Evaluation of methods to determine the surface mixing layer height of the atmospheric boundary layer in the central Arctic during polar night and transition to polar day in cloudless and cloudy conditions

Akansu, Elisa F.; Dahlke, Sandro; Siebert, Holger; Wendisch, Manfred

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15473-2023

Articles | Volume 23, issue 24

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15473-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15473-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 23, issue 24

Research article

|

19 Dec 2023

Research article |

| 19 Dec 2023

Evaluation of methods to determine the surface mixing layer height of the atmospheric boundary layer in the central Arctic during polar night and transition to polar day in cloudless and cloudy conditions

Elisa F. Akansu, Sandro Dahlke, Holger Siebert, and Manfred Wendisch

Data sets

Tethered balloon-borne measurements of turbulence during the MOSAiC expedition from December 2019 to May 2020 E. F. Akansu, H. Siebert, S. Dahlke, J. Graeser, R. Jaiser, and A. Sommerfeld https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.962309

MOSAiC radiosonde data (level~3) M. Maturilli, M. Sommer, D. J. Holdridge, S. Dahlke, J. Graeser, A. Sommerfeld, R. Jaiser, H. Deckelmann, and A. Schulz https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.943870

Total Sky Imager observations during POLARSTERN cruise PS122/1, Troms{\o} to the northerns part of the Arctic Ocean R. Engelmann, H. Griesche, M. Radenz, J. Hofer, D. Althausen, A. Macke and R. Hengst https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.952150

Total Sky Imager observations during POLARSTERN cruise PS122/2, Arctic Ocean to Arctic Ocean R. Engelmann, H. Griesche, M. Radenz, J. Hofer, D. Althausen, A. Macke and R. Hengst https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.954038

Total Sky Imager observations during POLARSTERN cruise PS122/3, Arctic Ocean -- Longyearbyen R. Engelmann, H. Griesche, M. Radenz, J. Hofer, D. Althausen, A. Macke and R. Hengst https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.954218

Visual panoramic photographs of the surface conditions during the MOSAiC campaign 2019/20 M. Nicolaus, S. Arndt, G. Birnbaum and C. Katlein https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.938534

Met City meteorological and surface flux measurements (Level 2 Processed), Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC), central Arctic, October 2019--September 2020 C. Cox, M. Gallagher, M. Shupe, O. Persson, B. Blomquist, A. Grachev, L. Riihimaki, M. Kutchenreiter, V. Morris, A. Solomon, I. Brooks, D. Costa, D. Gottas, J. Hutchings, J. Osborn, S. Morris, A. Preusser and T. Uttal https://doi.org/10.18739/A2TM7227K

Short summary

The height of the mixing layer is an important measure of the surface-level distribution of energy or other substances. The experimental determination of this height is associated with large uncertainties, particularly under stable conditions that we often find during the polar night or in the presence of clouds. We present a reference method using turbulence measurements on a tethered balloon, which allows us to evaluate approaches based on radiosondes or surface observations.