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4. antarctic_aws

Description

Surface meteorological data are provided from a network of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) at 20 sites in remote regions of East Antarctica, and one at sub-Antarctic Heard Island. These stations are deployed and operated by the Australian Antarctic Division Glaciology Program. The first station was deployed in 1982 and the network has continued to expand since then.

All stations use the ARGOS data relay system, carried by the NOAA series of near-polar orbiting satellites to relay data. Three-hourly synoptic data from most AWS are distributed in near real time directly by Service Argos via the World Meteorological Organisation, Global Telecommunication System. The data set described here contains the climatic record of all observations from the stations. It is not a real-time data set.

All stations measure air temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind speed and direction. Most measure air temperature and wind speed at more than one height, providing data on near-surface vertical gradients, a check on the data accuracy, and some instrumental redundancy. Some stations have additional sensors measuring snow temperature at different depths, atmospheric humidity, solar radiation and height of the sensors above the snow surface (which changes due to snow accumulation and ablation) as well as several 'house-keeping' parameters (voltage, internal temperature, etc.).

While the data are hosted on a site separate to the Australian Antarctic Data Centre, a copy of the 1982-2022 data has been made and is attached to this metadata record, and is citable via the provided DOI.

To access the previous copy of the data (1982-2011), which also included some summary graphs, and earlier versions of the associated pdf files of information, please contact the AADC.

2022 Data Update

A028, located at 68°24'28''S 112°13'03''E, elevation 1622m above sea level. Period of operation is April 12 1985 to February 15 1986
A028-A, located at 68°24'28''S 112°13'3''E, elevation 1622m above sea level. Period of operation is Feb 19 1986 to April 26 1986 and Oct 6 1986 to May 30 1990
A028-B, located at 68°24'28''S 112°13'03''E, elevation 1622m above sea level. Period of station operation is from 6 November 1998 to 28 July 2005
AM01 , located at 69°26'32''S, 71°25'0''E, elevation 65m above sea level. Period of station operation is from 12 February 2002 to 6 December 2006
AM02 , located at 69°42'48''S, 72°38'24''E, elevation 47m above sea level. Period of station operation is from 10 January 2001 to 23 December 2007
AmeryG3 , located at 70°53'26''S, 69°52'14''E, elevation 84m above sea level. Period of station operation is from 4 February 1999 to 28 January 2017
AmeryG3-A , located at 70°50'12''S, 69°54'16''E, elevation 79m above sea level. Period of station operation is from 28 January 2017 onwards
Apfel, located at 66°20'40''S 100°48'50''E, elevation 150m above sea level. Station operation from January 5 2000 to July 17 2001
AuroraBN , located at 71°9'59''S, 111°22'13''E, elevation 2714m above sea level. Period of station operation is from 25 January 2014 onwards
B9Biceberg, located at 67°14'14''S 148°27'46''E, elevation 35m above sea level. Period of station operation is from 5 November 2002 to 7 July 2005
BrownG1, located at 53°05'24''S 73°38'25''E, elevation 640m above sea level. Period of operation is November 1 2000 onwards
DomeA , located at 80°22'3''S, 77°22'26''E, elevation 4084m above sea level. Period of station operation is from 17 January 2005 onwards
DSS, located at 66°48'09''S 112°48'38''E, elevation 1376m above sea level. Period of station operation is from December 20 1997 to January 19 2003
DSS-A, located at 66°46'09''S 112°48'38''E, elevation 1376m above sea level. Period of station operation is from 19 January 2003 to 2 March 2005
Eagle , located at 76°25'3''S, 77°1'47''E, elevation 2824m above sea level. Period of station operation is from 27 January 2005 onwards
Eder Island, located at 66°57'30''S 143°56'24''E, elevation 52m above sea level. Period of station operation is from August 9 1999 to October 19 2000
GC41, located at 71°36'10''S 111°15'46''E, elevation 2791m above sea level. Period of station operation is from 29 October 1984 to 30 December 2005
GC46, located at 74°08'15''S 109°50'23''E, elevation 3096m above sea level. Period of operation November 17 1984 to April 30 2001
GF08, located at 68°29'36''S 102°10'32''E, elevation 2123m above sea level. Period of operation is October 28 1986 to September 29 1998
GF08-A , located at 68°29'36''S, 0°10'32''E, elevation 2123m above sea level. Period of station operation is from 17 January 2000 to 31 December 2007
Lanyon, located at 66°16'42''S 110°47'48''E, elevation 390m above sea level. Period of station operation is from February 22 1991 to November 24 1998.
Lanyon-A , located at 66°16'42''S, 110°47'48''E, elevation 390m above sea level. Period of station operation is from 19 October 1998 to 24 April 2008
Law Dome, located at 66°43'50''S 112°44'40''E, elevation 1376m above sea level. Period of operation is April 17 1986 to July 2 1998 (This station was dug out and moved to reestablish nominal heights of all sensors except sub-surface thermistors on November 27 1991 and April 1 1996.)
Law Dome-A, located at 66°43'50''S 112°44'40''E, elevation 1376m above sea level. Station operation is from May 27 1997 to February 25 1998
LGB00, located at 68°39'19''S 61°06'46''E, elevation 1830m above sea level. Period of operation is January 5 1982 to July 21 1989
LGB00-A, located at 68°39'19''S 61°06'46''E, elevation 1830m above sea level. Period of operation is December 5 1987 to August 31 1993
LGB00-B, located at 68°39'19''S 61°6'46''E, elevation 1830m above sea level. Period of operation is November 13 1993 to February 13 1995
LGB00-C , located at 68°39'19''S, 61°6'46''E, elevation 1830m above sea level. Period of station operation is from 15 February 1995 to 20 April 2009
LGB10, located at 71°17'15''S 59°12'37''E, elevation 2620m above sea level. Station operation Jan 1 to Apr 10 1990, Jan 1 to Apr 5 1991 and Jan 2 1993 to Oct 24 1994
LGB10-A, located at 71°17'15''S 59°12'37''E, elevation 2620m above sea level. Period of station operation is from 22 November 1993 to 8 May 2006
LGB20, located at 73°49'58''S 55°40'18''E, elevation 2741m above sea level. Period of station operation is from January 1991 to 1 September 2004
LGB35 , located at 76°2'34''S, 65°0'0''E, elevation 2342m above sea level. Period of station operation is from 21 December 1993 to 1 July 2008
LGB46, located at 75°51'8''S 71°29'59''E, elevation 2352m above sea level. Period of station operation is from January 7 1994 to May 6 1997
LGB59, located at 73°27'06''S 76°47'21''E, elevation 2537m above sea level. Period of staion operation is from 25 January 1994 to 28 June 2004
LGB69, located at 70°50'07''S 77°04'29''E, elevation 1854m above sea level. Period of station operation is from 22 January 2002 to 2 February 2007
LGB69-A , located at 70°50'7''S, 77°4'29''E, elevation 1850m above sea level. Period of station operation is from 2 February 2007 to 20 August 2008
Mt. Brown, located at 69°7'52''S 85°59'55''E, elevation 2064m above sea level. Station operation from December 23 1998 to July 17 2000
MtBrown-A, located at 69°7'52''S, 85°59'57''E, elevation 2067m above sea level. Period of station operation is from 24 February 2003 to 9 October 2011
Panda, located at 73°41'22''S, 76°58'2''E, elevation 2584m above sea level. Period of station operation is from 1 January 2008 onwards
Ranvik, located at 68°51'22''S 78°02'21''E, elevation 339m above sea level. Period of station operation is February 4 2000 onwards
Rumdoodle, located at 67°42'54''S 62°48'18''E, elevation 430m above sea level. Period of station operation is February 1 2000 to December 26 2001

All observation times are in UTC

ait4 Air temperature 4m above ground level (degrees Celsius)
ait2 Air temperature 2m above ground level (degrees Celsius)
ait1 Air temperature 1m above ground level (degrees Celsius)
RH Relative humidity 4m above ground level (percent)
rh4 Relative humidity 4m above ground level (percent)
sst.1 Subsurface temperature 10cm below ground level (degrees Celsius)
sst1 Subsurface temperature 1m below ground level (degrees Celsius)
sst3 Subsurface temperature 3m below ground level (degrees Celsius)
sst10 Subsurface temperature 10m below ground level (degrees Celsius)
SST80 Subsurface temperature 80m below ground level (degrees Celsius)
SST150 Subsurface temperature 150m below ground level (degrees Celsius)
elt Temperature inside AWS electronics box (degrees Celsius)
IPy Daily cumulative global radiation (downward shortwave) since local midnight (MJ per square metre)
pyr Daily cumulative global radiation (downward shortwave) since local midnight (MJ per square metre)
bar Air pressure (hPa)
wm4 One hour mean wind speed 4m above ground level (m/s)
wm3 One hour mean wind speed 3m above ground level (m/s)
wm2 One hour mean wind speed 2m above ground level (m/s)
wm1 One hour mean wind speed 1m above ground level (m/s)
WM One hour mean wind speed 2m above ground level (m/s)
WP One hour wind speed peak 4m above ground level (m/s)
wp3 One hour wind speed peak 3m above ground level (m/s)
WP4 One hour wind speed peak 4m above ground level (m/s)
wdi3 One hour mean wind direction 3m above ground level (degrees from north)
wdi4 One hour mean wind direction 4m above ground level (degrees from north)
WDi One hour mean wind direction 4m above ground level (degrees from north)
WVM Hourly vector-average wind speed (m/s)
WVD Hourly vector-average wind direction 4m above ground level (degrees from north)
w10g4 Maximum wind gust in ten minute period prior to observation time at 4m (m/s)
w60g4 Maximum wind gust in one hour period prior to observation time at 4m (m/s)
w10g2 Maximum wind gust in ten minute period prior to observation time at 2m (m/s)
w60g2 Maximum wind gust in one hour period prior to observation time at 2m (m/s)
Acc Net snow accumulation since station installation (m)

Quality

The data have been checked and edited, but we cannot guarantee that they are completely error free. Note in particular that the height of the sensors changes with time due to snow accumulation.

Details of AWS operating histories, sensor specifications, and known sensor problems for each site are provided as pdf files linked to the related URL shown below.

Many of the AWS are never revisited after initial deployment, and continue to operate without maintenance for a decade or more. Accuracy of the data from such stations can only be judged from the internal consistency of different sensors.

As of 2010-08-16 it is expected that soon many of the still functioning stations will begin to fail, and that no new data for this dataset will be available. 2009 data has been obtained from the operating stations and when it has been processed it will be added to the archive.

As of 2013-11-22 there are only four remaining active automatic weather stations in this network (other than those maintained by the Bureau of Meteorology at the main stations). These stations are:

Amery G3
Dome A
Eagle
Panda

2022 Data update:
For each year of operation, a graph is presented with air temperature, sub-surface temperature initially at 10cm and daily cumulative global radiation, followed by monthly and annual means of each variable recorded at the station.
Monthly and annual means have been time-weighted to account for data gaps when no satellites are available to relay the observations. The interval can also vary where faulty observations, resulting from sensor malfunction, have been removed during quality control. The minimum interval between individual observations is approximately one hour. When there is a continuous gap of more than five days, monthly means are not computed. Monthly means are provided for quick reference only: please access the full netcdf dataset if you require accurate averages for a given period.

Nominal heights or depths of sensors are measured during station installation and are subject to change as a result of accumulation or ablation. For information on the sensors used and the history of operation of this and all other stations in the network refer to the station records pdf in the dataset download.

2025 Data update:
As of 2025-10-29 no further data have been added to the collection. The responsible scientist has left the Australian Antarctic Division, and the future archival of data from these instruments is uncertain.

Access

These data are available for public download from the provided website. A copy of the data, current up until 2022 is also available from the Australian Antarctic Data Centre.

Temporal Coverages

• Start date: 1982-01-10 - Stop date: 2022-12-31

Spatial Coverages

Science Keywords

• EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE > ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE MEASUREMENTS
• EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE > SURFACE TEMPERATURE
• EARTH SCIENCE > CRYOSPHERE > SNOW/ICE > SNOW/ICE TEMPERATURE
• EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > PRECIPITATION > SOLID PRECIPITATION > SNOW
• EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR > WATER VAPOR INDICATORS > HUMIDITY
• EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION > SHORTWAVE RADIATION
• EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC WINDS > SURFACE WINDS

Use Constraints

This data set conforms to the CCBY Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Please follow instructions listed in the citation reference provided at http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/metadata/citation.cfm?entry_id=antarctic_aws when using these data.