In Situ VTOL Drone-Borne Observations of Temperature and Relative Humidity over Dome C, Antarctica

Year: 2023

Authors: Ricaud P., Medina P., Durand P., Attiy JL., Bazile E., Grigioni P., Del Guasta M., Pauly B.

Autors Affiliation: Univ Toulouse, Ctr Natl Rech Meteorol CNRM, Ctr Natl Rech Sci CNRS, Meteo France, F-31057 Toulouse, France; Univ Toulouse, Univ Paul Sabatier, Ctr Natl Rech Sci CNRS, Lab Aerol, F-31400 Toulouse, France; Agenzia Nazl Nuove Tecnol, Energia & Sviluppo Econ Sostenibile ENEA, I-00196 Rome, Italy; Ist Nazl Ott Consiglio Nazl Ric INO CNR, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy; DeltaQuad, NL-1115 AD Duivendrecht, Netherlands.

Abstract: The Antarctic atmosphere is rapidly changing, but there are few observations available in the interior of the continent to quantify this change due to few ground stations and satellite measurements. The Concordia station is located on the East Antarctic Plateau (75 degrees S, 123 degrees E, 3233 m above mean sea level), one of the driest and coldest places on Earth. Several remote sensing instruments are available at the station to probe the atmosphere, together with operational meteorological sensors. In order to observe in situ clouds, temperature, relative humidity and supercooled liquid water (SLW) at a high vertical resolution, a new project based on the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) vertical take-off and landing from the DeltaQuad Company has been set up at Concordia. A standard Vaisala pressure, temperature and relative humidity sensor was installed aboard the drone coupled to an Anasphere SLW sensor. A total of thirteen flights were conducted from 24 December 2022 to 17 January 2023: nine technology flights and four science flights (on 2,10,11 and 13 January 2023). Drone-based temperature and relative humidity profiles were compared to (1) the balloon-borne meteorological observations at 12:00 UTC, (2) the ground-based microwave radiometer HAMSTRAD and (3) the outputs from the numerical weather prediction models ARPEGE and AROME. No SLW clouds were present during the period of observations. Despite technical issues with drone operation due to the harsh environments encountered (altitude, temperature and geomagnetic field), the drone-based observations were consistent with the balloon-borne observations of temperature and relative humidity. The radiometer showed a systematic negative bias in temperature of 2 degrees C, and the two models were, in the lowermost troposphere, systematically warmer (by 2-4 degrees C) and moister (by 10-30%) than the drone-based observations. Our study shows the great potential of a drone to probe the Antarctic atmosphere in situ at very high vertical resolution (a few meters).

Journal/Review: DRONES

Volume: 7 (8)      Pages from: 532-1  to: 532-23

More Information: The present research project Water Budget over Dome C (H2O-DC) has been approved by the Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP) international committee. The permanently manned Concordia station is jointly operated by IPEV and the Italian Programma Nazionale Ricerche in Antartide (PNRA). The tropospheric LIDAR has operated at Dome C since 2008 within the framework of several Italian national (PNRA) projects. We would like to thank all the winterover personnel who worked at Dome C on the different projects: HAMSTRAD, operational meteorological soundings, in situ balloon-borne and drone-based observations, and the aerosol LIDAR. Special thanks to Armand Patoir (IPEV) for his valuable work on the drone repairs. Finally, we would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers for their beneficial comments.
KeyWords: drone; VTOL; planetary boundary layer; free troposphere; Concordia station; Antarctica; temperature; relative humidity
DOI: 10.3390/drones7080532

Citations: 2
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