MACSSIMIZE - MACSSIMIZE: Measurements of Arctic Clouds, Snow, and Sea Ice nearby the Marginal Ice ZonE

From Friday 2nd March 2018 to Thursday 29th March 2018

Description

Project theme: A project within YOPP (Year Of Polar Prediction)

Scientific contact (PI) : Chawn Harlow

Project confirmed
Not Transnational Access project
Not open to training
Open to sharing

Planning and location

From Friday 2nd March 2018 (week 09) to Thursday 29th March 2018 (week 13)

Aircraft: BAe146 - FAAM

Season: Winter

Location: Fairbanks, Alaska, USA

Description of the experiment

Scientific objectives / Proposed work / Anticipated output

The overarching aims of this project will be to make the UK’s environmental prediction services for the polar regions world leading, through a better understanding of key physical processes and their improved representation within numerical weather and climate prediction systems. In so doing, improve environmental prediction globally via improved process representation and polar/mid-latitude linkages.

A major (~3 week) detachment to Fairbanks, Alaska, during March 2018. Refuels in Barrow or Inuvik to get further north. Targets are snow emissivity in conjunction with satellite overpasses and ground-based measurements of snow properties over land and sea ice; BL and surface exchange processes over sea-ice and the marginal-ice-zone; clouds, aerosols and radiative impacts on energy balance; orographic flows and gravity waves from the Brooks or Alaska mountain ranges;

Weather conditions: Clear air at low level

Flights (number and patterns): 50 hours science