The Iqaluit Calibration/Validation Supersite in Canada’s Arctic Z. Mariani, S. Melo, G. Gascon, P. Rodriguez, K. Strawbridge, P. Joe, D. Hudak Environment and Climate Change Canada, Government of Canada Weather information has significantly grown in importance to safeguard the health and well-being of local communities and residents in the northern areas of Canada • Fast warming of the region allows for economical exploitation of natural resources, opening of the Northwest Passage, increased flights, and widespread economic and population growth in the Arctic • Changes in climate are a challenge for local hunter-gatherer communities as their traditional weather references become less applicable Canadian Arctic Weather Science (CAWS) Sites: • Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) is establishing special observing sites in the Canadian Arctic • Iqaluit (64oN, 69oW) is a super-site with active technologies for profiling and mapping Arctic weather • Currently testing new technologies in the context of an Integrated Observing System concept (surface, remote ground- based sensing, satellite) and satellite calibration/validation (cal/val) for ADM-Aeolus, A-Train, EarthCARE, and GPM The project focusses on two locations, Iqaluit and Whitehorse, to cover eastern and western regions of Canada • Among the tested instruments, there are different frequency weather radars, ceilometers, and Lidar systems Integrating satellite and ground-based instrumentation • CAWS sites provide ground-based validation and quality control of meteorological satellite data over the Arctic, a critical step to enable ingestion of satellite data into numerical weather prediction systems • Satellites of primary interest are the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Global Precipitation Mission (GPM), which carries a combination of radar and passive sensors to measure precipitation from space, and the European Space Agency’s ADM-Aeolus, which is designed to measure wind profiles from space.
GROUND-BASED SITES ADM-AEOLUS CAL/VAL There is a demonstrated need for ground-based calibration/validation sites in the Arctic. The Iqaluit site will serve as a super-site for ongoing cal/val of ADM-Aeolus’ Doppler wind and aerosol observations from space:
1) Detailed wind, cloud microphysics, and aerosol
A measurements allowing validation during B A blowing snow and light precipitation events B 2) Analysis of ground-return signal over Arctic terrain 3) Coordination with complementary sites to Shipping routes used in the Canadian Arctic Common Arctic weather systems increase synergy with other Arctic
meteorological observations A. IQALUIT 4) Aircraft cal/val field campaign studies The suite of instruments provides near-real time observations of altitude ADM-Aeolus overpasses near
resolved winds, aerosols, fog, cloud intensity and height, sensible heat flux, the Iqaluit site turbulence, water vapour, particle type, & precipitation amount and type in WIND AND AEROSOL OBSERVATIONS AT IQALUIT the troposphere in Canada’s Arctic. OBSERVATIONS OF STRATIFIED WIND LAYERS
Doppler Lidar detected blowing snow Ka-Radar detected blowing snow and 7 wind layers
(PPI scan; left) and stratified wind layers below 4 km at the same time as the Lidar. Doppler (RHI Doppler velocity scan; right) with velocities from the Ka-Radar PPI scan (left) and RHI
alternating wind directions during a scan (right) are shown. blizzard on March 19.
HIGH-RESOLUTION WIND PROFILE MEASUREMENTS
Doppler Lidar horizontal Aerosol Lidar surface (PPI) Doppler velocity Photo:: Daniel Coulombe at Iqaluit scan of the Iqaluit region Date of Temporal/geographic Instrumentc Manufacturer Operation Measurement(s) Deployment resolution Preliminary comparisons between Particle Imaging 380 frame/s grey-scale camera with Particle imagery, DSD, precip. rate and density NASA/Wallops Sept. 2014 1 min / surface obs. only radiosonde (every 12-hr) and Doppler Probe (PIP) back-lighting estimation Campbell 3 Cameras Sept. 2015 High-resolution images of the site Ka-Radar, Lidar, and Sky-view images 5 min / 1080p Lidar (pictured above; every 5-min) Scientific Scanning pulsed dual-polarization Line-of-sight wind speed and direction, cloud & fog 10 min / 10 m res. up to ~25km wind profile observations indicate good Ka-Band Radar METEK Sept. 2015 Doppler Radar backscatter, depolarization ratio range agreement Cloud intensity, cloud octa and height, aerosol profiles, 5 min / 5 m vert res. up to 7.5 Ceilometer VAISALA Sept. 2015 Pulsed (8 kHz) diode laser Lidar MLH km a.g.l. 3 min / 10 m vert. res. up to 10 Radiometer Radiometrics Sept. 2015 Profiling microwave radiometer Profiles of T, RH, dew point T, vapor density km a.g.l. PWD 52 Visibility EROSOL ROFILES ROM ULTIPLE IDARS AND AVELENGTHS VAISALA Sept. 2015 Forward-scatter measurement Visibility, precipitation type 1 min / surface obs. only A P F M L W Sensor Pulsed (10 kHz) scanning at 1.5 µm Line-of-sight wind speed and direction, aerosol 5 min / 3 m res. up to ~5 km Doppler Lidar HALO Sept. 2015 (Mie scattering) backscatter, depolarization ratio range Surface met obs. Misc. Ongoing Misc. Surface T, RH, pressure, winds, precipitation 1 min / surface obs. only 12 hours / ~15 m res. up to ~30 Radiosondes VAISALA Ongoing Standard Profiles of T, RH, pressure, winds km a.g.l. Automated pivoting camera provides images in all 4k Pantilt Camera Axis Oct. 2016 High-resolution images of the site 5 min / 4k directions 355/532/1064 nm transmitter & 6 Aerosol and water vapour profiles; particle size and 1 min / 3 m res. up to ~15 km Aerosol LiDAR N/A Oct. 2016 ch. receiver shape information a.g.l. Pulsed (10 kHz) scanning at 1.5 µm Line-of-sight wind speed and direction, aerosol 5 min / 3 m res. up to ~5 km 2nd Doppler Lidar HALO June 2017 (Mie scattering) backscatter, depolarization ratio range Large-aperture optical Scintillometer (x2) Scintec June 2017 Turbulence, crosswind, heat flux 5 min / max 6 km path length transmitter/receiver Fog Measuring Device TBD June 2017 Fog sensor Fog intensity, water vapour at surface TBD (FMD) Far-IR Radiometer Zenith/Nadir-viewing infrared Thin-ice clouds’ water structure, downwelling radiation, INO June 2017 10 min / NA (FIRR) radiometer and cloud microphysics Scanning pulsed dual-polarization 10 min / 125 m res. up to ~40 X-Band Radar Selex July 2017 Cloud backscatter, winds, and precipitation Doppler Radar km Surface radiation August 2017 Surface radiation sensors (diffuse Short- and long-wave up- and downwelling radiation TBD TBD fluxes and direct) Aerosol Lidar 3-wavelength ( ) backscatter observations (right) on December August 2017 Profiles of aerosols, T, RH, 24-hr water vapour including 355 nm Blue Wolf Lidar Blue Wolf Pulsed Lidar system TBD 3, 2016 and typical aerosol backscatter observations (right).
B. WHITEHORSE A smaller subset of instrumentations are being installed in this mountainous terrain, sub-Arctic site, including an X-band Radar.
Date of Temporal/geographic Instrument Manufacturer Operation Measurement(s) Deployment resolution Campbell 2 Cameras Dec. 2016 High-resolution images of the site X-band Radar and Lidar images 5 min / 1080p Scientific Scanning pulsed dual-polarization 10 min / 125 m res. up to X-Band Radar Selex Dec. 2016 Cloud backscatter, winds, and precipitation Doppler Radar ~35km Pulsed (10 kHz) scanning at 1.5 Line-of-sight wind speed and direction, aerosol 5 min / 3 m res. up to ~5 km Doppler Lidar HALO April 2017 µm (Mie scattering) backscatter, depolarization ratio range Fog Measuring Device TBD May 2017 Fog sensor Fog intensity, water vapour at surface TBD (FMD) Cloud intensity, cloud octa and height, aerosol profiles, 5 min / 5 m vert res. up to 7.5 Ceilometer VAISALA May 2017 Pulsed (8 kHz) diode laser Lidar MLH km a.g.l.
PWD 52 Visibility VAISALA May 2017 Forward-scatter measurement Visibility, precipitation type 1 min / surface obs. only Sensor (x2) Vaisala Ceilometer cloud detection algorithm (left) and backscatter profiles (right) showing
blowing snow layer altitude and thickness (A) and a cloud layer (B)
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