Gert König-Langlo

• Dr.
• Managing Director at Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung

The future mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet depends for an important part on the stability of the floating ice shelves that surround it, as these buttress the flow of grounded ice. Being situated relatively far north and near sea level, surface melt is a common but otherwise intermittent process on Antarctic ice shelves. Surface meltwater ca...

The Southern Hemisphere Antarctic stratosphere experienced two noteworthy events in 2015: a significant injection of sulfur from the Calbuco volcanic eruption in Chile in April and a record-large Antarctic ozone hole in October and November. Here we quantify Calbuco's influence on stratospheric ozone depletion in austral spring 2015 using observati...

The Southern Hemisphere Antarctic stratosphere experienced two noteworthy events in 2015: a significant injection of sulfur from the Calbuco volcanic eruption in Chile in April and a record-large Antarctic ozone hole in October and November. Here we quantify Calbuco's influence on stratospheric ozone depletion in austral spring 2015 using observati...

We validate the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) Ozone Profile (PROFOZ) product from October 2004 through December 2014 retrieved by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) algorithm against ozonesonde observations. We also evaluate the effects of OMI row anomaly (RA) on the retrieval by dividing the dataset into before and after the occur...

The Surface Energy Balance of ice sheets is important in understanding atmosphere-surface interactions. Investigating its individual components allows us to identify their separate contributions to surface melt as well as the effect on the structure of the firn layer. In a broader sense, we can study the atmospheric contribution to ice shelf meltin...

We validate the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) ozone-profile (PROFOZ) product from October 2004 through December 2014 retrieved by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) algorithm against ozonesonde observations. We also evaluate the effects of OMI Row anomaly (RA) on the retrieval by dividing the data set into before and after the occu...

In the early 1980s, Germany started a new era of modern Antarctic research. The Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) was founded and important research platforms such as the German permanent station in Antarctica, today called Neumayer III, and the research icebreaker Polarstern were installed. The research...

The Alfred Wegener Institute operates two stations in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. The German overwintering station Neumayer III is located on the Ekstr?m Ice Shelf at 70?40?S and 08?16?W and is the logistics base for three long-term observatories (meteorology, air chemistry and geophysics) and nearby research activities. Due to the vicinity to...

The research vessel and supply icebreaker POLARSTERN is the flagship of the Alfred-Wegener-Institut in Bremerhaven (Germany) and one of the infrastructural pillars of German Antarctic research. Since its commissioning in 1982, POLARSTERN has conducted 30 campaigns to Antarctica (157 legs, mostly austral summer), and 29 to the Arctic (94 legs, north...

The satellite-derived HOAPS (Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data) and ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) ERA-Interim reanalysis data sets have been validated against in situ precipitation measurements from ship rain gauges and optical disdrometers over the open ocean by applying a statistical a...

Within the poster the status of the Baseline Surface Radiation Network Station Georg-von-Neumayer (now called Neumayer_III) is presented

The poster offers information about the World Radiation Monitoring Center (WRMC) of the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN). I lists the available datasets and explain how to obtain data via web.

The satellite derived HOAPS (Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite data) and ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) ERA-Interim reanalysis data sets have been validated against in-situ precipitation measurements from ship rain gauges and optical disdrometers over the open-ocean by applying a statistical a...

The satellite derived HOAPS (Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite data) and ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) ERA-Interim reanalysis data sets have been validated against in-situ precipitation measurements from ship rain gauges and optical disdrometers over the open-ocean by applying a statistical a...

CO2 is the strongest anthropogenic forcing agent for climate change since preindustrial times. Like other greenhouse gases, CO2 absorbs terrestrial surface radiation and causes emission from the atmosphere to space. As the surface is generally warmer than the atmosphere, the total long-wave emission to space is commonly less than the surface emissi...

The main aim of this paper is to explore the potential of combining measurements from fixed- and rotary-wing remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) to complement data sets from radio soundings as well as ship and sea-ice-based instrumentation for atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) profiling. This study represents a proof-of-concept of RPAS observat...

The impact of Arctic radiosonde observations on the forecasting of the 2012 early August Arctic cyclone AC12—the “strongest” since records began—have been investigated using an observing system experiment (OSE). An atmospheric ensemble reanalysis (ALERA2) was used as the control experiment (CTL) to reproduce the development of the Arctic cyclone an...

Ice shelves strongly interact with coastal Antarctic sea ice and the associated ecosystem by creating conditions favourable to the formation of a sub-ice platelet layer. The close investigation of this phenomenon and its seasonal evolution remain a challenge due to logistical constraints and a lack of suitable methodology. In this study, we charact...

Basal melt of ice shelves may lead to an accumulation of disc-shaped ice platelets underneath nearby sea ice, to form a sub-ice platelet layer. Here we present the seasonal cycle of sea ice attached to the Ekström Ice Shelf, Antarctica, and the underlying platelet layer in 2012. Ice platelets emerged from the cavity and interacted with the fast-ice...

CO2 is the strongest anthropogenic forcing agent for climate change since pre-industrial times. Like other greenhouse gases, CO2 absorbs terrestrial surface radiation and causes emission from the atmosphere to space. As the surface is generally warmer than the atmosphere, the total long-wave emission to space is commonly less than the surface emiss...

Ice shelves strongly interact with coastal Antarctic sea ice and the associated ecosystem by creating conditions favourable to the formation of a sub-ice platelet layer. The close investigation of this phenomenon and its seasonal evolution remain a challenge due to logistical constraints and a lack of suitable methodology. In this study, we charact...

The research vessel and supply icebreaker POLARSTERN is the flagship of the Alfred-Wegener-Institut in Bremerhaven (Germany) and one of the infrastructural pillars of German Antarctic research. Since its commissioning in 1982, POLARSTERN has conducted 30 campaigns to Antarctica (157 legs, mostly austral summer), and 29 to the Arctic (94 legs, north...

Multi-Axis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) is a widely used technique for the detection of atmospheric trace gases, e.g. NO2, SO2, BrO, HCHO, but also for the oxygen collision complex O4. The atmospheric distribution of the latter is proportional to the square of the molecular oxygen concentration and thus well known. By com...

The energy budgets over land and oceans are still afflicted with considerable uncertainties, despite their key importance for terrestrial and maritime climates. We evaluate these budgets as represented in 43 CMIP5 climate models with direct observations from both surface and space and identify substantial biases, particularly in the surface fluxes...

Emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri Gray) are the only vertebrate species that breed during the Antarctic winter. From the beginning of the breeding season in April until fledging of the chicks in January, emperor penguins rely on the stability of sea (fast) ice. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has recently listed the s...

At Ny-Ålesund (78.9° N), Svalbard, surface radiation measurements of up- and downward short- and longwave radiation are operated since August 1992 in the frame of the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN), complemented with surface and upper air meteorology since August 1993. The long-term observations are the base for a climatological presenta...

At Ny-Ålesund (78.9° N), Svalbard, surface radiation measurements of up- and downward short- and longwave radiation are operated since August 1992 in the frame of the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN), complemented with surface and upper air meteorology since August 1993. The long-term observations are the base for a climatological presenta...

The analysis of research data plays a key role in data-driven areas of science. Varieties of mixed research data sets exist and scientists aim to derive or validate hypotheses to find undiscovered knowledge. Many analysis techniques identify relations of an entire dataset only. This may level the characteristic behavior of different subgroups in th...

Basal melt of ice shelves may lead to an accumulation of disc-shaped ice platelets underneath nearby sea ice, to form a sub-ice platelet layer. Here we present the seasonal cycle of sea ice attached to the Ekström Ice Shelf, Antarctica, and the underlying platelet layer in 2012. Ice platelets emerged from the cavity and interacted with the fast-ice...

Antarctica is a continent with a strong character. High wind speeds, very low temperatures and heavy snow storms. All these parameters are well known due to observations and measurements, but precipitation measurements are still rare because the number of manned stations is very limited in Antarctica.In such a polar snow region many wind driven phe...

ERA-Interim reanalysis data and data of the Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model version 2 (HadGEM2) are compared with continuous meteorological observations of near-surface wind and temperature carried out for more than 30 years at Neumayer station, situated on the Ekström Ice Shelf of Antarctica. Significant temperature correlations between N...

High temporal resolution (three hours) records of temperature, wind speed and sea level pressure recorded at Antarctic research station Neumayer (70°S, 8°W) during 1982–2011 are analysed to identify oscillations from daily to intraseasonal timescales. The diurnal cycle dominates the three-hourly time series of temperature during the Antarctic summe...

Here we provide a new assessment of the global mean energy fluxes from a surface perspective and present an associated diagram of the global mean energy balance, adapted from the study by Wild et al. (2013) [1] with two slight modifications as outlined in this paper. The radiative energy exchanges between Sun, Earth and space are now accurately qua...

The Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) and its central archive - the World Radiation Monitoring Center (WRMC) - is a project of the Radiation Panel from the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) under the umbrella of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). The BSRN is aimed at detecting important changes in the Earth's radiat...

The Global Atmosphere Watch of WMO includes several stations in Antarctica that keep a close eye on the ozone layer during the ozone hole season. Observations made during the ozone holes from 2003 to 2012 will be compared to each other and interpreted in light of the meteorological conditions. Satellite observations will be used to get a more gener...

The genesis and evolution of Earth's climate is largely regulated by the global energy balance. Despite the central importance of the global energy balance for the climate system and climate change, substantial uncertainties still exist in the quantification of its different components, and its representation in climate models. While the net radiat...

Monthly time series of temperature, wind speed and sea level pressure recorded at Neumayer polar research station (70°39'S, 8°15'W) during the last 30 years are analysed in order to identify the climate oscillations and associated teleconnection patterns at time scales from half-year to decades. Oscillations with periods of six months (semi-annual)...

A consistent meteorological dataset of the Arctic site Ny-Ålesund (11.9° E, 78.9° N) spanning the 18 yr-period 1 August 1993 to 31 July 2011 is presented. Instrumentation and data handling of temperature, humidity, wind and pressure measurements are described in detail. Monthly mean values are shown for all years to illustrate the interannual varia...

Continuous black carbon (BC) observations were conducted from 1999 through 2009 by an Aethalometer (AE10) and from 2006 through 2011 by a Multi-Angle Absorption Photometer (MAAP) at Neumayer Station (NM) under stringent contamination control. Considering the respective observation period, BC concentrations measured by the MAAP were somewhat higher...

The foundations for all observation of meteorological phenomena on a global scale were laid in 1780 with the foundation of the Mannheim Societas Meteorologica Palatina. 80 Germany has a very long tradition of climate observation, including the longest time series of near-surface temperature and air pressure taken at the world's oldest mountain stat...

A consistent meteorological dataset of the Arctic site Ny-Ålesund (11.9° E, 78.9° N) spanning the 18 yr-period 1 August 1993 to 31 July 2011 is presented. Instrumentation and data handling of temperature, humidity, wind and pressure measurements are described in detail. Monthly mean values are shown for all years to illustrate the interannual varia...

ERA-Interim reanalysis data and data of the Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model version 2 (HadGEM2) are compared with continuous meteorological observations of near-surface wind and temperature carried out for more than 30 years at Neumayer station, situated on the Ekstro¨m Ice Shelf of Antarctica. Significant temperature correlations between...

Continuous black carbon (BC) observations were conducted from 1999 through 2009 by an Aethalometer (AE10) and from 2006 through 2011 by a Multi-Angle Absorption Photometer (MAAP) at Neumayer Station (NM) under stringent contamination control. Considering the respective observation period, BC concentrations measured by the MAAP were somewhat higher...

In the framework of the global energy balance, the radiative energy exchanges between Sun, Earth and space are now accurately quantified from new satellite missions. Much less is known about the magnitude of the energy flows within the climate system and at the Earth surface, which cannot be directly measured by satellites. In addition to satellite...

doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.494520

The data collection contains 6813 links to time-oriented earth observation measurements from the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN). It covers all available measurements from the time period between 1992-01 and 2012-07 taken at BSRN stations all over the world. The data is used as a large and representative time-oriented research dataset for...

In the framework of the global energy balance, the radiative energy exchanges between Sun, Earth and space are now accurately quantified from new satellite missions. Much less is known about the magnitude of the energy flows within the climate system and at the Earth surface, which cannot be directly measured by satellites. In addition to satellite...

A consistent meteorological dataset of the Arctic site Ny-Ålesund (11.9° E, 78.9° N) spanning the 18-yr-period 1 August 1993 to 31 July 2011 is presented. Instrumentation and data handling of temperature, humidity, wind and pressure measurements are described in detail. Monthly mean values are shown for all years to illustrate the interannual varia...

Continuous black carbon (BC) observations were conducted from 1999 through 2009 by an Aethalometer (AE10) and from 2006 through 2011 by a Multi-Angle Absorption Photometer (MAAP) at Neumayer Station (NM) under stringent contamination control. Considering the respective observation period, BC concentrations measured by the MAAP were somewhat higher...

The Global Atmosphere Watch of WMO includes several stations in Antarctica that keep a close eye on the ozone layer during the ozone hole season. Observations made during the ozone holes from 2003 to 2011 will be compared to each other and interpreted in light of the meteorological conditions. Satellite observations will be used to get a more gener...

Possible oscillations in the Antarctic climate are investigated through statistical analysis of meteorological variables recorded at Neumayer polar station, located at Ekström Shelf Ice, Atka Bay, northeast Weddell Sea (70°39'S, 08°15'W). Meteorological variables recorded at this station cover the period 1982 to 2011 with a 3 hours time resolution....

The BSRN Toolbox is a software package supplied by the WRMC and is freely available to all station scientists and data users. The main features of the package include a download manager for Station- to-Archive files, a tool to convert files into human readable TAB-separated ASCII-tables (similar to those output by the PANGAEA database), and a tool...

High temporal resolution (three hours) records of temperature, wind speed and sea level pressure recorded at Antarctic research station Neumayer (70°S, 8°W) during 1982-2011 are analysed to identify oscillations from daily to intraseasonal timescales. The diurnal cycle dominates the three-hourly time series of temperature during the Antarctic summe...

The aerosol climatology at the coastal Antarctic Neumayer Station (NM) was investigated based on continuous, 25-yr long observations of biogenic sulphur components (methanesulfonate and non–sea salt sulphate), sea salt and nitrate. Although significant long-term trends could only be detected for nitrate (−3.6 ± 2.5% per year between 1983 and 1993 a...

The analysis of high resolution measurement data, from Munich, showed significant and repeated irradiation peaks. For irradiation enhancements (IE), the observed irradiation is above the theoretically-calculated global irradiation of a clear sky day (i.e. for the given time with a clear sky and atmosphere). The increased irradiation power is mainly...

The Global Atmosphere Watch of WMO includes several stations in Antarctica that keep a close eye on the ozone layer during the ozone hole season. Observations made during the ozone holes from 2003 to 2010 will be compared to each other and interpreted in light of the meteorological conditions. Satellite observations will be used to get a more gener...

Downwelling and upwelling shortwave and longwave radiation components from six active polar sites, taking part of the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN), were selected for the period of the last International Polar Year (March 2007 to March 2009), and included in the BSRN-IPY dataset, along with metadata and supplementary data for some of th...

Downwelling and upwelling shortwave and longwave radiation components from six active polar sites, taking part of the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN), were selected for the period of the last International Polar Year (March 2007 to March 2009), and included in the BSRN-IPY dataset, along with metadata and supplementary data for some of th...

The aerosol climatology at the coastal Antarctic Neumayer Station (NM) was investigated based on continuous, 25-yr long observations of biogenic sulphur components (methanesulfonate and non-sea salt sulphate), sea salt and nitrate. Although significant long-term trends could only be detected for nitrate (-3.6 ± 2.5% per year between 1983 and 1993 a...

Analyses of shallow cores obtained at the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) drilling site Kohnen station (75°00′S, 00°04′E; 2892 m a.s.l.) on the plateau of Dronning Maud Land reveal the presence of conserved snow dunes in the firn. In situ observations during three dune formation events in the 2005/06 austral summer at Kohnen s...

Downwelling and upwelling shortwave and longwave radiation components from six active polar sites, taking part of the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN), were selected for the period of the last International Polar Year (March 2007 to March 2009), and included in the BSRN-IPY dataset, along with metadata and supplementary data for some of th...

In this paper, we estimate the contribution of snowdrift sublimation (SUds) to the surface mass balance at Neumayer, located on the Ekström ice shelf in Eastern Antarctica. A single column version of the RACMO2-ANT model is used as a physical interpolation tool of high-quality radiosonde and surface measurements for a 15 yr period (1993–2007), and...

The Global Atmosphere Watch of WMO includes several stations in Antarctica that keep a close eye on the ozone layer during the ozone hole season. Observations made during the ozone holes from 2003 to 2009 will be compared to each other and interpreted in light of the meteorological conditions. Satellite observations will be used to get a more gener...

Near-surface meteorological observations and rawinsonde soundings from Arctic cruises with the German icebreaker RV Polarstern during August 1996, 2001, and 2007 are compared with each other and with ERA-Interim reanalyses. Although the observations are usually applied in the reanalysis, they differ considerably from ERA data. ERA overestimates the...

A surface energy balance model is forced by 13 years of high-quality hourly observations from the Antarctic coastal station Neumayer. The model accurately reproduces observed surface temperatures. Surface sublimation is significant in summer, when absorbed solar radiation heats the surface. Including a first order estimate of snowdrift sublimation...