How to observe temperature and precipitation in Antarctica

Thermometers at Antarctic observatories are usually housed in traditional shutters, but this is not entirely satisfactory. The grille vent type louvers will be blocked by blowing snow, and in the Antarctic summer, because they cannot provide sufficient shielding, especially when the wind speed is low, they are often subject to strong solar radiation from the sky and reflected from the snow surface. For this reason, caution should be used when reporting maximum temperatures during the summer months. To solve the problem of direct sunlight in summer, some stations place thermometers in artificially ventilated radiation shields. Temperature has traditionally been measured using mercury and alcohol thermometers, with the latter used to measure temperatures below about -30°C. In automated systems, these thermometers are replaced by platinum resistors or semiconductor temperature sensors.

There is no truly satisfactory technology for measuring precipitation at Antarctic observatories. Since collection volume is greatly affected by wind speed and there is no way to differentiate between falling and blowing snow, traditional snow cones are nearly useless. Most precipitation in the plateau area is a nearly continuous stream of fine ice crystals, and the annual precipitation is less than 50mm of water equivalent. Measuring snow accumulation with an array of snow stakes can measure snowfall, provided that aspects such as compaction, evaporation, and movement of blowing snow are taken into account. Observed data on precipitation frequency, type and intensity as mentioned previously can be used as indicators of precipitation variability, however it is difficult to convert them into absolute totals without some correction by some means. New optical precipitation sensor promises improved observations of Antarctic precipitation.