Seasonal variations of the near surface layer parameters over the Antarctic ice sheet in Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica

• Main Authors: Zhigang, Chen, Lingen, Bian, Cunde, Xiao, Longhua, Lu, Allison, Ian
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Polar Research Institute of China - PRIC 2007
• Subjects: Atmosphere; Antarctic; The Antarctic; East Antarctica; Zhongshan; Zhongshan Station; Princess Elizabeth Land; Advances in Polar Science; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet; Polar Science
• Online Access: http://library.arcticportal.org/2338/; http://library.arcticportal.org/2338/1/A200702003.pdf

Analysis of sensible heat flux (Qh), latent heat flux (Qe), Richardson number (Ri), bulk transport coefficient (Cd) and katabatic winds are presented by using the meteorological data in the near surface layer from an automatic weather station (AWS) in Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica ice sheet and the data of corresponding period at Zhongshan station in 2002. It shows that annual mean air temperature at LGB69 is -25.6°C, which is 16.4°C lower than that at Zhongshan, where the elevation is lower and located on the coast. The temperature lapse rate is about 1.0°C/100m for the initial from coast to inland. The turbulence heat flux at LGB69 displays obvious seasonal variations with the average sensible heat flux -17.9 W/m2 and latent heat flux -0.9 W/m2. The intensity (Qh + Qe) of cooling source is -18.8 W/m2 meaning the snow surface layer obtains heat from atmosphere. The near surface atmosphere is near-neutral stratified with bulk transport coefficients (Cd) around 28x10(-3), and it is near constant when the wind speed higher than 8 m/s. The speed and the frequency of easterly Katabatic winds at LGB69 were higher than that at Zhongshan Station.