Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 8.9.
Mean annual cycles of surface air temperature, precipitation, cloud cover,
and downward shortwave radiation for Isfjord Radio (Svalbard),based on several data
sources (courtesy of M. Lavrakas, NSIDC, Boulder, CO).
Figure 8.10.
Mean annual cycles of surface air temperature, precipitation, cloud cover,
and downward shortwave radiation for Barrow, AK, based on several data sources
(courtesy of M. Lavrakas, NSIDC, Boulder, CO).
(about 280 W m
−2
). This is not really a result of latitude but rather cloud cover.
Although the June cloud fraction is about the same at both locations (70-75 per-
cent), clouds over Isfjord Radio tend to be optically thicker.
Barrow is also considered by some investigators to fall in the category of an
Arctic maritime climate (
Figure 8.10
), but conditions are quite different from those
in the Atlantic sector and are really closer to those for polar desert. R. Pryzbylak
(
2003
) properly considers this site to be transitional. Winter temperatures are
somewhat higher than those for the Resolute Bay polar desert site. This results in
a smaller annual temperature range (32°C) than for Resolute Bay, but still much
