Abstract
Dumont d'Urville, on the Antarctic coast, is an area well known for the presence of strong katabatic winds blowing from the Antarctic plateau toward the sea almost all year. Since January 1993, a three-axis Doppler sodar has been operating in this area to investigate the variability of the boundary layer structure and dynamics. In this paper, the capabilities, behavior and advantages of using this ground-based remote-sensing system in Antarctica are evaluated after one year of measurements. This instrument may play an important role in boundary layer studies in remote regions where other profiling techniques (e.g., kitoons, slow ascent balloons) are difficult and expensive. All year long, except in summer when the signal-to-noise ratio was dramatically reduced by the noise of a large group of Adelie penguins, reliable measurements were available up to 900 m. The reliability of the vertical wind velocity has been checked and the influence of the local topography on the flow pattern has been evaluated. Some preliminary results regarding the statistical analysis of the horizontal and vertical velocities and an overview of the main physical processes are also shown. The statistical analysis of the wind speed shows that the wind blows from the 30 ° angular sectors centered at 90 °, 150 °, 180 °, and 0 °. The winds from 90 ° and 150 ° constitute the main local circulation and have, most of the time, the characteristics of a katabatic flow, whereas the winds blowing from 180 °, arising from the surface temperature difference between the sea and the land, are land breezes. Strong winds coming from the ocean (0 °), attributable to the inland penetration of depressions, have been observed in May, October, and November. Finally, some examples of the observed thermal structures, as depicted in the facsimile recording, are shown.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Argentini, S., Mastrantonio, G., Fiocco, G., and Ocone, R. (1992) Complexity of the wind field as observed by a sodar system and by automatic weather stations on the Nansen Ice Sheet, Antarctica, during summer 1988–89: Two cases studies. Tellus 44 B, 422–429.
Argentini, S., and Mastrantonio, G. (1994) Barrier winds recorded during two summer campaigns and their interaction with the katabatic flows as observed by a triaxial Doppler sodar. Int. J. Remote Sensing 15, 455–466.
Argentini, S., Mastrantonio, G., Viola, A., Pettré, P., and Dargaud, G. (1994) One year measurements at Dumont d'Urville, Antarctica sodar performances. Proceedings of the 7th Symposium on Acoustic remote Sensing and Associates Techniques of the Atmosphere and Oceans 10.1–10.6 Boulder, Colorado, USA 3–7 October 1994.
Bromwich, D. H. (1989) Satellite analyses of Antarctic katabatic wind behaviour, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. 70, 738–749.
Bromwich, D. H., Parish, T. R., and Zorman, C. A. (1990) The confluence zone of the intense katabatic winds at Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica, as derived from airborne sastrugi survey and mesoscale numerical modelling. J. Geophys. Res. 95, 5495–5509.
Kodama, Y., Wendler, G., and Gosink, J. (1985) The effect of blowing snow on the katabatic wind in Antarctica. Ann. Glaciol. 6, 59–62.
Lettau, H., and Schwerdtfeger, W. (1967) Dynamics of the surface wind regime over the interior of Antarctica. Antarctic. J. U.S. 2(5), 155–158.
Manins, P.C., and Sawford, B.L. (1979) A model of katabatic winds, J. Atmos. Sci. 36, 619–630.
Mastrantonio, G., and Fiocco, G. (1982) Accuracy of wind velocity determinations with Doppler sodars. J. Appl. Met. 21, 820–830.
Mastrantonio, G., Fiocco, G., and Marzorati, A. (1986) Simultaneous operation of a sodar system in monostatic and bistatic modes: Preliminary results. Atmos. Res. 20, 213–223.
Mastrantonio, G., Argentini, S., and Viola, A. (1994a) A new PC-Based real time system to analyse sodar echoes. In Proceedings of 5th Workshop on “Italia research on Antarctic Atmosphere” 45, 227–235.
Mastrantonio, G., and Argentini, S. (1997; in press) A modular PC-Based multiband sodar system. In S. P. Singal (ed.), Acoustic Sounding and Applications.
Mastrantonio, G., Viola, A., Argentini, S., Fiocco, G., Giannini, L., Rossini, L., Abbate, G., Ocone, R., and Casonato, M. (1994b) Observations of sea breeze events in Rome and the surrounding area by a Network of Doppler sodars. Boundary Layer Meteorol. 71, 67–80.
Parish, T. (1981) The katabatic winds of Cape Denison and Port Martin. Polar Record 20, 525–532.
Parish, T. (1984) A numerical study of strong katabatic winds over Antarctica. Mon. Weather Rev. 112, 545–554.
Parish, T. R., and Bromwich, D. H. (1987) The surface wind field over the Antarctic ice sheets. Nature 328, 51–54.
Parish, T. R., and Bromwich, D.H. (1991) Continental-scale simulation of the Antarctic katabatic wind regime. J. of Climate 4, 135–146.
Parish, T. R. (1992) On the interaction between Antarctic katabatic winds and tropospheric motions in the high southern latitudes. Aust. Met. Mag. 40, 149–167.
Parish, T.R., Pettré, P., and Wendler, G. (1993) The influence of large-scale forcing on the katabatic wind regime at Adelie Land, Antarctica. Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics 51, 165–176.
Périad, C., and Pettré, P. (1993) Some aspects of the climatology of Dumont D'Urville, Adélie land, Antarctica. Int. J. Climatol. 13, 313–327.
Pettré, P., and André, J. C. (1991) Surface-pressure change through Loewe's phenomena and katabatic flow jumps: Study of two cases in Adélie land, Antarctica. J. Atmos. Sci. 48, 557–571.
Pettré, P., Payan, C., and Parish, T. R. (1993) Interaction of katabatic flow with local thermal effect in a region of Adelie Land. J. Geophys. Res. 98 D6, 10429–10440.
Sorbjan, Z., Kodama, Y., and Wendler, G. (1986) Observational study of the atmospheric boundary layer over Antarctica. J. Climat. and Appl. Meteor. 25, 641–651.
Stull, R. B. (1988) An Introduction to Boundary Layer Meteorology, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 666 pp.
Wendler, G., André, J. C., Pettré, P., and Gosink, J. (1993) Katabatic winds in Adelie Land. In D. Bromwich and C. Stearns (eds.), Automatic Weather Stations, Antarct. Res. Ser., Washington, D. C.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Argentini, S., Mastrantonio, G., Viola, A. et al. Sodar performance and preliminary results after one year of measurements at Adelie land coast, east Antarctica. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 81, 75–103 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00119401
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00119401