Journal of the Japanese Society of Snow and Ice

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The Arctic region has been experiencing rapid climate change and this hasin fluenced the cryosphere. At high latitudes, observation of the cryosphere is possible using microwave observation, as microwave observation doesno t require solar radiation and isals o possible under cloud cover conditions. Satellite-based microwave observation has been offering important climatological data. The wide microwave radiometer observation pixelscon tain variousland types, such ass now and ice with forest, frozen lakesand wetland, and mountain slopes. It is necessary to study the freezing conditionso f ground that liesunder snow-cover, aswell ass now propertiesand structures. Although many previouss tudies have used 37 GHz and 19 GHz for snow observation, thiss tudy evaluates the utilization of a lower microwave frequency (6 GHz), which has the advantage of greater depth of penetration into snow or snowcovered ground. Airborne microwave observation in Alaska was carried out in thiss tudy. The observed data showss ignificant drops of microwave emission at the frozen lake, and increases in the dense forest area. Although surface temperature waslow on the mountain snow slope, microwave emission was not reduced. These observationsare indicative of subsurface temperature conditions. Thiss tudy discusses the possible use of microwave data, especially of lower frequency, for snow-covered high latitude regions.

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Short-range weather forecast experiments, covering entire Greenland were carried out in order to support the field research activities on the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) in the research project “Snow Impurity and Glacial Microbe effects on abrupt warming in the Arctic” (SIGMA, FY2011‒FY2015). This article summarizes the technical method for development and operation of the forecast system and shows preliminary results on its performances. The forecast system is established on the basis of the Japan Meteorological Agency Non-Hydrostatic Model. Outputs of the model are plotted on figures, and provided to an expedition team by using a free web service. When the expedition team leaves the logistical base and camps on the GrIS isolated from the ground-based internet access, minimal data are selected, compressed, and provided to the team through a satellite communication service. The forecast system updates field researchers with information and help them in planning and executing their daily missions. The effectiveness of the system has been verified in the expedition on the GrIS, and its potential application extends to wide range of field works in the polar regions and mountain glaciers. The meteorological observation data obtained on the GrIS are used for validation and improvement of the model.

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