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Direct near-surface measurements of sensible heat fluxes in the Arctic tundra applying eddy covariance and laser scintillometry—the Arctic Turbulence Experiment 2006 on Svalbard (ARCTEX-2006)

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Abstract

Recent climate warming in the Arctic requires improvements in permafrost and carbon cycle monitoring, accomplished here by setting up long-term observation sites with high-quality in situ measurements of turbulent atmospheric energy fluxes applying the eddy covariance method and/or laser scintillometry in Arctic landscapes. Accurate quantification and well-adapted parameterizations of turbulent energy fluxes, e.g., during neutral to stable stratified conditions, are a fundamental problem in soil–snow–ice–vegetation–atmosphere interaction studies. We present results from the Arctic Turbulence Experiment (ARCTEX-2006) performed on the island of Svalbard, Norway, during the winter/spring transition 2006 that focus on data correction and quality assessment, on synoptic weather conditions, as well as site-specific micrometeorological features. A quality assessment and data correction adapted to the environmental conditions of polar regions demonstrates that specific measurement errors common at a high Arctic landscape could be minimized. We discuss the role of the intermittency of the turbulent atmospheric fluctuation of momentum and scalars, the existence of a disturbed vertical temperature profile (sharp inversion layer) close to the surface, and the relevance of possible free convection events for the snow or ice melt in the Arctic spring at Svalbard. Recommendations and improvements regarding the interpretation of eddy flux data as well as the arrangement of the instrumentation under polar distinct exchange conditions and (extreme) weather situations are presented.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank all of those from the French-German Arctic Research Base led by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and the Institut polaire français Paul Émile Victor (IPEV) for their efforts to succeed with the ARCTEX-2006 campaign, especially the station leader Rainer Vockenroth. We also appreciated the logistic support of the staff of the Kingsbay Company at Ny-Ålesund. Very welcome was the major support and wise counsel of Prof. Dr. Thomas Foken, head of the Department of Micrometeorology, University of Bayreuth. Many thanks go also to Jo Olesch (technical support) and to Prof. Dr. Alfred Helbig. This study was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft under reference no. DFG-FO 226/11-1.

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  1. Department of Micrometeorology, University of Bayreuth, 95440, Bayreuth, Germany

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Lüers, J., Bareiss, J. Direct near-surface measurements of sensible heat fluxes in the Arctic tundra applying eddy covariance and laser scintillometry—the Arctic Turbulence Experiment 2006 on Svalbard (ARCTEX-2006). Theor Appl Climatol 105, 387–402 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-011-0400-5

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