A summary of NOAA receiving resumed at Syowa Station, and preliminary results

Abstract

NOAA satellite data acquisition was resumed at Syowa Station in March 1997. As a result of replacement of the facility, the capacity of operation for satellite receiving and data processing was improved to permit receiving of all NOAA and DMSP transmission (except for their simultaneous coming), about twenty passes a day. It was limited to one pass a day in a past. The received data are imaged immediately at the station, and set on the web-site which is available in the LAN of only Syowa Station. These data are also positioned as effective information to decide schedule of field works. Data are being archived in the tape library in the Information Science Center of National Institute of Polar Research. At present data from NOAA-12 and NOAA-14 are received. The time zone between 11 UT and 03 UT is covered. The NOAA data acquired at the highest frequency in our past data set at Syowa Station permit us to understand cyclonic activity and sea ice variation in the east Antarctic region better than in the past. Also, we expect to discuss the daily variation of the planetary boundary layer over Antarctica, which is closely associated with the water budget of the ice sheet. In some cases the conventional cloud detection method cannot be used to determine the cloud area over the inland of Antarctica in winter. It is possible to develop a cloud detection method through better understanding of cloud features in the inland of Antarctica with the NOAA data and atmospheric data sets obtained at Dome Fuji Station in 1997.