The analysis of Antarctic cloud mass transport events from composite satellite imagery

An analysis of infrared composite satellite imagery reveals favored corridors where cloud masses advect warmer temperatures and precipitation onto the Antarctic continent. These transport events are a reflection of the synoptic scale motion about the Antarctic. Characterizing their behavior as seen over a long period of time may lead to this knowledge being used toward logistics planning (e.g. not planning field activities during periods of transport events) and perhaps even applied in seasonal forecasting. An initial investigation revealed four regions impacted preferentially by cloud mass transport events (Staude et al., 2004), but did not find an overwhelming link to some of the basic climate signals. This presentation will discuss the present analysis that is underway and will outline the expansion of that initial work. Additional years of satellite composites have been added to the examination as the archive spans nearly 19 years. The most recent few years have an increased temporal resolution with composite imagery now available on an hourly rather than 3-hourly basis. In addition, this analysis will report on the expanded use of additional observational datasets (e.g. surface observations) to supplement the selected significant transport case studies. Status of the project and initial results of the project will reviewed as well as the presentation of one significant transport event case study.