Spatiotemporal variation in the specific surface area of surface snow measured along the traverse route from the coast to Dome Fuji, Antarctica
To better understand the surface properties of the Antarctic ice sheet, we measured the specific surface area (SSA) of surface snow during two round-trip traverses between a coastal base near Syowa Station, located 15 km inland from the nearest coast, and Dome Fuji, located 1066 km inland, in East A...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:egusphere118814 2024-09-09T19:12:04+00:00 Spatiotemporal variation in the specific surface area of surface snow measured along the traverse route from the coast to Dome Fuji, Antarctica Inoue, Ryo Aoki, Teruo Fujita, Shuji Tsutaki, Shun Motoyama, Hideaki Nakazawa, Fumio Kawamura, Kenji 2024-08-09 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-769 https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2024/egusphere-2024-769/ eng eng doi:10.5194/egusphere-2024-769 https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2024/egusphere-2024-769/ eISSN: Text 2024 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-769 2024-08-12T14:05:16Z To better understand the surface properties of the Antarctic ice sheet, we measured the specific surface area (SSA) of surface snow during two round-trip traverses between a coastal base near Syowa Station, located 15 km inland from the nearest coast, and Dome Fuji, located 1066 km inland, in East Antarctica from November 2021 to January 2022. Using a handheld integrating sphere snow grain sizer (HISSGraS), which directly measures the snow surface without sampling, we collected 215 sets of SSA data, with each set comprising measurements from 10 surfaces along a 20 m transect. The measured SSA shows no elevation or temperature dependence between 15 and 500 km from the coast (elevation: 615–3000 m), with a mean and standard deviation of 25 ± 9 m 2 kg −1 . Beyond this range, SSA increases toward the interior, reaching 45 ± 11 m 2 kg −1 between 800 and 1066 km from the coast (3600–3800 m). SSA shows significant variability depending on surface morphologies and meteorological events. For example, (i) glazed surfaces formed by an accumulation hiatus in katabatic wind areas show low SSA (19 ± 4 m 2 kg −1 ), decreasing the mean SSA and increasing SSA variability. (ii) Freshly deposited snow shows high SSA (60–110 m 2 kg −1 ), but the snow deposition is inhibited by snow drifting at wind speeds above 5 m s −1 . Our analyses clarified that temperature-dependent snow metamorphism, snowfall frequency, and wind-driven inhibition of snow deposition play crucial roles in the spatial variation of surface snow SSA in the Antarctic inland. The extensive dataset will enable the validation of satellite-derived and model-simulated SSA variations across Antarctica. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Antarctic Dome Fuji ENVELOPE(39.700,39.700,-77.317,-77.317) East Antarctica Syowa Station The Antarctic |
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Open Polar |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
To better understand the surface properties of the Antarctic ice sheet, we measured the specific surface area (SSA) of surface snow during two round-trip traverses between a coastal base near Syowa Station, located 15 km inland from the nearest coast, and Dome Fuji, located 1066 km inland, in East Antarctica from November 2021 to January 2022. Using a handheld integrating sphere snow grain sizer (HISSGraS), which directly measures the snow surface without sampling, we collected 215 sets of SSA data, with each set comprising measurements from 10 surfaces along a 20 m transect. The measured SSA shows no elevation or temperature dependence between 15 and 500 km from the coast (elevation: 615–3000 m), with a mean and standard deviation of 25 ± 9 m 2 kg −1 . Beyond this range, SSA increases toward the interior, reaching 45 ± 11 m 2 kg −1 between 800 and 1066 km from the coast (3600–3800 m). SSA shows significant variability depending on surface morphologies and meteorological events. For example, (i) glazed surfaces formed by an accumulation hiatus in katabatic wind areas show low SSA (19 ± 4 m 2 kg −1 ), decreasing the mean SSA and increasing SSA variability. (ii) Freshly deposited snow shows high SSA (60–110 m 2 kg −1 ), but the snow deposition is inhibited by snow drifting at wind speeds above 5 m s −1 . Our analyses clarified that temperature-dependent snow metamorphism, snowfall frequency, and wind-driven inhibition of snow deposition play crucial roles in the spatial variation of surface snow SSA in the Antarctic inland. The extensive dataset will enable the validation of satellite-derived and model-simulated SSA variations across Antarctica. |
format |
Text |
author |
Inoue, Ryo Aoki, Teruo Fujita, Shuji Tsutaki, Shun Motoyama, Hideaki Nakazawa, Fumio Kawamura, Kenji |
spellingShingle |
Inoue, Ryo Aoki, Teruo Fujita, Shuji Tsutaki, Shun Motoyama, Hideaki Nakazawa, Fumio Kawamura, Kenji Spatiotemporal variation in the specific surface area of surface snow measured along the traverse route from the coast to Dome Fuji, Antarctica |
author_facet |
Inoue, Ryo Aoki, Teruo Fujita, Shuji Tsutaki, Shun Motoyama, Hideaki Nakazawa, Fumio Kawamura, Kenji |
author_sort |
Inoue, Ryo |
title |
Spatiotemporal variation in the specific surface area of surface snow measured along the traverse route from the coast to Dome Fuji, Antarctica |
title_short |
Spatiotemporal variation in the specific surface area of surface snow measured along the traverse route from the coast to Dome Fuji, Antarctica |
title_full |
Spatiotemporal variation in the specific surface area of surface snow measured along the traverse route from the coast to Dome Fuji, Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Spatiotemporal variation in the specific surface area of surface snow measured along the traverse route from the coast to Dome Fuji, Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Spatiotemporal variation in the specific surface area of surface snow measured along the traverse route from the coast to Dome Fuji, Antarctica |
title_sort |
spatiotemporal variation in the specific surface area of surface snow measured along the traverse route from the coast to dome fuji, antarctica |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-769 https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2024/egusphere-2024-769/ |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(39.700,39.700,-77.317,-77.317) |
geographic |
Antarctic Dome Fuji East Antarctica Syowa Station The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Dome Fuji East Antarctica Syowa Station The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet |
op_source |
eISSN: |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/egusphere-2024-769 https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2024/egusphere-2024-769/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-769 |
_version_ |
1809752506564083712 |