CHARACTERIZATION OF THE BOUNDARY LAYER STRUCTURE IN NY ALESUND - SVALBARD: THE FIRST TWO YEARS OF MEASUREMENTS AT THE AMUNDSEN NOBILE CLIMATE CHANGE TOWER (CCT )

Meteorological and micrometeorological observations have been taken on the CCT since October 2009 and March 2010 respectively: wind speed and direction, humidity, temperature (by fast and slow response sensors), and radiative fluxes at different heights in order to characterise the thermodynamic structure of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). A statistical analysis has been carried out to identify the general features of the atmospheric circulation patterns, the seasonal variations, and the connections with the synoptic weather patterns. The analysis highlights three main flow directions: SSW, ESE, N. Each direction is related to different weather patterns andaffected by the local topographic features. Typical wind ntensities are associated to the different directions, being higher from ESE than from SSW. Further classifications of the data have been made distinguishing among seasons, in order to differentiate the meteo/climatic conditions like the presence/absence of snow, the radiation balance, the cloudiness and to evidence the link between the large scale advection and local circulations. By this classification nearly homogeneous data sets will be retrieved, useful to proceed in further specific analysis of the boundary layer structure, and in particular to perform a comparison between Monin-Obukhov Similarity Theory (MOST) predictions and selected data sets.