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A humidity climatology for Halley, Antarctica, based on frost-point hygrometer measurements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 May 2004

J.C. King
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK
P.S. Anderson
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK

Abstract

Measurements of humidity at a height of 4 m were made at Halley Research Station between 1995 and 1997 using a frost point hygrometer. Relative humidities were usually close to ice saturation, particularly during the winter, but ice supersaturations of up to 20% were frequently measured. Supersaturation with respect to liquid water was rarely observed. During the summer, diurnal variation in temperature drove a daily cycle in relative humidity, although corresponding variations in mixing ratio were comparatively small. It is suggested that the high frequency of ice supersaturations and almost total absence of water supersaturation results from the high abundance of condensation nuclei relative to ice nuclei.

Type
Papers—Earth Sciences and Glaciology
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 1999

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