Spatial and temporal variability of snow accumulation in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica, including two deep ice coring sites at Dome Fuji and EPICA DML

Abstract

To better understand the spatio-temporal variability of the glaciological environment in Dronning Maud Land (DML), East Antarctica, investigations were carried out along the 2800-km-long Japanese-Swedish IPY 2007/2008 traverse. The route covers ice sheet ridges and two deep ice coring sites at Dome Fuji and EPICA DML. The surface mass balance (SMB) distribution was derived based on analysis of isochrones within snow pits, firn cores and subsurface radar signals. The SMB averaged over various time scales in the Holocene was determined. This was then compared with various glaciological data. We find that the large-scale distribution of the SMB depends on the surface elevation, continentality and interactions between ice sheet ridges and the prevailing counterclockwise windfield in DML. A different SMB is found for the windward and leeward sides of the ridges. Local-scale variability in the SMB is essentially governed by bedrock topography which determines the local surface topography. In the eastern part of DML, the accumulation rate in the second half of the 20th century is found to be higher by 15 % compared to averages over longer periods of 722 a or 7.9 ka before AD 2008. A similar trend has been reported for many inland plateau sites in East Antarctica

In situ sampled snow particle sizes of the East Antarctic ice sheet and their relation to physical and remotely sensed snow surface parameters

“…The material for this analysis is based on data collected during the 2007/08 JASE traverse in DML (Fujita and others, 2011). During the Swedish part of JASE, surface snow, defined as the topmost 1 cm of the snowpack, was sampled at 62 sites along the 1800 km route from the coastal Swedish station (73°04′ S, 13°41′ W) to the meeting point with the Japanese expedition team (75°89′ S, 25°83′ W).…”

“…As early as 1955, Schytt investigated snow accumulation patterns, snow albedo and snow particle size on the EAIS (Schytt, 1958). During the International Polar Year (2007–09), the Japanese–Swedish Antarctic Expedition (JASE) 2007–08 traversed the EAIS (Fujita and others, 2011), which provided a unique opportunity to investigate snow properties such as snow particle size and snow surface hardness across a large area. The motivation for determining these snow properties along the route was to aid the interpretation of remote-sensing data since parameters such as snow particle size strongly affect the scattering properties of the snowpack and the reflectivity from the snow surface (Wiscombe and Warren, 1980; Ulaby and Dobson, 1989; Fierz and others, 2009).…”