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Polar Stratospheric Cloud Observations at Concordia Station by Remotely Controlled Lidar Observatory

Authors :
Luca Di Liberto
Francesco Colao
Federico Serva
Alessandro Bracci
Francesco Cairo
Marcel Snels
Source :
Remote Sensing, Vol 16, Iss 12, p 2228 (2024)
Publication Year :
2024
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2024.

Abstract

Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) form in polar regions, typically between 15 and 25 km above mean sea level, when the local temperature is sufficiently low. PSCs play an important role in the ozone chemistry and the dehydration and denitrification of the stratosphere. Lidars with a depolarization channel may be used to detect and classify different classes of PSCs. The main PSC classes are water ice, nitric acid trihydrate (NAT), and supercooled ternary solutions (STSs), the latter being liquid droplets consisting of water, nitric acid, and sulfuric acid. PSCs have been observed at the lidar observatory at Concordia Station from 2014 onward. The harsh environmental conditions at Concordia during winter render successful lidar operation difficult. To facilitate the operation of the observatory, several measures have been put in place to achieve an almost complete remote control of the system. PSC occurrence is strongly correlated with local temperatures and is affected by dynamics, as the PSC coverage during the observation season shows. PSC observations in 2021 are shown as an example of the capability and functionality of the lidar observatory. A comparison of the observations with the satellite-borne CALIOP (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization) lidar has been made to demonstrate the quality of the data and their representativeness for the Antarctic Plateau.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20724292
Volume :
16
Issue :
12
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Remote Sensing
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.bcff863c9e964b098b44762c7a922fe0
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16122228