Antarctic Solar and Thermal Radiation Measurements from Aurora Australis Voyages

2015-2016 data contains 1-minute resolution samples of incoming short-wave and outgoing long-wave radiation from three voyages of the Aurora Australis research vessel. Measurements include scaled irradiances, sensor temperatures, and raw voltage readings from pyranometer and pyrgeometer instruments. The dataset was collected by the Australian Antarctic Data Centre.

Use Cases

• Analyze short-wave solar irradiance (Scaled Irradiances Ave in W/m2) against ship position to map solar energy availability in the Southern Ocean.
• Correlate outgoing long-wave thermal radiation (Scaled Irradiances Ave in W/m2) with sensor temperature (degrees C) to study surface cooling processes.
• Model diurnal cycles using 1-minute timestamp data for both pyranometer and pyrgeometer scaled irradiance averages.
• Investigate instrument performance by comparing Raw sample Ave (uV) to Scaled Irradiances Ave (W/m2) for calibration validation.
• Study atmospheric conditions by analyzing the variability (Stdev) of both short-wave and long-wave radiation measurements.

Strengths

• High temporal resolution with 1-minute sampling for detailed time-series analysis.
• Contains parallel measurements for both solar (285-2800nm) and thermal (4500-42000nm) radiation spectra.
• Data spans three distinct voyages (Voyages 1, 2, and 3) during the 2015-2016 Antarctic season.

Limitations

• Unknown total row count and dataset size, hindering assessment of statistical power.
• Limited temporal coverage to a single season (2015-2016), reducing utility for long-term climate trend analysis.
• Geographic scope is restricted to the ship track of the Aurora Australis, not a fixed or comprehensive regional grid.

Provenance

Source

Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AU_AADC).

Collection Method

Instrument measurements from Kipp and Zonan CMP21 Pyranometer and CGR4 Pyrgeometer aboard the Aurora Australis research vessel; ship position from netCDF underway data.

Time Range

2015-2016 Antarctic season.

Freshness

Last updated in February 2016; static historical dataset.

Geography

Southern Ocean, along the track of the Aurora Australis research voyages.