Greenland Summit Station Micropulse Lidar Backscatter Profiles

Micropulse lidar measurements from Summit Station, Greenland, capture vertical profiles of atmospheric backscatter in parallel and depolarized polarization channels. The dataset is provided by the SCIOPS organization and was last updated in December 2020. The instrument is owned by the Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program and operated with support from the National Science Foundation's Arctic Observing Network.

Use Cases

• Analyze temporal trends in parallel channel backscatter profiles to study cloud formation dynamics over the Greenland ice sheet.
• Correlate depolarized channel measurements with specific atmospheric particle types, such as ice crystals or volcanic ash.
• Validate climate and weather models by comparing simulated atmospheric optical properties with the observed lidar backscatter profiles.
• Investigate seasonal variations in aerosol loading and cloud cover using the continuous, near-vertical profiling data from Summit Station.

Strengths

• Data includes profiles of backscatter in two distinct polarization states (parallel and depolarized), enabling particle characterization.
• Measurements are from a high-Arctic location (Summit Station, Greenland), providing data from a critical climate region.
• Detailed metadata is embedded within the netCDF file headers for each data file.

Limitations

• The specific temporal coverage (start date) and volume (row count, file size) of the dataset are not provided.
• Data is from a single geographic location, limiting spatial representativeness for broader regional studies.
• The last update was in December 2020, so the dataset may not include recent observations.

Provenance

Source

Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program instrument, loaned to the ICECAPS project. Field support from NSF's Arctic Observing Network.

Collection Method

Continuous, near-vertical measurements from a deployed Micropulse Lidar (MPL) system.

Freshness

Last updated on 2020-12-31.

Geography

Summit Station, Greenland.