Impact of Clouds and Blowing Snow on Surface and Atmospheric Boundary Layer Properties Over Dome C, Antarctica

Clouds and blowing snow (BLSN) occur frequently over Antarctica, where it is critical to understand their feedbacks to surface and atmospheric boundary layer processes. Dome C, an elevated East Antarctic station, dominated by lengthy periods of surface longwave (LW) radiative cooling, is selected to reveal cloud and BLSN impacts within a largely stable environment. The sky condition is classified as clear, cloudy, or BLSN, using 3 years of Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations satellite data. Co‐located and contemporaneous in situ observations are used to investigate the relationship of sky condition with surface and atmospheric boundary layer thermal structure, focusing on seasonal variability. Results show that increased downwelling LW radiation from clouds abate surface radiative cooling losses, contributing to warming during all seasons. An increase of 3°C in the mean surface air temperature is observed during spring, whereas, a more dramatic rise (around 10°C), due to accompanying large‐scale subsidence, is observed during fall and winter in association with clouds. For all seasons, the wind speed and wind speed shear are strongest during BLSN events, and the surface‐based inversion is weakened by cooling which peaks in a shallow above‐surface turbulent layer. The stronger background stability during fall and winter seasons, restricts turbulence and BLSN depths generally to the lowest tens of meters. The Earth's cryosphere is among the most rapidly evolving yet least well‐observed regions, and knowledge of clouds and BLSN interactions with the typical stable atmospheric boundary layer can help further understand energy and moisture exchanges.