Antarctic meteorological observations on the GTS during the FROST project

An assessment is made of the availability of Antarctic synoptic observations on the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Global Telecommunication System (GTS) during the trial periods (5–9 July 1993 and 1–15 February 1994) and winter and summer special observing periods (SOPs) (July 1994 and January 1995) of the Antarctic First Regional Observing Study of the Troposphere project. The data collected at two nodes of the GTS—Melbourne, Australia, and Bracknell, United Kingdom—are considered. Data received at Melbourne were passed on to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology in Hobart and those received at Bracknell were passed similarly on to Cambridge. The trial periods showed that there were large differences in the number of surface observations received at the two nodes. Although Hobart always received more upper-air data than Cambridge, the reverse was true with automatic weather station (AWS) data. The experience from the SOPs indicates that there are now almost 50% more AWS observations on the GTS than surface observations from the staffed stations.