Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Snow on Central Arctic Sea Ice and its Implications ...

• Main Author: Wagner, David Nicholas
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne, EPFL 2023
• Subjects: Arctic sea ice; snow redistribution; erosion; deposition; precipitation; ALPINE3D; modelling; Climate change; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5075/epfl-thesis-10233; https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/198222

This thesis presents a comprehensive investigation of the interaction between precipitation and wind-induced erosion and deposition of snow on Arctic sea ice. The study uses observations from the 2019-2020 MOSAiC expedition and makes use of the 3D snow cover- and snow transport model ALPINE3D. Additionally, a series of related studies with my participation is presented. We describe the application of a snow depth-SWE (Snow-Water-Equivalent) function using SnowMicroPen force signals and its application to Magnaprobe snow depth data for MOSAiC transect lines. The model accurately reconstructed SWE compared to direct measurements, allowing for the estimation of the accumulated snow mass between October 2019 and May 2020. The study found that the net accumulation mass in spring was significantly lower than that observed during the earlier SHEBA or N-ICE2015 expeditions, likely due to climate change. The study also found that the snow accumulation rate on first year ice (FYI) was higher than that on second year ...