Svalbard is a key region of climate change in the Arctic. On the one hand it is close to the Atlantic water inflow to the Central Arctic Ocean, and on the other hand it is located along the North Atlantic storm track. Changes observed in this region with increased heat advection can be seen as  a  precursor for the future Arctic climate.

The section “Atmospheric Physics” is operating a large part of the atmospheric observations at the AWIPEV research base in Ny-Alesund, Svalbard.

Observational topics are:

• Meteorological long-term observations and their connection to local, regional and global scale processes affecting the thermodynamic state
• Measurements of stratospheric ozone and water vapor and their contribution in the climate system
• Tropospheric aerosols and their effects on Arctic clouds and radiation, observed by lidar and photometers
• Flux measurements in the atmospheric boundary layer over complex terrain
• Measurements of the thermodynamic state on short time resolution (e.g. by Microwave Radiometer, Doppler lidar) for process studies
• For a broader Arctic perspective, the observational basis is complemented by measurements from other platforms, e.g. the airborne lidar AMALI on board the Polar-5 aircraft.

The AWIPEV atmospheric observations are integrated with observations by other stations in the Ny-Ålesund Atmosphere Flagship Program, and with Arctic wide observations in the International Arctic Systems for Observing the Atmosphere (IASOA). Major activities are related to various research projects as e.g. AC3, Quarccs, and StratoClim.