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Abstract:
In February 2011, the Antarctic Meteorological Research Center installed Alexander Tall Tower!, a 30-m-tall automatic weather station located on the Ross Ice Shelf at 79.0238S, 170.6998E. The surface elevation at the tower site is 55 m. There are six observational levels over the 30-m height of the tower that allow for analysis of the lower portion of the boundary layer in this region. In total, there are six temperature sensors, four aerovanes, two wind anemometers, two relative humidity sensors, a net shortwave and net longwave radiation sensor, a pressure sensor, and an acoustic depth gauge (to measure snow depth). The heights of each tower level are approximate, as snow accumulation and drift can slightly affect these; however, efforts are made to restore these heights when the site is visited every year or two. Having multiple levels of observation allows for computation of the sensible and latent heat fluxes using bulk flux formulations with the mean atmospheric measurements from the tower. These flux estimates allow us to quantify this portion of the Ross Ice Shelf’s role as an atmospheric energy sink.