b); this dataset is being used to improve our understanding ofsynoptic and fine-scale meteorological processes in the Arctic andsub-Arctic, including HIW detection and prediction and NWP verification,assimilation, and processes.

[学科分类] 眼科学