Satellite remote sensing is almost the only way to map the energy budget in the Arctic comprehensively. A study discovered weaknesses in the accuracy of satellite-based data sets, which can be improved to obtain more accurate information about the surface radiative energy budget in the region.
Surface radiative energy budget plays an important role in the Arctic, which is covered by snow and ice: when the balance is positive, more solar radiation from the Sun and the Earth's atmosphere arrives on the Earth's surface than is emitted from it. The surplus can then be used to heat and melt the snow and the ice. A deficit in the balance in turn makes freezing possible. "In the long term, changes in this annual cycle of the surface radiative energy budget have a strong link with regional and even global changes in climate conditions," says Aku Riihelä, Research Professor at the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
Research professor (Tenure Track) Aku Riihelä, firstname.lastname@example.org
Riihelä, A., J. R. Key, J. F. Meirink, P. Kuipers Munneke, T. Palo, and K.-G. Karlsson (2017), An intercomparison and validation of satellite-based surface radiative energy flux estimates over the Arctic, J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 122, doi:10.1002/2016JD026443.
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