Journal ArticleDOI
New estimations of precipitation and surface sublimation in East Antarctica from snow accumulation measurements
Massimo Frezzotti,M. Pourchet,O. Flora,Stefano Gandolfi,Stefano Urbini,Christian Vincent,Silvia Becagli,R. Gragnani,Marco Proposito,Mirko Severi,Rita Traversi,Roberto Udisti,Michel Fily +12 more
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TLDR
In this paper, different methods were used, compared and integrated (stake farms, ice cores, snow radar, surface morphology, remote sensing) at eight sites along a transect from Terra Nova Bay (TNB) to Dome C (DC) (East Antarctica), to provide detailed information on the SMB.Abstract:
Surface mass balance (SMB) distribution and its temporal and spatial variability is an essential input parameter in mass balance studies. Different methods were used, compared and integrated (stake farms, ice cores, snow radar, surface morphology, remote sensing) at eight sites along a transect from Terra Nova Bay (TNB) to Dome C (DC) (East Antarctica), to provide detailed information on the SMB. Spatial variability measurements show that the measured maximum snow accumulation (SA) in a 15 km area is well correlated to firn temperature. Wind-driven sublimation processes, controlled by the surface slope in the wind direction, have a huge impact (up to 85% of snow precipitation) on SMB and are significant in terms of past, present and future SMB evaluations. The snow redistribution process is local and has a strong impact on the annual variability of accumulation. The spatial variability of SMB at the kilometre scale is one order of magnitude higher than its temporal variability (20–30%) at the centennial time scale. This high spatial variability is due to wind-driven sublimation. Compared with our SMB calculations, previous compilations generally over-estimate SMB, up to 65% in some areas.read more
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Journal ArticleDOI
Antarctic climate change and the environment
Peter Convey,Robert Bindschadler,G. di Prisco,Eberhard Fahrbach,Julian Gutt,Dominic A. Hodgson,Paul Andrew Mayewski,Colin Summerhayes,John Turner +8 more
TL;DR: The Southern Hemisphere climate system varies on timescales from orbital, through millennial to sub-annual, and is closely coupled to other parts of the global climate system as discussed by the authors.
Journal ArticleDOI
Ground‐based measurements of spatial and temporal variability of snow accumulation in East Antarctica
Olaf Eisen,Olaf Eisen,Massimo Frezzotti,Christophe Genthon,Elisabeth Isaksson,Olivier Magand,Michiel R. van den Broeke,Daniel A. Dixon,Alexey A. Ekaykin,Per Holmlund,Takao Kameda,L. Karlöf,Susan Kaspari,Vladimir Ya. Lipenkov,Hans Oerter,Shuhei Takahashi,David G. Vaughan +16 more
TL;DR: In this article, an overview of the various measurement techniques, related difficulties, and limitations of data interpretation; describe spatial characteristics of East Antarctic SMB and issues related to the spatial and temporal representativity of measurements; and provide recommendations on how to perform in situ measurements.
Journal ArticleDOI
State of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean climate system
Paul Andrew Mayewski,Michael P. Meredith,Colin Summerhayes,John Turner,Anthony P. Worby,Peter Barrett,Gino Casassa,Nancy A. N. Bertler,Nancy A. N. Bertler,Thomas J. Bracegirdle,A. C. Naveira Garabato,David H. Bromwich,H. Campbell,Gordon S. Hamilton,W. B. Lyons,Kirk A. Maasch,S. Aoki,Cunde Xiao,Cunde Xiao,Tas van Ommen +19 more
TL;DR: A review of the state of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean climate, and its relation to the global climate system over the last few millennia can be found in this paper, where a network of recently available shallow firn cores, and to that of the past 50 years, which was monitored by the continuous instrumental record.
Journal ArticleDOI
A Review of Antarctic Surface Snow Isotopic Composition : Observations, Atmospheric Circulation, and Isotopic Modeling
Valérie Masson-Delmotte,Shugui Hou,Alexey A. Ekaykin,Jean Jouzel,Alberto J. Aristarain,Ronaldo T. Bernardo,David H. Bromwich,Olivier Cattani,Marc Delmotte,S. Falourd,Massimo Frezzotti,Hubert Gallée,L. Genoni,Elisabeth Isaksson,Amaelle Landais,Amaelle Landais,M. M. Helsen,George R. Hoffmann,J. Lopez,Vin Morgan,Hideaki Motoyama,David Noone,H. Oerter,J. R. Petit,A. Royer,Ryu Uemura,Gavin A. Schmidt,Elisabeth Schlosser,Jefferson Cardia Simões,Eric J. Steig,Barbara Stenni,Michel Stievenard,M. R. van den Broeke,R. S. W. van de Wal,W. J. van de Berg,Françoise Vimeux,James W. C. White +36 more
TL;DR: In this article, a database of surface Antarctic snow isotopic composition is constructed using available measurements, with an estimate of data quality and local variability, and the capacity of theoretical isotopic, regional, and general circulation atmospheric models to reproduce the observed features and assess the role of moisture advection in spatial deuterium excess fluctuations.
Journal ArticleDOI
An Assessment of Precipitation Changes over Antarctica and the Southern Ocean since 1989 in Contemporary Global Reanalyses
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluated the temporal variability of the Antarctic surface mass balance, approximated as precipitation minus evaporation (P − E), and Southern Ocean precipitation in five global reanalyses during 1989-2009.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Mass Balance of Polar Ice Sheets
Eric Rignot,Robert H. Thomas +1 more
TL;DR: Recent advances in the determination of the mass balance of polar ice sheets show that the Greenland Ice Sheet is losing mass by near-coastal thinning, and that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, with thickening in the west and thinning in the north, is probably thinning overall.
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TL;DR: In this article, the large-scale circulation of the Antarctic atmosphere was studied and the Synoptic-scale weather systems and fronts were discussed. But the authors focused on the distribution of the weather system and processes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Reassessment of net surface mass balance in Antarctica
TL;DR: In this article, a new elevation model of Antarctica derived from ERS-1 satellite altimetry supplemented with conventional data was used to delineate the ice flow drainage basins across Antarctica.
Journal ArticleDOI
Snowfall in high southern latitudes
TL;DR: In this paper, the meridional distribution of precipitation over Antarctica is due to the orographic lifting of moist air by the ice sheet, and indirect estimates based upon the atmospheric water balance equation provide seasonal precipitation amounts for areas larger than 1×106 km².
Journal ArticleDOI
On the glaciological, meteorological, and climatological significance of Antarctic blue ice areas
TL;DR: In this article, the current state of knowledge about Antarctic blue ice areas is presented, and several gaps in our knowledge about blue ice area research are addressed. And several suggestions for future research are given.