Long-Term Variability of Surface Albedo and Its Correlation with Climatic Variables over Antarctica

Abstract

Abstract:The cryosphere is an essential part of the earth system for understanding climate change. Components of the cryosphere, such as ice sheets and sea ice, are generally decreasing over time. However, previous studies have indicated differing trends between the Antarctic and the Arctic. The South Pole also shows internal differences in trends. These phenomena indicate the importance of continuous observation of the Polar Regions. Albedo is a main indicator for analyzing Antarctic climate change and is an important variable with regard to the radiation budget because it can provide positive feedback on polar warming and is related to net radiation and atmospheric heating in the mainly snow-and ice-covered Antarctic. Therefore, in this study, we analyzed long-term temporal and spatial variability of albedo and investigated the interrelationships between albedo and climatic variables over Antarctica. We used broadband surface albedo data from the Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring and data for several climatic variables such as temperature and Antarctic oscillation index (AAO) during the period of 1983 to 2009. Time series analysis and correlation analysis were performed through linear regression using albedo and climatic variables. The results of this research indicated that albedo shows two trends, west trend and an east trend, over Antarctica. Most of the western side of Antarctica showed a negative trend of albedo (about −0.0007 to −0.0015 year −1 ), but the other side showed a positive trend (about 0.0006 year −1 ). In addition, albedo and surface temperature had a negative correlation, but this relationship was weaker in west Antarctica than in east Antarctica. The correlation between albedo and AAO revealed different relationships in the two regions; west Antarctica had a negative correlation and east Antarctica showed a positive correlation. In addition, the correlation between albedo and AAO was weaker in the west. This suggests that the eastern area is influenced by the atmosphere, but that the western area is influenced more strongly by other factors.

Spatial and temporal variations of the surface albedo and other factors influencing Urumqi Glacier No. 1 in Tien Shan, China

“…Glacier albedo variations occur on many timescales (e.g., seasonal, as the surface type changes from snow to ice and vice versa; short-term, due to melting of a thin snow layer and the accumulation of meltwater on the surface; within minutes, as a result of atmospheric conditions such as cloud cover and solar incidence angle) (Jonsell and others, 2003;Brock, 2004;Seo and others, 2016). Reduced albedo is linked to stronger warming trends in some regions, early melt onset, a lack of wintertime accumulation, expansion of bare ice area, high concentrations of impurities (cryoconite, dust and soot), melting of outcropped ice layers enriched with mineral content, and enhanced meltwater production and runoff ( Moustafa and others, 2015).…”

Summer albedo variations in the Arctic Sea ice region from 1982 to 2015

“…Albedo is the ratio between the solar energy reflected from the surface and the incident solar energy (Seo et al, 2016). The shortwave surface albedo is an important driver of the surface energy budget of the Earth.…”

“…When the sea ice is covered with snow, 85% of the solar radiation reaching the ice surface is reflected back, while only 6-7% of the incident solar energy is reflected from the surface of the open water (Massom et al, 2001). The albedo of sea ice greatly affects the radiation budget in the Arctic (Ke et al, 2014;Seo et al, 2016). The decrease in the Arctic Sea ice albedo between 1979 and 2011 resulted in an average annual increase of 6.4 ± 0.9 WÁm −2 in the radiation heat absorbed by the oceans (Pistone et al, 2014).…”

The Characteristics of Surface Albedo Change Trends over the Antarctic Sea Ice Region during Recent Decades

“…Using the Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring (CM SAF) in the European Organisation for Exploitation of Meteorological Satellite "The CM SAF Cloud, Albedo, Remote Sens. 2019, 11, 821 3 of 25and Surface Radiation dataset from AVHRR data"-first edition (CLARA-A1) product, Seo et al (2016) analyzed the temporal and spatial variabilities of albedo over the Antarctic ice sheet [40,41].Climate change detection is one of the core issues in climate change research, and it plays a crucial role in accurately estimating global and regional climate change trends [42]. Conventionally, linear regression [38], least squares [43], moving average [3] and polynomial [44] are used for trend estimation in climate change research and for many studies of sea ice, particularly in the Polar Regions.…”