The Role of Atmospheric Processes in the Antarctic Ice Mass Balance

• Main Author: Michele Carmen Smith
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1995
• Subjects: Antarctic; Halley Station; The Antarctic; Antarc*; British Antarctic Survey; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.23.9050; http://www.env.leeds.ac.uk/~gmann/./Public/Smiththesis/Smithesis.ps.gz

A continent-scale appraisal of the role played by blowing snow on the Antarctic climatology and the Antarctic ice-sheet surface mass balance is the principal concern of this research. Quantitative yearly estimates of total drift transports of snow by the Antarctic surface-winds, and a respective annual value for the total mass of this surface snow which subsequently evaporates/sublimes due to its suspension in turbulent atmosphere is presented. To this end, a numerical model has been developed to allow for seasonal predictions of horizontal fluxes of snow and total sublimation of drifting snow founded on seasonal averages of wind, temperature and humidity issued by the Meteorological Office. Local climates are reproduced by the numerical model through simple parametrisations of the vertical distributions of wind, temperature, humidity and snow mass concentrations. Model values are extrapolated over the entire continent. Models adopted in the large scale simulation over longer time scales have been founded on smaller time scale simulation of the local climate during autumn and winter at Halley station during 1991. This has involved analysing humidity and temperature data provided by the British Antarctic Survey forming part of a data set investigating aspects of blowing snow. Seasonal and annual wind speed frequency distributions obtained from a number of experimental sites around the continent has resulted in the the use of probability models to describe the spatial variability of the seasonal wind ranges observed over the continent. Collectively, these simple models of the atmospheric characteristics of the near-surface layer over the continent have been coupled with a new theoretical model of the vertical distribution of a suspended snow mass. This model recognises th.