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Annual cycles of pressure, temperature, absolute humidity and precipitable water from the radiosoundings performed at Dome C, Antarctica, over the 2005–2009 period

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2012

Claudio Tomasi ,
Boyan H. Petkov  and
Elena Benedetti
Claudio Tomasi*
Affiliation:
Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), via Gobetti 101, I-40129 Bologna, Italy
Boyan H. Petkov
Affiliation:
Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), via Gobetti 101, I-40129 Bologna, Italy International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Strada Costiera 11, I-34014 Trieste, Italy
Elena Benedetti
Affiliation:
Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), via Gobetti 101, I-40129 Bologna, Italy
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

A four-year set of vertical profiles of pressure, temperature and relative humidity derived from 1113 radiosoundings performed at Dome C (Antarctica) at 12h00 UT of each day, from late March 2005 to the end of March 2009, was examined by following a complex procedure for removing the most important lag errors and dry biases from the temperature and moisture data. The analysis provides evidence of annual cycles over the four years, characterizing the pressure and temperature conditions at the surface and at the various troposphere and low stratosphere levels, with maxima in summer and wide minima in winter for both parameters. Specific studies of the thermal parameters characterizing the ground layer and the tropopause region are also presented to describe their annual average variations. The analysis of moisture parameters indicates that absolute humidity varies regularly with season within the low troposphere, presenting well marked peaks in the summer months. Consequently, precipitable water was found to vary regularly during the year, from values of 0.2–0.4 mm in the winter to more than 0.6 mm in summer. The main year-to-year variations characterizing the monthly mean vertical profiles of pressure, temperature and moisture parameters are also described.

Keywords

Antarctic tropopauseatmospheric waterradiosonde dataseasonal temperaturestemperature inversion
Type
Physical Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 24 , Issue 6 , December 2012 , pp. 637 - 658
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2012

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