SIGMA-A
Primary CryoNet Station Information

The SIGMA-A site is located on northwest Greenland ice sheet. The surface condition is snow through a whole year. An automatic weather station (AWS) was installed on 28 June 2014. In summer seasons after 2012 short-term intensive meteorological and glaciological observations were carried out. The characteristics of the SIGMA-A AWS are (1) two-level measurements of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction; (2) net radiation measurements in the shortwave, the near-infrared (NIR) and longwave spectral regions; (3) monitoring of the frost condition on the radiation sensors and the snow surface condition with two interval cameras; and (4) tilt angle monitoring of the main AWS pole with an inclinometer. A net radiometer sensor and NIR pyranometers were respectively set on other mounts separated from the main AWS pole. For all instruments, one-minute sampling and ten-minute averaged data are stored on a data logger, and the hourly data are transported to us via Argos satellite. The electric power is supplied from cyclone batteries in the snow, which are charged by solar panels.

Aoki, T., Matoba, S., Uetake, J., Takeuchi N. and Motoyama H. (2014): Field activities of the "Snow Impurity and Glacial Microbe effects on abrupt warming in the Arctic" (SIGMA) Project in Greenland in 2011-2013. Bull. Glaciol. Res., 32, doi:10.5331/bgr.32.3, 3-20.

Aoki, T., Matoba, S., Yamaguchi, S., Tanikawa, T., Niwano, M., Kuchiki, K., Adachi, K., Uetake, J., Motoyama, H. and Hori, M. (2014): Light-absorbing snow impurity concentrations measured on Northwest Greenland ice sheet in 2011 and 2012. Bull. Glaciol. Res., 32, doi:10.5331/bgr.32.21, 21-31.

Yamaguchi, S., S. Matoba, T. Yamazaki, A. Tsushima, M. Niwano, T. Tanikawa and T. Aoki, 2014: Glaciological observations in 2012 and 2013 at SIGMA-A site, Northwest Greenland, Bull. Glaciol. Res., 32, 95-105, doi:10.5331/bgr.32.95.

Niwano, M., Aoki, T., Matoba, S., Yamaguchi, S., Tanikawa, T., Kuchiki, K., and Motoyama, H. (2015): Numerical simulation of extreme snowmelt observed at the SIGMA-A site, northwest Greenland, during summer 2012, The Cryosphere, 9, 971-988, doi:10.5194/tc-9-971-2015.