Data From Unprecedented Polar Expedition Made Available

With the conclusion of an unprecedented yearlong expedition to the North Pole called MOSAiC, data from instruments installed on an Arctic ice floe are available to the scientific community to improve models that predict the environmental future of the planet.

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory were part of an international team that collected a treasure trove of data measuring precipitation, air particles, cloud patterns and the exchange of energy between the atmosphere and the sea ice. The data were captured by a suite of 63 instruments from the Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement User Facility. ORNL has processed these measurements and made massive amounts of observational data easily accessible and usable for climate modelers.

"We've never had this type of data for the northernmost reaches of the Arctic before," said Giri Prakash, director of the ARM Data Center at ORNL. "These data will be an invaluable resource for scientists to improve predictions of global environmental changes."

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