1 1 WIND-DRIVEN SUBLIMATION IMPACT ON SURFACE MASS BALANCE AND ICE CORE INTERPRETATION IN EAST ANTARCTICA

• Main Authors: Massimo Frezzotti, Michel Pourchet, Onelio Flora, Stefano G, Michel Gay, Stefano Urbini, Silvia Becagli, Roberto Gragnani, Marco Proposito, Mirko Severi, Rita Traversi, Roberto Udisti, Michel Fily
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: East Antarctica; Terra Nova Bay; Antarc*; Antarctica; ice core
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.573.427; http://www.gipsa-lab.grenoble-inp.fr/megator/publication/Frezzotti_2007_JGR.pdf

Surface mass balance distribution and its temporal and spatial variability is an input parameter in mass balance studies. It also has important implications for palaeoclimatic series from ice cores. Different methods were adopted, compared and integrated (stake farm, core analysis, snow radar, surface morphology, remote sensing) at eight sites along a transept from Terra Nova Bay to Dome C (East Antarctica). Cores were linked by snow radar and GPS surveys to provide detailed information on spatial variability in surface mass balance. Thirty-nine cores were dated by identifying tritium/β marker levels (1965-66) and nssSO42- spikes of Tambora and Unknown volcanic events (1816-1810) in order to provide information on temporal variability. Spatial variability measurements show that maximum snow accumulation is strictly correlated to firn temperature and that it is homogenous at macro-scales (hundreds of km2). Wind-driven sublimation processes, controlled by surface slope in the wind direction, have a huge impact (up to