The Madison Connection: Observing and Archiving Antarctic Meteorology

For 44 years, the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) Automatic Weather Station (AWS) program has been observing the surface meteorology of the world’s seventh continent: Antarctica. Recently, Madison Area Technical College in collaboration with UW-Madison is leading an effort that provides the world a comprehensive Antarctic meteorological data library, the Antarctic Meteorological Research and Data Center (AMRDC) Data Repository. These major efforts are Madison’s contribution, connection, and commitment to observing, providing, and archiving Antarctic weather and climate datasets to the world. The outcomes, datasets, and products from these projects are of benefit to a broad community of researchers, forecasters, and educators, who all share an Antarctic focus or interest. This presentation will review the multidecadal evolution of the AWS program and will be inclusive of the wider international Antarctic AWS efforts. The AMRDC is the newest chapter in Madison’s contribution as it offers an ever-growing repository of Antarctic meteorological datasets, now at 4800 entries and growing, along with links to other Antarctic meteorological datasets found worldwide in other archives and repositories. Together the AWS and AMRDC bring a foundation upon which future Antarctic science will be based.