Local-scale deposition of surface snow on the Greenland ice sheet
Ice cores from polar ice sheets and glaciers are an important climate archive. Snow layers, consecutively deposited and buried, contain climatic information from the time of their formation. However, particularly low-accumulation areas are characterised by temporally intermittent precipitation, whic...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:225c79571f4d4a37979e319e31996ad6 2023-05-15T16:03:54+02:00 Local-scale deposition of surface snow on the Greenland ice sheet A. M. Zuhr T. Münch H. C. Steen-Larsen M. Hörhold T. Laepple 2021-10-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4873-2021 https://doaj.org/article/225c79571f4d4a37979e319e31996ad6 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/4873/2021/tc-15-4873-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-15-4873-2021 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/225c79571f4d4a37979e319e31996ad6 The Cryosphere, Vol 15, Pp 4873-4900 (2021) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4873-2021 2022-12-31T05:57:40Z Ice cores from polar ice sheets and glaciers are an important climate archive. Snow layers, consecutively deposited and buried, contain climatic information from the time of their formation. However, particularly low-accumulation areas are characterised by temporally intermittent precipitation, which can be further redistributed after initial deposition, depending on the local surface features at different spatial scales. Therefore, the accumulation conditions at an ice core site influence the quantity and quality of the recorded climate signal in proxy records. This study aims to characterise the local accumulation patterns and the evolution of the snow height to describe the contribution of the snow (re-)deposition to the overall noise level in climate records from ice cores. To this end, we applied a structure-from-motion photogrammetry approach to generate near-daily elevation models of the surface snow for a 195 m 2 area in the vicinity of the deep drilling site of the East Greenland Ice-core Project in northeast Greenland. Based on the snow height information we derive snow height changes on a day-to-day basis throughout our observation period from May to August 2018 and find an average snow height increase of ∼ 11 cm. The spatial and temporal data set also allows an investigation of snow deposition versus depositional modifications. We observe irregular snow deposition and erosion causing uneven snow accumulation patterns, a removal of more than 60 % of the deposited snow, and a negative relationship between the initial snow height and the amount of accumulated snow. Furthermore, the surface roughness decreased by approximately a factor of 2 throughout the spring and summer season at our study site. Finally, our study shows that structure from motion is a relatively simple method to demonstrate the potential influences of depositional processes on proxy signals in snow and ice. Article in Journal/Newspaper East Greenland East Greenland Ice-core Project Greenland Greenland ice core Greenland Ice core Project ice core Ice Sheet The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Greenland The Cryosphere 15 10 4873 4900 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 A. M. Zuhr T. Münch H. C. Steen-Larsen M. Hörhold T. Laepple Local-scale deposition of surface snow on the Greenland ice sheet |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
Ice cores from polar ice sheets and glaciers are an important climate archive. Snow layers, consecutively deposited and buried, contain climatic information from the time of their formation. However, particularly low-accumulation areas are characterised by temporally intermittent precipitation, which can be further redistributed after initial deposition, depending on the local surface features at different spatial scales. Therefore, the accumulation conditions at an ice core site influence the quantity and quality of the recorded climate signal in proxy records. This study aims to characterise the local accumulation patterns and the evolution of the snow height to describe the contribution of the snow (re-)deposition to the overall noise level in climate records from ice cores. To this end, we applied a structure-from-motion photogrammetry approach to generate near-daily elevation models of the surface snow for a 195 m 2 area in the vicinity of the deep drilling site of the East Greenland Ice-core Project in northeast Greenland. Based on the snow height information we derive snow height changes on a day-to-day basis throughout our observation period from May to August 2018 and find an average snow height increase of ∼ 11 cm. The spatial and temporal data set also allows an investigation of snow deposition versus depositional modifications. We observe irregular snow deposition and erosion causing uneven snow accumulation patterns, a removal of more than 60 % of the deposited snow, and a negative relationship between the initial snow height and the amount of accumulated snow. Furthermore, the surface roughness decreased by approximately a factor of 2 throughout the spring and summer season at our study site. Finally, our study shows that structure from motion is a relatively simple method to demonstrate the potential influences of depositional processes on proxy signals in snow and ice. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
A. M. Zuhr T. Münch H. C. Steen-Larsen M. Hörhold T. Laepple |
author_facet |
A. M. Zuhr T. Münch H. C. Steen-Larsen M. Hörhold T. Laepple |
author_sort |
A. M. Zuhr |
title |
Local-scale deposition of surface snow on the Greenland ice sheet |
title_short |
Local-scale deposition of surface snow on the Greenland ice sheet |
title_full |
Local-scale deposition of surface snow on the Greenland ice sheet |
title_fullStr |
Local-scale deposition of surface snow on the Greenland ice sheet |
title_full_unstemmed |
Local-scale deposition of surface snow on the Greenland ice sheet |
title_sort |
local-scale deposition of surface snow on the greenland ice sheet |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4873-2021 https://doaj.org/article/225c79571f4d4a37979e319e31996ad6 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
East Greenland East Greenland Ice-core Project Greenland Greenland ice core Greenland Ice core Project ice core Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
East Greenland East Greenland Ice-core Project Greenland Greenland ice core Greenland Ice core Project ice core Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 15, Pp 4873-4900 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/4873/2021/tc-15-4873-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-15-4873-2021 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/225c79571f4d4a37979e319e31996ad6 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4873-2021 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
4873 |
op_container_end_page |
4900 |
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