Spatial and temporal variability in summer snow pack in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica
To quantify the spatial and temporal variability in the snow pack, field measurements were carried out during four summers in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. Data from a 310-km-long transect revealed the largest horizontal gradients in snow density, temperature, and hardness in the escarpment region...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tc8124 2023-05-15T13:36:36+02:00 Spatial and temporal variability in summer snow pack in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica Vihma, T. Mattila, O.-P. Pirazzini, R. Johansson, M. M. 2018-09-27 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-5-187-2011 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/5/187/2011/ eng eng doi:10.5194/tc-5-187-2011 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/5/187/2011/ eISSN: 1994-0424 Text 2018 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-5-187-2011 2020-07-20T16:26:11Z To quantify the spatial and temporal variability in the snow pack, field measurements were carried out during four summers in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. Data from a 310-km-long transect revealed the largest horizontal gradients in snow density, temperature, and hardness in the escarpment region. On the local scale, day-to-day temporal variability dominated the standard deviation of snow temperature, while the diurnal cycle was of second significance, and horizontal variability on the scale of 0.4 to 10 m was least important. In the uppermost 0.2 m, the snow temperature was correlated with the air temperature over the previous 6–12 h, whereas at the depths of 0.3 to 0.5 m the most important time scale was 3 days. Cloud cover and radiative fluxes affected the snow temperature in the uppermost 0.30 m and the snow density in the uppermost 0.10 m. Both on the intra-pit and transect scales, the ratio of horizontal to temporal variability increased with depth. The horizontal standard deviation of snow density increased rapidly between the scales of 0.4 and 2 m, and more gradually from 10 to 100 m. Inter-annual variations in snow temperature and density were due to inter-annual differences in air temperature and the timing of the precipitation events. Text Antarc* Antarctica Dronning Maud Land Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Dronning Maud Land The Cryosphere 5 1 187 201 |
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Open Polar |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
op_collection_id |
ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
To quantify the spatial and temporal variability in the snow pack, field measurements were carried out during four summers in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. Data from a 310-km-long transect revealed the largest horizontal gradients in snow density, temperature, and hardness in the escarpment region. On the local scale, day-to-day temporal variability dominated the standard deviation of snow temperature, while the diurnal cycle was of second significance, and horizontal variability on the scale of 0.4 to 10 m was least important. In the uppermost 0.2 m, the snow temperature was correlated with the air temperature over the previous 6–12 h, whereas at the depths of 0.3 to 0.5 m the most important time scale was 3 days. Cloud cover and radiative fluxes affected the snow temperature in the uppermost 0.30 m and the snow density in the uppermost 0.10 m. Both on the intra-pit and transect scales, the ratio of horizontal to temporal variability increased with depth. The horizontal standard deviation of snow density increased rapidly between the scales of 0.4 and 2 m, and more gradually from 10 to 100 m. Inter-annual variations in snow temperature and density were due to inter-annual differences in air temperature and the timing of the precipitation events. |
format |
Text |
author |
Vihma, T. Mattila, O.-P. Pirazzini, R. Johansson, M. M. |
spellingShingle |
Vihma, T. Mattila, O.-P. Pirazzini, R. Johansson, M. M. Spatial and temporal variability in summer snow pack in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica |
author_facet |
Vihma, T. Mattila, O.-P. Pirazzini, R. Johansson, M. M. |
author_sort |
Vihma, T. |
title |
Spatial and temporal variability in summer snow pack in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica |
title_short |
Spatial and temporal variability in summer snow pack in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica |
title_full |
Spatial and temporal variability in summer snow pack in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Spatial and temporal variability in summer snow pack in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Spatial and temporal variability in summer snow pack in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica |
title_sort |
spatial and temporal variability in summer snow pack in dronning maud land, antarctica |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-5-187-2011 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/5/187/2011/ |
geographic |
Dronning Maud Land |
geographic_facet |
Dronning Maud Land |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Dronning Maud Land |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Dronning Maud Land |
op_source |
eISSN: 1994-0424 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-5-187-2011 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/5/187/2011/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-5-187-2011 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
5 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
187 |
op_container_end_page |
201 |
_version_ |
1766081330089558016 |