Our incomplete understanding of polar clouds is a major source of uncertainty in models of the polar climate. Filling that gap is the goal of the Integrated Characterization of Energy, Clouds, Atmospheric state, and Precipitation at Summit (ICECAPS) project, which has been probing atmospheric and cloud processes in the skies above Greenland since 2010. With major contributions from the University of Colorado, the University of Wisconsin, Washington State University, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Oklahoma, the year-round research effort is based at the highest point of the Greenland ice sheet, Summit Station, some 3.2 km (10 500 feet) above sea level. Employing a comprehensive suite of instruments, the collaboration documents the micro- and macrophysical properties of clouds and their effects on the region’s energy budget and hydrological cycle.
This photo from last summer captures science technician Marci Beitch releasing a balloon-borne radiosonde that measures temperature, humidity, pressure, and wind...
