Moisture transport in observations and reanalyses as a proxy for snow accumulation in East Antarctica
Atmospheric moisture convergence on ice sheets provides an estimate of snow accumulation, which is critical to quantifying sea-level changes. In the case of East Antarctica, we computed moisture transport from 1980 to 2016 in five reanalyses and in radiosonde observations. Moisture convergence in re...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:7fe1169fdf9c4975a97f3eeb6e6618b2 2023-05-15T14:03:35+02:00 Moisture transport in observations and reanalyses as a proxy for snow accumulation in East Antarctica A. Dufour C. Charrondière O. Zolina 2019-02-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-413-2019 https://doaj.org/article/7fe1169fdf9c4975a97f3eeb6e6618b2 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://www.the-cryosphere.net/13/413/2019/tc-13-413-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-13-413-2019 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/7fe1169fdf9c4975a97f3eeb6e6618b2 The Cryosphere, Vol 13, Pp 413-425 (2019) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-413-2019 2022-12-31T00:52:26Z Atmospheric moisture convergence on ice sheets provides an estimate of snow accumulation, which is critical to quantifying sea-level changes. In the case of East Antarctica, we computed moisture transport from 1980 to 2016 in five reanalyses and in radiosonde observations. Moisture convergence in reanalyses is more consistent than net precipitation but still ranges from 72 to 96 mm yr −1 in the four most recent reanalyses, ERA-Interim, NCEP CFSR, JRA 55 and MERRA 2. The representation of long-term variability in reanalyses is also inconsistent, which justified resorting to observations. Moisture fluxes are measured on a daily basis via radiosondes launched from a network of stations surrounding East Antarctica. Observations agree with reanalyses on the major role of extreme advection events and transient eddy fluxes. Although assimilated, the observations reveal processes that reanalyses cannot model, some due to a lack of horizontal and vertical resolution, especially the oldest, NCEP DOE R2. Additionally, the observational time series are not affected by new satellite data unlike the reanalyses. We formed pan-continental estimates of convergence by aggregating anomalies from all available stations. We found statistically significant trends neither in moisture convergence nor in precipitable water. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica East Antarctica The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles East Antarctica Merra ENVELOPE(12.615,12.615,65.816,65.816) The Cryosphere 13 2 413 425 |
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. Dufour C. Charrondière O. Zolina Moisture transport in observations and reanalyses as a proxy for snow accumulation in East Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
Atmospheric moisture convergence on ice sheets provides an estimate of snow accumulation, which is critical to quantifying sea-level changes. In the case of East Antarctica, we computed moisture transport from 1980 to 2016 in five reanalyses and in radiosonde observations. Moisture convergence in reanalyses is more consistent than net precipitation but still ranges from 72 to 96 mm yr −1 in the four most recent reanalyses, ERA-Interim, NCEP CFSR, JRA 55 and MERRA 2. The representation of long-term variability in reanalyses is also inconsistent, which justified resorting to observations. Moisture fluxes are measured on a daily basis via radiosondes launched from a network of stations surrounding East Antarctica. Observations agree with reanalyses on the major role of extreme advection events and transient eddy fluxes. Although assimilated, the observations reveal processes that reanalyses cannot model, some due to a lack of horizontal and vertical resolution, especially the oldest, NCEP DOE R2. Additionally, the observational time series are not affected by new satellite data unlike the reanalyses. We formed pan-continental estimates of convergence by aggregating anomalies from all available stations. We found statistically significant trends neither in moisture convergence nor in precipitable water. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
A. Dufour C. Charrondière O. Zolina |
author_facet |
A. Dufour C. Charrondière O. Zolina |
author_sort |
A. Dufour |
title |
Moisture transport in observations and reanalyses as a proxy for snow accumulation in East Antarctica |
title_short |
Moisture transport in observations and reanalyses as a proxy for snow accumulation in East Antarctica |
title_full |
Moisture transport in observations and reanalyses as a proxy for snow accumulation in East Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Moisture transport in observations and reanalyses as a proxy for snow accumulation in East Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Moisture transport in observations and reanalyses as a proxy for snow accumulation in East Antarctica |
title_sort |
moisture transport in observations and reanalyses as a proxy for snow accumulation in east antarctica |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-413-2019 https://doaj.org/article/7fe1169fdf9c4975a97f3eeb6e6618b2 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(12.615,12.615,65.816,65.816) |
geographic |
East Antarctica Merra |
geographic_facet |
East Antarctica Merra |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica East Antarctica The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica East Antarctica The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 13, Pp 413-425 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://www.the-cryosphere.net/13/413/2019/tc-13-413-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-13-413-2019 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/7fe1169fdf9c4975a97f3eeb6e6618b2 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-413-2019 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
413 |
op_container_end_page |
425 |
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1766274271468847104 |