Come to BPCRC's auditorium to hear Jonathan Wille's Master's defense presentation. Flight operations on the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica rely on accurate forecast aided by the Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System’s Polar Weather Forecasting Model (AMPS-Polar WRF). To improve the performance of the model planetary boundary layer (PBL), this study examines two datasets containing vertical meteorological data on the western Ross Ice Shelf and compares them against the AMPS-Polar WRF. The first dataset is provided by a 30 m tall automated weather station named the Alexander Tall Tower! (ATT). The second dataset comes from a field campaign from January 13th–26th, 2014 using aerial Small Unmanned Meteorological Observer (SUMO) vehicles to measure PBL conditions near the ATT site. From the combined analysis from the ATT – AMPS climatology and the SUMO case studies, the most common errors are: a systematic dry bias and high wind speed bias in AMPS-Polar WRF. Accurate relative humidity predictions are essential as forecasters for Antarctic operations often rely on the AMPS-Polar WRF relative humidity as a proxy for clouds around the continent. Underestimating cloud cover or inaccurate PBL winds can have large financial and safety repercussions for flights over the ice.
