Research project: High-resolution temperature measurements: investigations of ocean-atmosphere turbulent exchange in the course of the EUREC4A-ATOMIC campaign.
Project leader: prof. dr hab. Szymon P. Malinowski
Funding institution:Narodowe Centrum Nauki, HARMONIA
Realization period: April 17, 2019 - April 16, 2023
Project description: EUREC4A /ATOMIC is a European-American (EU-US) research project, part of which is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in partnership with the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). It aims to fill gaps in our knowledge of convective clouds and their role in the climate system. Uncertainties related to the possible behaviour of clouds in the future climate are one of the greatest uncertainties in climate projections. The project aims to better understand the organisation and development of clouds, in particular the role of the ocean surface processes governing convection in the atmosphere.
Within the framework of this project, a Polish partner - a team from the Institute of Geophysics of the University of Warsaw and the Institute of Geophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences joined the international group of researchers participating in EUREC4A/ATOMIC. The measurements conducted by our team in synergy with other research groups enrich the knowledge about the atmosphere-ocean interactions, in particular about the heat fluxes that drive convection processes.
This task requires detailed information on the transport processes (turbulence) on both sides of the ocean surface. While many of the groups involved in the project are conducting measurements over large areas with moderate spatial resolution, high-resolution measurements are under-represented in the project. Our contribution to EUREC4A/ATOMIC is measurements in a limited area, but with very high spatial and temporal resolution to better understand the mechanisms of turbulence transport at the ocean-atmosphere boundary as well as cloud mixing processes.
In particular, the ultra-fast UFT family thermometers (developed at the Institute of Geophysics of the University of Warsaw) were installed on a British research aircraft operating from the island of Barbados and on a German tethered balloon released from a METEOR research vessel. Measurements of temperature fluctuations with centimeter resolution help to better understand the processes of cloud formation, evolution, and disappearance.
It was also planned to use a small four-rotor drone, remotely controlled from the ship's deck, to measure temperature and humidity profiles in the atmosphere, as well as water surface temperature and even temperature profiles in a five-meter layer just below the ocean surface. The latter measurement is made with a small thermometer suspended under a drone on a thin line.
In addition, measurements of atmospheric aerosol-condensation nuclei necessary to create clouds were conducted using miniature optical particle counters. Other research groups were supported in ocean profiling, data analysis, and joint detailed planning of each day of the campaign. As a result, all measurements are coordinated with hundreds of other measurements conducted by over 70 research groups participating in the EUREC4A/ATOMIC campaign.
Dataset: High-resolution temperature measurement (zipped .bin files) taken with the Ultra-Fast Thermometer 2.0 (UFT-2) during a measurement campaign in Barbados from 24 JAN 2020 to 05 FEB 2020 as part of the EUREC4A/ATOMIC research project. Description of the data (.excl file) includes file name, date, time, instrument, max altitude, max and min latitude, and max and min longitude. The data is raw (Volts), before calibration.
(2023-06-20)
