Storm Studies in the Arctic (STAR) Data Report Shannon Fargey1, John Hanesiak1, George Liu1, Ronald Stewart1, Klaus Hochheim1, Mark Gordon2, Peter Taylor2, William Henson3, Alex LaPlante3, Gordon McBean4, Walter Strapp5, Zlatko Vukovic5, Mengistu Wolde 6 1Centre for Earth Observation Science (CEOS), Department of Environment and Geography, University of Manitoba 2Centre for Research in Earth and Space Science, York University 3Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Dept., McGill University 4Geography Department, University of Western Ontario 5Cloud Physics and Severe Weather Research Section, Environment Canada 6Convair Facility Flight Research Laboratory Institute for Aerospace Research National, Research Council Canada Centre for Earth Observation Science (CEOS) University of Manitoba March 2011 Table of Contents i. STAR Data Access Policy................................................................................................. v i.i. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................v i.ii. REQUESTS FROM STAR INVESTIGATORS........................................................................v i.ii.i. Special STAR Datasets .....................................................................................................................v i.ii.ii. Operational Datasets [MSC Climate Datasets]....................................................................vi i.iii. REQUESTS FROM NON­PARTICIPANTS .........................................................................vi i.iii.i. Special STAR Datasets...................................................................................................................vi i.iii.ii. Operational Datasets [EC/MSC Climate Datasets]...........................................................vi i.iv. REQUESTS FROM COMMERCIAL ENTITIES...................................................................vi i.v. REQUESTS FROM OTHER NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL GROUPS ............... vii i.vi. DATA ACKNOWLEDGMENT ............................................................................................. vii i.vii. DEFINITIONS....................................................................................................................... vii i.vii.i. STAR Dataset.................................................................................................................................. vii i.vii.ii. STAR Co‐Investigator (Co‐I)................................................................................................... vii i.vii.iii. STAR Collaborator (Collaborator)...................................................................................... vii i.vii.iv. STAR Partner ..............................................................................................................................viii i.vii.v. Non‐Participant...........................................................................................................................viii i.viii. Appendix............................................................................................................................viii ii. STAR Data Policy.............................................................................................................ix iii. STAR Data Documentation Guidelines.................................................................... x iii.i. STAR Observational Data Documentation Guidelines..............................................x iii.ii. STAR Model Data Documentation Guidelines...........................................................xi 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................1 1.1 Study Site Description...........................................................................................................1 1.1.1 Geography ...........................................................................................................................................1 1.1.2 Sampling Locations .........................................................................................................................3 1.2 Intensive Observation Periods (IOPs).............................................................................3 2 Instrumentation................................................................................................................5 2.1 National Research Council Research Aircraft...............................................................8 2.1.1 Research Objective Flight Summary.....................................................................................15 2.1.2 Aircraft data.....................................................................................................................................18 2.2 Upper Air Observations..................................................................................................... 55 2.2.1 Iqaluit, NU.........................................................................................................................................55 2.2.2 Pangnirtung, NU ............................................................................................................................58 2.2.3 Other stations surrounding Iqaluit........................................................................................59 2.3 Remotely Sensed Observation ........................................................................................ 60 2.3.1 X‐band Surface Doppler RADAR.............................................................................................60 2.3.2 Passive Microwave Radiometer..............................................................................................62 2.3.3 Doppler SODAR..............................................................................................................................63 2.4 Automatic Weather Stations............................................................................................ 64 2.4.1 Southern Baffin Island Mesonet .............................................................................................64 2.4.2 Instrumentation of the Mesonet.............................................................................................71 2.4.3 Pangnirtung Automatic Weather Station ...........................................................................72 2.5 Special Surface Observations .......................................................................................... 74 2.5.1 Precipitation Measurements....................................................................................................74 2.5.2 Visibility Sensors...........................................................................................................................79 ii 2.5.3 5‐Minute Camera Stills ...............................................................................................................82 2.5.4 Blowing Snow Observations ....................................................................................................84 2.6 Sea­ice Observations .......................................................................................................... 87 2.6.1 Sea‐Ice Meteorological Station................................................................................................87 2.6.2 Ice Drift Beacons............................................................................................................................91 2.7 Archived Images and Model Outputs............................................................................ 92 2.7.1 NOAA HRPT satellite imagery over Baffin Island............................................................92 2.7.2 Weather charts from Canadian Meteorological Centre‐Environment Canada...92 2.7.3 Surface Observations...................................................................................................................96 2.7.4 Ocean Surface Winds Derived from QuickSCAT. The domain covers regions surrounding Baffin Island.........................................................................................................................99 2.7.5 Model surface analysis, wind cross‐sections and weather analysis charts. ..... 100 2.7.6 Sea‐ice daily analysis charts for Hudson strait & Davis Strait................................ 102 2.7.7 Vizaweb images .......................................................................................................................... 103 2.7.8 GEM‐Regional model forecast .............................................................................................. 104 2.7.9 MODIS ............................................................................................................................................. 105 2.8 CloudSat................................................................................................................................107 2.8.1 CloudSat data ............................................................................................................................... 110 References ............................................................................................................................112 Appendix A – Field Notes..................................................................................................113 Appendix B: Abbreviated Station name reference..................................................116 Appendix C – Flight Notes from STAR