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Surface energy balance, parameterizations of boundary-layer heights and the application of resistance laws near an Antarctic Ice Shelf front

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Abstract

A study of the surface energy balance with turbulent fluxes obtained by the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory and a comparison with results for resistance laws are presented for the strong baroclinic conditions in the vicinity of the Filchner/Ronne Ice Shelf front. The data are taken from a field experiment in the Antarctic summer season 1983/84. For the first time in the coastal Antarctic region, this data set comprises synchronous energy balance measurements over the polynya and the ice shelf together with soundings of the boundary layer, yielding vertical profiles of the wind velocity and temperature over the ice shelf, at the ice shelf front and over the polynya.

Over the ice shelf, the radiation balance is the largest component of the energy fluxes and is mainly compensated by the subsurface energy flux and the turbulent heat flux in the daily mean. Over the polynya, turbulent fluxes of sensible and latent heat lead to large energy losses of the water surface in the night-time and in situations of very low air temperatures.

Different parameterizations for boundary-layer height are compared using tethered sonde and energy balance measurements. With the height of the inversion base over the polynya and the height of the critical bulk Richardson number over the ice shelf, external parameters for the application of resistance laws were determined. The comparison of turbulent surface fluxes obtained by the energy balance measurements and by the resistance laws shows good agreement for the convective conditions over the polynya. For the stably stratified boundary layer over the ice shelf with small amounts of the turbulent heat flux, the deviation is large for the case of a cold air outflow with a superposed inertial oscillation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Meteorologisches Institut der Universität Bonn, 20, 5300, Auf dem Hügel, Bonn, F.R.G.

    G. Heinemann

  2. Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meeresforschung, 2850, Columbusstraβe, Bremerhaven, F.R.G.

    L. Rose

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  1. G. Heinemann
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Heinemann, G., Rose, L. Surface energy balance, parameterizations of boundary-layer heights and the application of resistance laws near an Antarctic Ice Shelf front. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 51, 123–158 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00120464

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