mountains and tundra system. The Svalbard capital town of Longyearbyen—in the
middle part of the island, is situated in the valley of Longyeardalen and on the shore
of Adventfjorden. Hornsund is the southernmost fjord of the western side of
Spitsbergen. The location of the stations has significant impact on the differentiation
of air masses moving to the study area.
The AERONET network provides long-term, globally distributed observations
of spectral aerosol optical depth (AOD) as well as Ångström exponent (AE).
Ground-based remote sensing techniques are used to obtain long-term and continuous characterization of aerosols over the whole world.
In Ny-Alesund observations have also been performed in the AWIPEV (FrenchGerman Arctic Research Base at Koldeway station, Ny-Alesund) (http://www.
awipev.eu/) (Herber et al. 2002). Since 2001 the Institute of Oceanology Polish
Academy of Sciences (IOPAN) has performed their aerosol studies in the same area
as the AERONET, i.e. in Longyearbyen, Hornsund and Ny-Alesund.
2.2 Instruments and Database Characteristics
The database used in this paper is composed of measurements performed in three
different areas of Spitsbergen (Hornsund, Longyearbyen, Ny-Alesund) and different
sun photometers as well as for different time intervals. The instrument and data
information are provided in Table 1.
For all locations we use data from a period of March 2000–September 2012. At
the Svalbard latitude sun photometric measurements cannot be performed all year
round due to the polar night. At these latitudes the sun does not rise between late
September and early March. We accepted the approach that when sun is over the
horizon for a period shorter than 10 h/day and during the polar night we have winter
and autumn. Summer is defined for days when sun occurs for an entire day while,
Table 1 Instruments and information on data availability
No.
Site/station
Instrument
Reference
Data
availability
Number of
measurement days
1
Hornsund
Cimel CE-318
AERONET
2005–2012
435
M-II
IOPAN
2009–2012
9
2
Longyearbyen
Cimel CE-318
AERONET
2003–2004
78
3
Ny-Alesund
Cimel CE-318
AERONET
2006
9
Ny-Alesund
SP1A
AWIPEV
2000–2011
594
Ny-Alesund
M-II
IOPAN
2001–2012
13
26
P. Pakszys et al.
middle part of the island, is situated in the valley of Longyeardalen and on the shore
of Adventfjorden. Hornsund is the southernmost fjord of the western side of
Spitsbergen. The location of the stations has significant impact on the differentiation
of air masses moving to the study area.
The AERONET network provides long-term, globally distributed observations
of spectral aerosol optical depth (AOD) as well as Ångström exponent (AE).
Ground-based remote sensing techniques are used to obtain long-term and continuous characterization of aerosols over the whole world.
In Ny-Alesund observations have also been performed in the AWIPEV (FrenchGerman Arctic Research Base at Koldeway station, Ny-Alesund) (http://www.
awipev.eu/) (Herber et al. 2002). Since 2001 the Institute of Oceanology Polish
Academy of Sciences (IOPAN) has performed their aerosol studies in the same area
as the AERONET, i.e. in Longyearbyen, Hornsund and Ny-Alesund.
2.2 Instruments and Database Characteristics
The database used in this paper is composed of measurements performed in three
different areas of Spitsbergen (Hornsund, Longyearbyen, Ny-Alesund) and different
sun photometers as well as for different time intervals. The instrument and data
information are provided in Table 1.
For all locations we use data from a period of March 2000–September 2012. At
the Svalbard latitude sun photometric measurements cannot be performed all year
round due to the polar night. At these latitudes the sun does not rise between late
September and early March. We accepted the approach that when sun is over the
horizon for a period shorter than 10 h/day and during the polar night we have winter
and autumn. Summer is defined for days when sun occurs for an entire day while,
Table 1 Instruments and information on data availability
No.
Site/station
Instrument
Reference
Data
availability
Number of
measurement days
1
Hornsund
Cimel CE-318
AERONET
2005–2012
435
M-II
IOPAN
2009–2012
9
2
Longyearbyen
Cimel CE-318
AERONET
2003–2004
78
3
Ny-Alesund
Cimel CE-318
AERONET
2006
9
Ny-Alesund
SP1A
AWIPEV
2000–2011
594
Ny-Alesund
M-II
IOPAN
2001–2012
13
26
P. Pakszys et al.