remote sensing Article Observation of Cloud Base Height and Precipitation Characteristics at a Polar Site Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard Using Ground-Based Remote Sensing and Model Reanalysis Acharya Asutosh 1,2,*, Sourav Chatterjee 1,3 , M.P. Subeesh 1, Athulya Radhakrishnan 1 and Nuncio Murukesh 1 1 National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Goa 403804, India;
[email protected] (S.C.);
[email protected] (M.P.S.);
[email protected] (A.R.);
[email protected] (N.M.) 2 Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 752050, India 3 School of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Goa University, Goa 403206, India * Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract: Clouds play a significant role in regulating the Arctic climate and water cycle due to their impacts on radiative balance through various complex feedback processes. However, there are still large discrepancies in satellite and numerical model-derived cloud datasets over the Arctic region due to a lack of observations. Here, we report observations of cloud base height (CBH) characteristics measured using a Vaisala CL51 ceilometer at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard. The study highlights the monthly and seasonal CBH characteristics at the location. It is found that almost 40% of the lowest Citation: Asutosh, A.; Chatterjee, S.; CBHs fall within a height range of 0.5–1 km. The second and third cloud bases that could be detected Subeesh, M.P.; Radhakrishnan, A.; by the ceilometer are mostly concentrated below 3 km during summer but possess more vertical Murukesh, N. Observation of Cloud spread during the winter season. Thin and low-level clouds appear to be dominant during the Base Height and Precipitation summer.