3:00 pm, May 23, 2024

 

 

      Observing Antarctica's weather and climate poses significant challenges: it is a vast area, with limited staffed observation stations and locations. Understanding the weather and climate of Antarctica is vital for any science research to take place safely. For the last four decades, the use of automatic weather stations (AWS) has been crucial to building our present-day understanding of Antarctic weather behavior. Today, with a long observing record, AWS are beginning to reveal the climate of the Antarctic surface. Working with any AWS observations does require quality control review of the data, accomplished by a mixed meteorologist and computer process resulting in reliable datasets to be used in scientific investigations. Another means for observing the data sparse Antarctic is via meteorological satellite. In providing a unique view of the continent and adjacent Southern Ocean, Antarctic satellite composite imagery has been created by the Antarctic Meteorological Research and Data Center (AMRDC) project for over three decades. These satellite composites are utilized for weather forecasting, enabling the generation of atmospheric motion vectors (AMVs). These observing methods are applied to various areas of Antarctic weather and climate research. Yet, there remain constant challenges, including the weather itself, in capturing observations of Antarctic’s weather and climate.

 

Bio:

      Dr. Matthew A. Lazzara is a Senior Scientist and Research Meteorologist at the Antarctic Meteorological Research Center (AMRC), Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC), University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW–Madison). Lazzara is the president of International Commission on Polar Meteorology (ICPM), IAMAS. He is presently the Principal Investigator of the Antarctic Automatic Weather Station Program, Antarctic Meteorological Research Center and Arctic Satellite Composite Project. In the AMRC, Lazzara supports and maintains the generation and archive of Antarctic weather data, including the Antarctic satellite composite images and the processing of SSEC’s AWS data collected by the AWS network in Antarctica.