Terrestrial atmospheric responses on Svalbard to the 20 March 2015 Arctic total solar eclipse under extreme conditions

This article reports on the near-surface atmospheric response at the High Arctic site of Svalbard, latitude 78° N, as a result of abrupt changes in solar insolation during the 20 March 2015 equinox total solar eclipse and notifies the atmospheric science community of the availability of a rare dataset. Svalbard was central in the path of totality, and had completely clear skies. Measurements of shaded air temperature and atmospheric pressure show only weak, if any, responses to the reduced insolation. A minimum in the air temperature at 1.5m above the ground occurred starting 2min following the end of totality, though this drop was only slightly beyond the observed variability for the midday period. Eclipseproduced variations in surface pressure, if present, were less than 0.3 hPa. This article is part of the themed issue Atmospheric effects of solar eclipses stimulated by the 2015 UK eclipse.