ABSTRACT. Persistent katabatic winds form widely distributed localized areas of near-zero net surface accumulation on the East Antarctic ice sheet (EAIS) plateau. These areas have been called ‘glaze’ surfaces due to their polished appearance. They are typically 2–200 km 2 in area and are found on le...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.391.9222 http://www.mers.byu.edu/long/papers/JGlac2012_GlazeExtent.pdf |
| Summary: | ABSTRACT. Persistent katabatic winds form widely distributed localized areas of near-zero net surface accumulation on the East Antarctic ice sheet (EAIS) plateau. These areas have been called ‘glaze’ surfaces due to their polished appearance. They are typically 2–200 km 2 in area and are found on leeward slopes of ice-sheet undulations and megadunes. Adjacent, leeward high-accumulation regions (isolated dunes) are generally smaller and do not compensate for the local low in surface mass balance (SMB). We use a combination of satellite remote sensing and field-gathered datasets to map the extent of wind glaze in the EAIS above 1500 m elevation. Mapping criteria are derived from distinctive surface and subsurface characteristics of glaze areas resulting from many years of intense annual temperature cycling without significant burial. Our results show that 11.2 � 1.7%, or 950 � 143 � 10 3 km 2, of the EAIS above 1500 m is wind glaze. Studies of SMB interpolate values across glaze regions, leading to overestimates of net mass input. Using our derived wind-glaze extent, we estimate this excess in three recent models of Antarctic SMB at 46–82 Gt. The lowest-input model appears to best match the mean in regions of extensive wind glaze. |
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