Radiation Climatology at Plateau Station Meteorological
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Radiation Climatology at will be added to this battery of instruments in the Plateau Station coming year. It is expected that the total global and shortwave radiation for the midsummer months of December PAUL C. DALRYMPLE and LEANDER A. STROSCHEIN 1966 and January 1967 will reach new highs. On January 10, 1967, Kuhn, using the Kipp normal in- Earth Sciences Laboratory cident pyrheliometer with filters, obtained a series of U.S. Arm y Natick Laboratories readings which resulted in a computed value of 1.76 cal/cm2/min. If this is substantiated after re- The U.S. Army Natick Laboratories (NLABS) calibration of the instrument, it will be the highest conducted a radiation climatology program at Pla- known value ever obtained on Earth for normal in- teau Station throughout the 1966 winter. Mr. Mar- cident radiation. tin Sponholz, of the U.S. Weather Bureau, ESSA, was responsible for the maintenance of the instru- mentation, which Mr. Leander Stroschein of Meteorological Observations at NLABS installed during the 1965-1966 austral Palmer Station, 1965-1966 summer. Continuous measurements were made throughout the year of net and total global radia- ARTHUR S. RUNDLE tion and, throughout days with sunshine, of short- Institute of Polar Studies wave and reflected shortwave radiation. The net Ohio State University and total global radiation were measured with the so-called Funk radiometer, made in Australia, and A program of surface meteorological observations the shortwave and reflected-shortwave radiation has been conducted in conjunction with a glaciologi- were recorded by Kipp solarimeters, made in Hol- cal program at Palmer Station, Anvers Island, since land. Continuous strip-chart recordings were made February 1, 1965. These observations are cur- throughout the year, with the exception of a short rently being analyzed, and a two-volume report is period in July and August 1966 when the main gen- being prepared for publication. erator at the station was inoperative. Palmer Station is located at 64°4601"S. 64°04 NLABS has initiated a program to reduce all 39"W. and at an elevation of 15 m on Norsel Point, strip-chart data, and this should be completed by a small rocky peninsula on the northern side of the time this article is published. A computer pro- Arthur Harbor. Waters of the Gerlache and Bis- gram is being prepared to handle the radiation marck Straits and the open ocean lie adjacent to climatology data, monthly summaries of which will Norsel Point from the south through west to be available by the end of 1967. The analysis northwest. From the northwest through east to program, a joint effort of ESSA and NLABS, in- south, the station is backed by the Anvers Island ice volves the application of some data on inversions cap, which rises to an altitude of 850 m. To the obtained by radiometersondes. The collection of east, at a distance of 23 km, the mountains of data at Plateau, which will continue through 1968, Anvers Island rise to 3,000 m. is now being carried on by Mike Kuhn of the Uni- versity of Innsbruck. Table 1. Meteorological instruments operated at In addition to the Funk and Kipp instruments in- Palmer Station stalled at Plateau, the first Davos-made four-com- ponent radiation balance meter was put in opera- Height Operated Instrument tion there by Kuhn during the 1966-1967 austral (feet) summer. This is the first instrument placed in Maximum thermometer, liquid-in-glass (Wexler) ..,..., 6 Minimum thermometer, liquid-in-glass (Wexler) 6 Antarctica that has comparable thermopiles which Exposed Spirit thermometer, liquid-in-glass (Wexler) 6 enable it to measure both incoming and outgoing Psychrometer, liquid-in-glass (Wexler) 4 shortwave and longwave radiation. A comparison Thermograph, 7-day (Bendix Friez) 5 Hygrothermograph, 7-day (Bendix Friez) .............................. 5 will he made between the Funk, Kipp, and Davos Anemometer, portable (U.S. Navy) ....................................... 7 radiometers to determine their relative merits. In Wind recorder, mechanical, 31-day (Lambrecht model 1482) ......................................................... 30 addition, the University of Melbourne installed a se- Barograph, 4-day (Bendix Friez) 5 ries of radiometers in the snow during the same Barometer, precision aneroid (Wallace and Tiernan) 5 austral summer. As a result, Plateau probably has Precipitation gauge, 8 inch, unshielded ................................ 3 Precipitation gauge, 12 inch, automatic weighing, the most complete set of devices for measuring radia- shielded, 7-day (Belfort Instrument Co.) ............................ 12 tion ever available at a high-latitude station. At Pyrhetiograph, 7-day (Belfort Instrument Co.) 3 least one new instrument, an ultraviolet radiometer, Standard U.S. Weather Bureau Equipment. September-October, 1967 159.