MACROPHYSICAL PROPERTIES AND A CLIMATOLOGY OF ARCTIC COASTAL FOG IN EAST ...

283 Pages·2017·9.31 MB·English

MACROPHYSICAL PROPERTIES AND A CLIMATOLOGY OF ARCTIC
COASTAL FOG IN EAST GREENLAND

GAËLLE FLORENCE GILSON
Bachelor of Science, Université catholique de Louvain, 2008
Master of Science, Université libre de Bruxelles, 2010

A Thesis Submitted to
the School of Graduate Studies of
the University of Lethbridge
in Fulfilment of the
Requirements for the Degree

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Geography
University of Lethbridge
LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA, CANADA

© Gaëlle Florence Gilson, 2018
MACROPHYSICAL PROPERTIES AND A CLIMATOLOGY OF ARCTIC COASTAL
FOG IN EAST GREENLAND

GAËLLE FLORENCE GILSON

Date of Defence: January 26, 2018

Dr. H. Jiskoot Associate Professor Ph.D.
Supervisor

Dr. C. Hopkinson Professor Ph.D.
Thesis Examination Committee Member

Dr. M. Letts Professor Ph.D.
Thesis Examination Committee Member

Dr. J. J. Cassano Associate Professor Ph.D.
Thesis Examination Committee Member
University of Colorado at Boulder

Dr. L. Flanagan Professor Ph.D.
Internal External Examiner
Department of Biological Sciences

Dr. A. Bush Professor Ph.D.
External Examiner
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta

Dr. S. Bubel Associate Professor Ph.D.
Chair, Thesis Examination Committee
DEDICATION

This dissertation is dedicated to my grandparents Denise and André, age 91 and 97.
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ABSTRACT

Arctic summer fog is a major transportation hazard and has implications for the
cryospheric energy balance. In this thesis, the climatology and macrophysical properties
of fog along the coast of East Greenland are explored, and local to mesoscale
environmental conditions studied to explain regional differences. Using a combination of
long-term synoptic weather observations and Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive data,
novel automated methods were developed to classify liquid fog thermodynamic structure
and calculate fog top elevation. Six fog types were identified; several of which could be
associated with advection fog formation and dissipation processes. Temperature
inversions during fog were deeper and stronger compared to non-fog conditions. At Low-
Arctic locations fog was geometrically thin and occurred below the temperature
inversion. Fog was thicker in the High-Arctic, often penetrating the inversion layer. The
radiosonde data analysis and automated methods presented are applicable to any synoptic
Arctic weather station with present weather codes.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My PhD journey was a beautiful challenge and experience that would not have been
possible without the help and guidance of many individuals. This thesis is the result of
support from a wonderful supervisor, encouraging committee members and colleagues,
talented scientists I met at conferences, helpful and empathetic academic staff at the
University of Lethbridge, and my generous and loving friends and family.

The person who undoubtedly contributed the most to my success is my dedicated PhD
supervisor Dr. Hester Jiskoot. I am extremely thankful that she offered me the
opportunity to conduct my PhD under her supervision and become her first PhD student
in the Glaciology & Geoscience Lab. Her trust and wisdom carried me all along my PhD
journey. With her scientific rigour, creativity and fairness, Hester is an inspiring model.
She helped me develop as an academic thanks to her ongoing constructive feedback on all
aspects of my thesis and because she offered me exceptional opportunities such as
participating in prestigious graduate courses and international conferences. Under her
supervision I learned to develop research ideas, write proposals and scientific
manuscripts, and prepare effective presentations for conferences or teaching. Her advice
went beyond my graduate programme since I also learned about research ethics and to
initiate new research projects in collaboration with other scientists. Besides being a great
researcher and supervisor, Hester is also a kind and generous person, who had always had
a thought for me on celebration days or when I was recovering from my work-related
injury. Lastly, I want to thank Hester for her availability and the considerable amount of
time that she spent revising draft chapters of this thesis in great detail. I sincerely hope I
will have the opportunity to keep collaborating with her beyond the scope of this thesis.
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My supportive PhD supervisory committee has also played a crucial role in the
accomplishment of this thesis. Drs. Matthew Letts and Chris Hopkinson are highly
acknowledged for their time, ongoing encouragement, guidance and critical feedback
throughout the years. Chris was very helpful with feedback on funding proposal writing,
and is thanked for giving me the opportunity to teach for him, participate in field work,
and learn about observation techniques in hydrology. I would like to thank Matt for
giving critical feedback on part of this thesis before submission, as well as for
encouraging me to seek specific expertise in Arctic boundary-layer processes. Following
his suggestions and supported by Hester, I participated in the Arctic Atmospheric
Boundary Layer and Local Climate Processes course at the University Centre in Svalbard
(UNIS), which allowed me to gain the background knowledge that I was missing. During
that course I had the great opportunity to meet Dr. John Cassano (CIRES), who kindly
offered to become my fourth PhD committee member, and who has since provided
invaluable feedback on my research. I am extremely grateful for his time, consideration
and advice, and feel honoured to have him as co-author on several manuscripts.
Additionally, I would like to particularly thank my two external examiners Drs. Larry
Flanagan (University of Lethbridge) and Andy Bush (University of Alberta) for their
valuable feedback and thorough review of my thesis.

During my participation in two international PhD courses and various conferences, I was
fortunate to meet scientists from across the world whose expertise have contributed to the
development of my research ideas and who helped me grow as an academic. I thank Dr.
Hans Oerlemans for leading the 2014 Karthaus Summer School on Ice Sheets and
Glaciers in the Climate System, and Dr. Marius Jonassen for allowing me to live the
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exceptional experience of participating in a 2016 UNIS graduate course. Fruitful
discussions with Dr. Jakob Abermann (Asiaq) directed part of this work towards
microwave radiometer data and opened my mind to creative research ideas. I am also
grateful to have crossed paths with Dr. Robert Schemenauer (FogQuest), who is a kind
and wise man and respected scientist who I was very happy to meet. Our discussions
about academic career and life in general were very enlightening. I would like to
especially acknowledge him for introducing me to Dr. Ismail Gultepe, one of the top fog
scientists in Canada. Dr. Gultepe generously invested a week of his time to talk about fog
processes and to show me his extensive suite of fog measuring instruments, which was a
unique experience. In addition, he gave me the opportunity to deliver a department
seminar during my visit to Environment and Climate Change Canada, as well as be part
of his EGU-2017 session. He is further highly acknowledged for his co-authorship on the
Boundary-Layer Meteorology manuscript.

In addition, I would like to acknowledge several scientists who I have not had a chance to
meet in person, but who provided me with important information for the achievement of
this thesis. I thank Dr. Timothy James for providing his time-lapse images that were an
invaluable support to complement my radiosonde data analysis. Dr. Andy Rhines
(University of Washington, http://www.stochtastic.com/) is acknowledged for sharing his
Matlab script to extract radiosonde data. Dr. Michael Tjernström and John Cappelen
provided important information regarding field data and fog measurement techniques.

During my PhD journey, I received a considerable support from colleagues and
academics at the University of Lethbridge. I would like to particularly thank Drs. Phil
Bonnaventure and Rob Laird who provided advice about data analysis and statistics, and
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Drs. Shawn Bubel and Stefan Kienzle for contributing to my PhD comprehensive
examination. Orrin Hawke, Ben Fox and Tyrell Nielsen, undergraduate students
supervised by Hester, are acknowledged for their help in contributing to the development
of some of the Matlab scripts for Chapter 2, researching relevant literature on fog
microphysics, and retrieving CALIPSO data. The teaching seminars delivered by Dr.
Doug Orr were very instructive, and helpful for developing my teaching and presentation
skills. I thank Dr. Wesley Van Wychen for providing me with valuable feedback on oral
presentations. All other lab mates, particularly Jade Cooley, are acknowledged for their
good and productive working atmosphere. I also want to thank all graduate students I had
the pleasure to meet during my stay at the University of Lethbridge, including Charmaine,
Colin, Gordon, Dave, Shaghayegh, Nima, Marcus, Ashley, Linda and Thais. In addition, I
would like to thank Suzanne McIntosh, Dean Rob Wood, Kathy Schrage and all medical
staff for their help, support and accommodation following my work-related injury
occurring in the early stages of my PhD.

I acknowledge my funding agencies for making this project possible. This PhD was
supported by an NSERC Discovery Grant to Dr. Hester Jiskoot, an Alberta Innovates
Technology Futures Graduate Scholarship, and various University of Lethbridge
scholarships and awards. Additional funding was through a Women Scholars Award,
Gem and Mineral Federation of Canada Scholarship, LPIRG, IASC-NAG and AGU
student travel grants, and Karthaus and UNIS funding.

I am eternally grateful to all my former mentors who have inspired me from the
beginning, and who encouraged and supported me to pursue an academic career. I
sincerely hope to honour them with this thesis. I thank my former supervisors and
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professors Drs. Jean-Louis Tison, Frank Pattyn and Tim Papakyriakou for their guidance
and inspiration. I would like to give special consideration to Dr. Gauthier Carnat, whose
passion for and commitment to Arctic sciences motivated and inspired me throughout my
research. I also extend my gratitude to my exceptional former supervisors and professors
Dr. Edward Keppens, Dr. Shawn Marshall and Dr. Diane Lavoie, who always believed in
my potential and wrote letters of reference in support of my PhD applications. My former
colleagues and friends Dr. Leanne Wake, Dr. Yue Huang and Erwan Renaudin are also
highly acknowledged for their assistance with my PhD and funding applications. For this
I would also like to thank Dr. Elisabeth Varennes and Nicolas Lambert, who also taught
me the basics of computer programming.

Finally, this thesis would not have been possible without the help and support from my
friends, family and other people who I was very fortunate to meet. I am grateful for all the
friends I made in my Department, during the Karthaus summer school, UNIS course and
at the various international conferences, particularly Sally, Elina, Jenny, Sharon, and
Klara. I would like to thank Jody, Shirley and Hester for hosting me at their house when I
encountered accommodation difficulties. I want to thank my awesome roommates and
friends Kim and Maggie, and all friends who visited me in Lethbridge. I am grateful for
my long-lasting friendship with Ellie, Rongxu, Stéphane and Fatiha, as well as for their
emotional support. I particularly thank Rongxu for initiating me to gardening, which
brought a lot of serenity into my life.

I would like to give a special thanks to Sue and Bill, my “Canadian parents”, who offered
me fun, safety, and peace, and without whom my PhD journey would not have been the
same. I am extremely thankful to know them and to be part of their life. I thank them a
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thousand times for helping me with stress management, as well as for feeding me during
the last few weeks of my thesis writing. I am also thanking all my FACES friends,
particularly Megan, Dani and Maximo, for their precious emotional support during my
entire PhD. I am very thankful for Joan’s generosity when I needed rides to Calgary as
part of my recovery.

I want to thank all my Belgian friends for their unconditional support despite the distance,
especially Nathalie and James, and in addition Nicole and my godmother Brigitte for their
immense emotional support throughout my degree. Claude and Maî-thé, Danielle,
Laurent, Andra, Bob Le Marinel and Maribel are also acknowledged. My uncle Dr. Jean-
François Van Huele is highly acknowledged for his advice and immense support. Lastly, I
want to express gratitude to my mum and my grandparents, who were my best supporters
and fans. My mum has been very generous and supportive throughout my PhD. I feel
extremely fortunate that both my grandparents are still part of this world today and are
able to witness my academic accomplishments. I hope they will be honoured and filled
with pride.

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