USAP-DC

The Antarctic Automatic Weather Station (AWS) program is a long-term automated surface weather observing network measuring key standard meteorological parameters, including temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, solar radiation, and snow accumulation. Observations from the network support weather forecasting, science research, and educational activities, and all data collected are made available to the public. This project will continue to maintain and operate the existing network. These data provide some of the only available weather observations in this very remote portion of the Earth. To ensure fidelity, observations are reviewed and checked for errors by a combination of automated methods and expert review, enabling the data to be used in a wide range of research areas. The project will be overseen by a team of scientists, researchers, and students, and a newly created AWS Advisory Board will provide independent input and guidance. The activities for this project will be focused on the continued operation of the AWS network, establishment of an AWS Advisory Board, student engagement and outreach activities. This project will continue to maintain the AWS systems while upgrading the real-time processing of meteorological data from the AWS network. The team will continue to adapt to changes communication methods to ensure that data is distributed widely and in a timely manner. Prior NSF investments in the Polar Climate and Weather Station (PCWS) are leveraged to develop a robust production version that can be reliably used year-round in Antarctica. AWS observations will be quality-controlled and placed into a database where the public will be able to search and select subsets of observations. To resolve conflicting radiation shield setups for temperature observations, the team plans to test different radiation shields (with and without aspiration) deployed for one year at South Pole Station. The project will be advised by an independent group of diverse peers through a newly developed AWS Advisory Board. The team will incorporate students from all levels in all aspects of the project, including in the research design, engineering and productions of the PCWS, and in field deployments. A concerted effort to engage the public will be undertaken via scaled-up interactions with television meteorologists from several states across the US to bring Antarctica to the public.

Person	Role
Lazzara, Matthew	Investigator and contact
Welhouse, Lee J	Co-Investigator
Mikolajczyk, David	Co-Investigator

Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences	Award # 2301363
Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences	Award # 2301362

USAP-2301362_1

None in the Database