South Pole Station Meteorological Modernization: A comparison before and after installation of a new instrument suite

The Amundsen-Scott South Pole surface meteorological instrument suite was upgraded in 2004 as a part of the South Pole Station Modernization (SPSM) program. To ensure that the new and old instruments were recording similar information, the old and new suites of instruments ran simultaneously for a year. Statistical analysis of the time series of temperature, pressure and wind reports was used to determine if there were any significant differences in the observations. The results of the analysis found a pressure bias was introduced in the new suite as well as a systematic sign change between summer and winter. Significant differences were found in the winter months for temperature and wind speed, while no differences are found for wind direction distribution.

There were are also noticeable differences in wind speed between the Clean Air platform near the Clean Air facility and the platform at the approach end of the skiway. Wind speeds are lower at the skiway when the wind is from the northeast quadrant and lower at the Clean Air tower when the wind is from the southwest quadrant, reflecting the effect of increased roughness due to the station structures on the airflow across the station. Clean Air also often reports lower speeds than the skiway in flow from the southeast, most likely due to interference from a building in that sector.