ALBERT

Description: Antarctic precipitation is the main positive component in the surface mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet, thus it is closely related to the evolution of the sea level worldwide. The lack of observations, at both surface and the vertical structure, have hindered the understanding of this important component. Recently a study of the vertical structure of the precipitation in Antarctica have been carried out using micro rain radar (MRR) observations (Durán-Alarcón et al., 2019, TC) at two different sites: Dumont d'Urville (DDU) and Princess Elisabeth (PE) stations. The present collection consists in 2-years of vertical profiles of effective reflectivity (Ze), mean Doppler velocity (W), spectral width (SW) and snowfall rate (S) derived from a K-band vertically-pointing micro rain radar (MRR), obtained at DDU in the framework of the Antarctic Precipitation Remote Sensing from Surface and Space project (APRES3). The observation range of the profiles is between 300 m and 3 km above ground level, with 100m and 1h of vertical and temporal resolutions, respectively. Vertical profiles were separated into surface precipitation and virga (i.e., precipitation that completely sublimes before reaching the surface) to evaluate the impact of virga on the structure of the vertical profiles. The strong katabatic winds blowing at DDU induce a decrease in Ze near to the ground due to the sublimation of the snowfall particles, and the W and SW increases as the height decreases. It was observed that virga is a frequent phenomenon at DDU, since more than a third (36%) of the profiles of precipitation observed with MRR corresponded to virga cases (more details in Durán-Alarcón et al., 2019, TC). This unique dataset of Antarctic precipitation observations in the low troposphere represents a great opportunity to better understand the current numerical models and satellite observations.