Arctic climate changes faster than anywhere else on Earth. One of the clearest signs is the rapid decline of the summer sea ice. This melt is critically dependent on the surface energy balance. Persistent low-level stratus clouds in the Arctic exert an efficient control on the radiation balance at the surface. If these clouds were to change, in character or extent, this could therefore alter the climate in the Arctic. However, we do not fully understand what controls clouds in the Arctic and as long as we do not, we cannot be specific about the future climate in the Arctic. ASCOS will contribute to enhance this knowledge.
This seminar talk will be presented by Dr Barbara J. Brooks, Aerosol Facilities Manager at the Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science, University Leeds. She will give us a brief overview of the Arctic Summer Cloud Ocean Study, a campaign of NASA and the Swedish Polar Research Secretariate. During the past two weeks the NASA DC-10 research aircraft has been in Kiruna in order to study the summer clouds over the Arctic ocean. Flights are performed towards the North Pole passing the Swedish icebreaker Oden. The data collected by the Oden research team will be compared to the data collected onboard the NASA aircraft.
Created 2008-08-26 10:57:42 by Mats Holmström Last changed 2008-08-26 12:25:28 by Mats Holmström
