Spatial variation of snowfall accumulation on Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf

Antarctica is a relatively understudied area, where we primarily use the Antarctic Mesoscale Precipitation System (AMPS) weather model to estimate and predict snowfall amounts. Understanding snow accumulation in Antarctica may help us calculate the snowmass budget of its ice sheets and adjust estima...

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Main Authors: Losmozos, Laura, Landolt, Scott
Format: Text
Language:unknown
Published: DigitalCommons@CalPoly 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/star/495
https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/context/star/article/1553/viewcontent/Laura_Losmozos.pdf
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spelling ftcalpoly:oai:digitalcommons.calpoly.edu:star-1553 2023-11-12T04:04:52+01:00 Spatial variation of snowfall accumulation on Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf Losmozos, Laura Landolt, Scott 2019-01-01T08:00:00Z application/pdf https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/star/495 https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/context/star/article/1553/viewcontent/Laura_Losmozos.pdf unknown DigitalCommons@CalPoly https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/star/495 https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/context/star/article/1553/viewcontent/Laura_Losmozos.pdf STAR Program Research Presentations text 2019 ftcalpoly 2023-10-17T10:00:53Z Antarctica is a relatively understudied area, where we primarily use the Antarctic Mesoscale Precipitation System (AMPS) weather model to estimate and predict snowfall amounts. Understanding snow accumulation in Antarctica may help us calculate the snowmass budget of its ice sheets and adjust estimates of sea level rise due to melting. In this study, automated weather instruments were installed in November 2017 to measure liquid water equivalent (LWE) amounts of snowfall across four field sites on the Ross Ice Shelf during an 8-month period and used to determine variation of snow accumulation. The raw Pluvio2 data for all sites were plotted and compared, while snow events for each site were identified and sorted based on LWE and date. Our study found that the two sites more inland of the Ross Ice Shelf accumulated less snowfall, likely due to terrain effects of local, snowfall-enhancing upslope effects, suggesting that ice sheet growth may be greater near Antarctica’s coastlines. Snow events were often followed by sublimation events, appearing greatest in summer and minimal in winter. This research provides novel insights on accumulation trends and serves as a model for the potential of future automated weather systems in Antarctica. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ross Ice Shelf DigitalCommons@CalPoly (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo) Antarctic Ross Ice Shelf The Antarctic
institution Open Polar
collection DigitalCommons@CalPoly (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo)
op_collection_id ftcalpoly
language unknown
description Antarctica is a relatively understudied area, where we primarily use the Antarctic Mesoscale Precipitation System (AMPS) weather model to estimate and predict snowfall amounts. Understanding snow accumulation in Antarctica may help us calculate the snowmass budget of its ice sheets and adjust estimates of sea level rise due to melting. In this study, automated weather instruments were installed in November 2017 to measure liquid water equivalent (LWE) amounts of snowfall across four field sites on the Ross Ice Shelf during an 8-month period and used to determine variation of snow accumulation. The raw Pluvio2 data for all sites were plotted and compared, while snow events for each site were identified and sorted based on LWE and date. Our study found that the two sites more inland of the Ross Ice Shelf accumulated less snowfall, likely due to terrain effects of local, snowfall-enhancing upslope effects, suggesting that ice sheet growth may be greater near Antarctica’s coastlines. Snow events were often followed by sublimation events, appearing greatest in summer and minimal in winter. This research provides novel insights on accumulation trends and serves as a model for the potential of future automated weather systems in Antarctica.
format Text
author Losmozos, Laura
Landolt, Scott
spellingShingle Losmozos, Laura
Landolt, Scott
Spatial variation of snowfall accumulation on Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf
author_facet Losmozos, Laura
Landolt, Scott
author_sort Losmozos, Laura
title Spatial variation of snowfall accumulation on Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf
title_short Spatial variation of snowfall accumulation on Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf
title_full Spatial variation of snowfall accumulation on Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf
title_fullStr Spatial variation of snowfall accumulation on Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf
title_full_unstemmed Spatial variation of snowfall accumulation on Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf
title_sort spatial variation of snowfall accumulation on antarctica’s ross ice shelf
publisher DigitalCommons@CalPoly
publishDate 2019
url https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/star/495
https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/context/star/article/1553/viewcontent/Laura_Losmozos.pdf
geographic Antarctic
Ross Ice Shelf
The Antarctic
geographic_facet Antarctic
Ross Ice Shelf
The Antarctic
genre Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctica
Ice Sheet
Ice Shelf
Ross Ice Shelf
genre_facet Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctica
Ice Sheet
Ice Shelf
Ross Ice Shelf
op_source STAR Program Research Presentations
op_relation https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/star/495
https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/context/star/article/1553/viewcontent/Laura_Losmozos.pdf
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