First-year and second-year snow properties on sea ice in the Weddell Sea during POLARSTERN cruise ANT-XXII/2 (ISPOL) during the drift ...

• Main Authors: Nicolaus, Marcel, Haas, Christian, Willmes, Sascha
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2009
• Subjects: Underway cruise track measurements; ANT-XXII/2; Polarstern; Antarc*; Antarctica; Sea ice; Weddell Sea
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.759716; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.759716

Observations of snow properties, superimposed ice, and atmospheric heat fluxes have been performed on first-year and second-year sea ice in the western Weddell Sea, Antarctica. Snow in this region is particular as it does usually survive summer ablation. Measurements were performed during Ice Station Polarstern (ISPOL), a 5-week drift station of the German icebreaker RV Polarstern. Net heat flux to the snowpack was 8 W/m**2, causing only 0.1 to 0.2 m of thinning of both snow cover types, thinner first-year and thicker second-year snow. Snow thinning was dominated by compaction and evaporation, whereas melt was of minor importance and occurred only internally at or close to the surface. Characteristic differences between snow on first-year and second-year ice were found in snow thickness, temperature, and stratigraphy. Snow on second-year ice was thicker, colder, denser, and more layered than on first-year ice. Metamorphism and ablation, and thus mass balance, were similar between both regimes, because they ... : Supplement to: Nicolaus, Marcel; Haas, Christian; Willmes, Sascha (2009): Evolution of first-year and second-year snow properties on sea ice in the Weddell Sea during spring-summer transition. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 114, D17109 ...