The seasonal evolution of albedo across glaciers and the surrounding landscape of Taylor Valley, Antarctica
The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs) of Antarctica are a polar desert ecosystem consisting of alpine glaciers, ice-covered lakes, streams, and expanses of vegetation-free rocky soil. Because average summer temperatures are close to 0 ∘ C, the MDV ecosystem in general, and glacier melt dynamics in particul...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:69082b63ca764a21869c810a24b35aed 2023-05-15T13:41:23+02:00 The seasonal evolution of albedo across glaciers and the surrounding landscape of Taylor Valley, Antarctica A. Bergstrom M. N. Gooseff M. Myers P. T. Doran J. M. Cross 2020-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-769-2020 https://doaj.org/article/69082b63ca764a21869c810a24b35aed EN eng Copernicus Publications https://www.the-cryosphere.net/14/769/2020/tc-14-769-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-14-769-2020 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/69082b63ca764a21869c810a24b35aed The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 769-788 (2020) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-769-2020 2022-12-30T22:11:11Z The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs) of Antarctica are a polar desert ecosystem consisting of alpine glaciers, ice-covered lakes, streams, and expanses of vegetation-free rocky soil. Because average summer temperatures are close to 0 ∘ C, the MDV ecosystem in general, and glacier melt dynamics in particular, are both closely linked to the energy balance. A slight increase in incoming radiation or change in albedo can have large effects on the timing and volume of meltwater. However, the seasonal evolution or spatial variability of albedo in the valleys has yet to fully characterized. In this study, we aim to understand the drivers of landscape albedo change within and across seasons. To do so, a box with a camera, GPS, and shortwave radiometer was hung from a helicopter that flew transects four to five times a season along Taylor Valley. Measurements were repeated over three seasons. These data were coupled with incoming radiation measured at six meteorological stations distributed along the valley to calculate the distribution of albedo across individual glaciers, lakes, and soil surfaces. We hypothesized that albedo would decrease throughout the austral summer with ablation of snow patches and increasing sediment exposure on the glacier and lake surfaces. However, small snow events ( <6 mm water equivalent) coupled with ice whitening caused spatial and temporal variability of albedo across the entire landscape. Glaciers frequently followed a pattern of increasing albedo with increasing elevation, as well as increasing albedo moving from east to west laterally across the ablation zone. We suggest that spatial patterns of albedo are a function of landscape morphology trapping snow and sediment, longitudinal gradients in snowfall magnitude, and wind-driven snow redistribution from east to west along the valley. We also compare our albedo measurements to the MODIS albedo product and found that overall the data have reasonable agreement. The mismatch in spatial scale between these two datasets results in variability, ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica McMurdo Dry Valleys polar desert The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Austral McMurdo Dry Valleys Taylor Valley ENVELOPE(163.000,163.000,-77.617,-77.617) The Cryosphere 14 3 769 788 |
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. Bergstrom M. N. Gooseff M. Myers P. T. Doran J. M. Cross The seasonal evolution of albedo across glaciers and the surrounding landscape of Taylor Valley, Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs) of Antarctica are a polar desert ecosystem consisting of alpine glaciers, ice-covered lakes, streams, and expanses of vegetation-free rocky soil. Because average summer temperatures are close to 0 ∘ C, the MDV ecosystem in general, and glacier melt dynamics in particular, are both closely linked to the energy balance. A slight increase in incoming radiation or change in albedo can have large effects on the timing and volume of meltwater. However, the seasonal evolution or spatial variability of albedo in the valleys has yet to fully characterized. In this study, we aim to understand the drivers of landscape albedo change within and across seasons. To do so, a box with a camera, GPS, and shortwave radiometer was hung from a helicopter that flew transects four to five times a season along Taylor Valley. Measurements were repeated over three seasons. These data were coupled with incoming radiation measured at six meteorological stations distributed along the valley to calculate the distribution of albedo across individual glaciers, lakes, and soil surfaces. We hypothesized that albedo would decrease throughout the austral summer with ablation of snow patches and increasing sediment exposure on the glacier and lake surfaces. However, small snow events ( <6 mm water equivalent) coupled with ice whitening caused spatial and temporal variability of albedo across the entire landscape. Glaciers frequently followed a pattern of increasing albedo with increasing elevation, as well as increasing albedo moving from east to west laterally across the ablation zone. We suggest that spatial patterns of albedo are a function of landscape morphology trapping snow and sediment, longitudinal gradients in snowfall magnitude, and wind-driven snow redistribution from east to west along the valley. We also compare our albedo measurements to the MODIS albedo product and found that overall the data have reasonable agreement. The mismatch in spatial scale between these two datasets results in variability, ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
A. Bergstrom M. N. Gooseff M. Myers P. T. Doran J. M. Cross |
author_facet |
A. Bergstrom M. N. Gooseff M. Myers P. T. Doran J. M. Cross |
author_sort |
A. Bergstrom |
title |
The seasonal evolution of albedo across glaciers and the surrounding landscape of Taylor Valley, Antarctica |
title_short |
The seasonal evolution of albedo across glaciers and the surrounding landscape of Taylor Valley, Antarctica |
title_full |
The seasonal evolution of albedo across glaciers and the surrounding landscape of Taylor Valley, Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
The seasonal evolution of albedo across glaciers and the surrounding landscape of Taylor Valley, Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
The seasonal evolution of albedo across glaciers and the surrounding landscape of Taylor Valley, Antarctica |
title_sort |
seasonal evolution of albedo across glaciers and the surrounding landscape of taylor valley, antarctica |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-769-2020 https://doaj.org/article/69082b63ca764a21869c810a24b35aed |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(163.000,163.000,-77.617,-77.617) |
geographic |
Austral McMurdo Dry Valleys Taylor Valley |
geographic_facet |
Austral McMurdo Dry Valleys Taylor Valley |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica McMurdo Dry Valleys polar desert The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica McMurdo Dry Valleys polar desert The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 769-788 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://www.the-cryosphere.net/14/769/2020/tc-14-769-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-14-769-2020 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/69082b63ca764a21869c810a24b35aed |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-769-2020 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
769 |
op_container_end_page |
788 |
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